“An amazing discovery” has been made by the international team of Oren Gutfeld and Ahiad Ovadia, archaeologists of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: it is the one that has been instantly named Qumran Cave 12 (Q12), near the north-western bank of the Dead Sea. The news was given by the department of Archaeology of the University, explaining that the excavation unearthed “lots of jars and lids from the Second Temple period; they were hidden in niches along the walls of the cave and in a long tunnel”. They are empty, broken vessels but there are also pieces of casings, a string that tied the scrolls, and a piece of wrought leather, which, as stated by Oren Gutfeld, director of the excavation, would prove “without a shadow of a doubt” that the scrolls contained here have been stolen, as also proven by the finding of a pair of iron pickaxe heads from the ‘50s. So far, only 11 of the caves had been assumed to have contained the ancient parchment scrolls. These excavations in the north of the Judean Desert are part of “operation scroll”, in a race against time and thieves: “The State of Israel must deploy and allocate resources to launch an operation of historical proportions to systematically excavate all the caves in the Judean Desert”, stated Israel Hasson, Managing Director of the Israeli Antiquities Service.