All language subtitles for Expedition.Unknown.S08E01.Mysteries.of.the.Dead.Sea.Scrolls.1080p.WEB.x264-CAFFEiNE.Eng

This is our oldest source for
the complete 10 commandments.

Yes.

These scrolls are
the most significant

archaeological treasure
of the 20th century.

All that writing
is preserved under there.

It's like a magic trick.

The cave continues.

[ laughs ]
that's a literal secret chamber.

That doesn't happen
every day.

I see a tunnel.
It keeps going.

There's a tunnel back there,
man.

A billion dollars of treasure,
oh, boy.

Oh, my god.
Are you kidding me?

That's writing!

There is
a human history there.

Absolutely.

Oh, look at that.

Oh, my god.

♪

♪

it is one of the greatest
archaeological discoveries

in modern history --

the dead sea scrolls.

In 1946, the remains of hundreds
of ancient manuscripts

were discovered hidden
in a series of caves

near the dead sea in israel.

These scrolls include copies
of the old testament,

1,000 years older
than any known before,

plus untold prophecies
not found in scripture

that could rewrite the bible
as we know it.

There's even a scroll inscribed
on copper

that some claim points to vast
riches hidden in the desert.

A number of questions
surround the scrolls.

Where did they come from?

Who wrote them?

What secrets do they hold,

and are there more out there
waiting to be found?

Now, scientists are applying

nasa technology to
extract ancient messages

from fragmented parchments,

and archaeologists
are exploring a once-lost city

where the scrolls
may have been written

and closing in
on unexplored caverns

that could contain
new manuscripts.

Join me on a quest
to the holy land

to fill in the blank pages
of history

and to unravel
the many mysteries

of the dead sea scrolls.

♪

my name is josh gates...

Look! [ laughs ]

...Explorer, adventurer...

That is it!

...And a guy who ends up
in some very strange situations.

Ah, ah, aah, haa!

With a degree in archaeology

and a passion
for the unexplained,

I travel to the ends
of the earth,

investigating
the greatest legends in history.

Okay, let's punch it.

This is "expedition unknown."

-- captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

my quest to unlock the mysteries
of the dead sea scrolls

brings me to the holy land,
where the first chapter

in the history
of the scrolls was written.

The old city of jerusalem --
it may sound like a cliche,

but there really
is no place like it.

Choose any descriptor
you like -- evocative,

maddening, overwhelming,
divine.

You don't walk these streets.

You're carried through them.

To step off the curb here
is to be swept up

in the turbulent
waters of history.

♪

it's been a crossroads
of civilizations

as long as there
have been roads to cross.

It was the center
of trade routes

stretching from rome to india

and home to diverse cultures
living side by side,

sometimes in harmony
and sometimes in conflict,

but more than anything else,
jerusalem is about faith,

home to three of the holiest
places on earth --

the golden dome of the rock,
sacred to muslims,

the church
of the holy sepulchre,

the site of the crucifixion
of christ,

and the oldest of them all,
the western or wailing wall,

all that remains of
a 3,000-year-old jewish temple.

To understand
what was once here,

we have to turn back
the hands of time.

The so-called temple mount

begins as a natural rise
known as mount moriah,

where ancient hebrews
believe creation itself began.

Over time, a jewish empire
grows around it.

The great temple of solomon
is built on the sacred mount.

In 586 bce,
it's destroyed by invaders.

The rebuilt structure is known
as the second temple,

the center of jewish faith

and home to jerusalem's
greatest treasures,

including an archive of sacred
scrolls and manuscripts.

Centuries later,
the romans conquer the city.

In the year 67, the jews
of jerusalem spark a rebellion.

Ah!

In retaliation, the roman army
destroys the second temple.

Now all that remains
is the western wall

of the temple platform.

The story
of the dead sea scrolls

begins when jerusalem
looked like this.

♪

I'm at the israel museum's
scale model of the holy city

to meet scroll expert

and curator dr. Adolfo roitman.

All right. Let's talk about
this incredible model here.

I feel like godzilla.

This is awesome.

This is the jerusalem
of 1st century ce

in time of the romans.

So we are kind of in the period
of the dead sea scrolls here.

Exactly.

They were discovered in a placed
called qumran located

on the northwestern shore
of the dead sea

about 30 miles from jerusalem.
Okay.

The first dead sea scroll
was discovered

by the end of 1946
and the beginning of 1947.

Amazingly, they were discovered
completely by accident.

As the story goes, a young
shepherd is herding goats

in qumran near the dead sea.

Passing a cave,
he throws a stone

to scare a wayward animal
back to the flock

and hears something shatter.

Curious, he enters the cavern
and discovers 10 clay jars

holding seven ancient scrolls.

They had no idea they discovered
maybe the most significant

archaeological treasure
of the 20th century.

They decided,
"why not you sell the scrolls?"

and four scrolls were bought
by a dealer from bethlehem,

an arab christian.

And the other three?

A hebrew university professor
bought the other three scrolls

for the hebrew university,
so on both sides of jerusalem,

a jew and the christians,
they had scrolls.

Okay, this is
the beginning of a joke.

But instead of walking
into a bar,

the christian antiquities
dealer resells his scrolls

to the archbishop of
the syrian orthodox church.

Facing political turmoil
in jerusalem,

the archbishop smuggles the
scrolls into the united states.

In 1954, he takes out
a classified ad

in the wall street journal,

offering the scrolls
to the highest bidder.

Israeli scholars race
to acquire them,

sensing their huge historic
and religious value.

And the scrolls were bought
for the state of israel

for a quarter
of million dollar in '55.

The sale sets off
a flurry of digging

and looting along the edge
of the dead sea

that eventually yields
the remains

of more than 900 manuscripts

discovered in
11 different caves.

Now we have around
20,000 fragments of manuscripts.

Unbelievable.
Would you like to see them?

I would love to see them.

Come with me.

Dr. Roitman invites me
into the hallowed halls

of the so-called
shrine of the book,

where the world's greatest
collection of scrolls

is carefully preserved.

We pass through
a series of chambers

inspired by the caves where
the scrolls were discovered,

and at the end of the tunnel,
a revelation.

Wow, look at this place,
what a room.

It feels like you're
in a temple, a shrine.

Here, in this venerated vault,

I'm surrounded
by a treasure trove.

The remains of some
of the best-preserved

dead sea scrolls
are on display.

Amazing.

Penned mainly in hebrew
on parchment or papyrus,

the first question is,
"what's written on them?"

let's start with the "mona lisa"
of all the scrolls --

the book of isaiah.

Unbelievable.

Written about 2,000 years ago,

this scroll is the oldest-known
copy of a major portion

of the old testament
or hebrew bible.

And so this is just
a piece of it.

How long
is the full scroll?

More than 20 feet long.

This manuscript has
all the 66 chapters

of the book of isaiah
like in our modern bible.

Before this was found,

what was the oldest-known copy
of the book of isaiah?

From middle ages, thousand years
after this manuscript.

This ancient copy of isaiah is
a big deal to biblical scholars

since it confirms that this part
of the old testament

has remained consistent
for thousands of years.

But not all of
the dead sea scrolls

are copies of the bible
as we know it.

We have apocryphal stories,
new stories that we didn't know

before the discovery
of the scrolls.

This one document called
the war scroll.

This describes the war
by the end of history

between the son of light
and the son of darkness.

It's very
"game of thrones."

[ laughs ]

but this doesn't appear
in the old testament...

No.
It's outside the canon.

Scholars believe that
the war scroll

is more than just
a description of the apocalypse.

It was a tactical manual,
outlining weaponry

and maneuvers
to help good triumph over evil,

and it's not the only scroll
with stories

that can't be found
anywhere else in scripture.

We have a new version
of the book of genesis.

Abraham is presented as
an exorcist expelling demons.

Amazing.

In this re-imagining of genesis,

abraham doesn't
just speak with god.

He possesses divine powers.

This is a new
presentation of abraham.

Very new.

The thing that is
so mind-blowing

is that the ink looks like
it was written yesterday.

Yes, but most of the scrolls,
they don't look like this.

Some of them are
in very good shape,

some other
very fragmentary materials.

The work of the lab is crucial
in order to preserve them.

To learn what other secrets
are hidden on the scrolls,

dr. Roitman helps
arrange exclusive access

to the only laboratory
in the world

that actually handles
the original manuscripts.

Pnina...

Hello.
I'm josh.

I'm pnina.
Very nice to meet you.

For 70 years,
the leon levy laboratory

of the israeli
antiquities authority

has been doing
the miraculous work

of making these ancient
parchments readable again.

Thank you for having me here.
This is incredible.

Pnina reveals
one of their crown jewels

of their restoration work,

allowing me to see a scroll
as its author did...

Without the barrier
of museum glass.

Now, don't breathe.

Not a problem because getting
this close to an original scroll

literally takes my breath away.

It's mind-blowing.

Is there an older copy
of the book of psalms

than what we're
looking at right here?

No.
How crazy is that?

Now we'll show you the scroll
that drives the world crazy.

♪

of all the copies of the book
of deuteronomy

that we have, this is
the only copy that preserves

all of
the 10 commandments.

Wait a minute.

This is our oldest source
for the complete

10 commandments?

Yes.

Wow.

And is the text complementary
with later versions,

or are there any changes?

There's a slight
difference.

Gates:
I'm at the leon levy laboratory

of the israel antiquities
authority in jerusalem,

where my quest to learn
who wrote the dead sea scrolls,

and maybe discover more,
brings me face-to-face

with one of the most
precious artifacts on earth --

the original rulebook
for western civilization,

the oldest copy of the
10 commandments in existence.

This is our oldest source for
the complete 10 commandments?

This is the earliest copy
that we have, yes.

Wow.

And is the text complementary
with later versions,

or are there any changes?

There's a slight
difference.

While contemporary bibles state,
"keep the sabbath,"

the scroll copy
adds a word meaning,

"remember," asking the faithful

to not only honor
the day of rest

but to reflect on it as well,
a small but profound difference.

This is awesome.
And there's 10.

There's not a couple extras
in here?

"party as often
as thou wants"?

No.

But not all the scrolls
are this well-preserved.

One of the biggest challenges
the team here faces

is repairing earlier restoration
work done in the 1950s

at the rockefeller museum
in jerusalem.

And they began
the ultimate jigsaw puzzle.

Thousands and thousands
of scroll fragments,

they tape them with sellotape
or adhesive tape.

They put in between two glass
plates and tape them again.

They created over
1,200 glass plates.

Little did they know
that the exciting new invention

of clear household tape

was doing more harm than good
to the fragile fragments.

The residues of the tape
penetrate the parchment

and causes
its disintegration.

So you inherited a challenge.
Yes.

A team of restoration
specialists

chemically cleans
each tiny piece of parchment,

repairing the damage.

It can take a year to go
through one sheet of paper.

Once this painstaking process
is complete,

the real detective
work begins.

Fragments are moved around
a computer canvas

like puzzle pieces
on a coffee table

to reconstruct
the original manuscript.

Groundbreaking new technologies
can cross-reference

other scrolls
to recognize the handwriting

of a particular scribe.

They even match the grain
in different parchment pieces.

You notice the black edges?
Mm-hmm.

Now, it's not burnt.

The jar was put on the floor
of the cave,

and therefore, the humidity
penetrated it

and caused the disintegration
of the edges of the scroll.

Even fragments completely
blackened by time

can be brought back to life
in the lab's inner sanctum,

the imaging room,

where they're using technology
pioneered by nasa

to digitally reveal hidden text
on the most damaged documents.

This studio was created
especially for the scrolls,

and so was this camera.

I feel like I'm about
to get an x-ray in here.

You're about to get more
than an x-ray here

because what
we're seeing here

is a multispectral
imaging system

that was created
especially for the scrolls.

So is is possible
to see it in action?

Absolutely.

The fragment is positioned

and exposed to 12 different
wavelengths of light.

Man: And slowly we go through
seven visible lights.

After that, we start
with the light

that we cannot see with our eyes
in the near-infrared zone.

Gates: The images captured at
the different wavelengths

are then stitched together,
and what appears is astounding.

The text, once lost to history,
emerges from the dark parchment.

That is unbelievable.

All that writing is preserved
under there.

It's like a magic trick.

This is the only fragment
that we have from genesis.

1st-century wisdom unveiled
by 21st-century technology.

The fragment says,
"let there be light,"

god's first words brought back
from the darkness

by light itself,
science providing sight

and insight to the oldest copy
of this scripture.

♪

the work of the team here and by
other scholars around the world

using digital facsimiles will
take generations to complete.

But what's been uncovered may
just be the tip of the iceberg.

Could more scrolls still be
hidden in the desert,

and can we determine who
wrote them in the first place?

To get answers, I'm leaving
the city of jerusalem

and heading to qumran,

where the original scrolls
were discovered.

♪

the caves where the scrolls
were found were located

in the heart
of the judean desert,

a place that feels a world away

from the bustling streets
of jerusalem,

and to get there,
I'm driving down highway 90,

which has the distinction
of being

the lowest road in the world,

descending down to more than
1,400 feet below sea level.

It's also home to one
of the strangest bodies

of water on earth.

Almost 10 times saltier
than the ocean, the dead sea is,

well, lifeless.

No fish or plants can survive
the extreme salinity.

And my destination is equally
barren --

the desert cliffs
of qumran,

and what looks like a quick hike
up a mountain trail

quickly turns into a sweltering
slog through the desert.

Once you get away
from the shores of the dead sea,

this place becomes inhospitable
really quickly.

After all, it's hot as hell,
not a lot of fresh water

and not a scrap of shade,

which is why,
throughout history,

very few people
ever came through here,

but that does make this a very
good place to hide things.

I'm here to meet leading
dead sea scrolls

archaeologist dr. Oren gutfeld.

-Hey, josh.
-Nice to meet you.

-Good to see you.
-Oh.

What brings you here
on a hot summer day?

I'm looking for a crazy man.
Huh, you find one.

Yeah, it is desolate
out here.

He's spent decades excavating
ancient sites

across the holy land.

Josh, welcome to qumran.

♪

what a view.

It's incredible.

♪

these are all caves?

600 caves.

This is where all
the dead sea scrolls were found.

Have all of these caves
been excavated?

Less than 10%.

Really, less than
10% of them?

Yes.
There's lots to do.

Most of the scrolls were
found there, in cave number 4.

That cave, right there?
Yes.

More than 15,000 fragments
were found inside this cave.

It's, like, 90%.

Wow, come from one cave?
From one cave.

And so where
are you working?

I'm working over there,
in cave number 53.

Can we see
what you're doing?

Yes. Let's go.
Yeah.

Today, the caves are in
a closed nature reserve.

Any entry into them is dangerous

and strictly prohibited
to the public,

but I'm lucky enough
to have an all-access pass

to one of archaeology's
most exclusive addresses.

Wow.
Oh, man!

♪

gates: I'm in qumran,
outside jerusalem,

with archaeologist oren gutfeld.

We're approaching
the labyrinth of caves

where the dead sea scrolls
were discovered

to answer the mystery of whether
there are more to find.

Cave number 53...
Wow.

That's where we have
most of our finds.

After the first dead sea scrolls
were discovered in 1946,

more were found
in 10 additional caves.

But by the mid-'70s, it seemed
that the area was tapped out.

That is until 2017,

when oren struck scroll gold
in this very cave.

Gutfeld: And in another part
of the cave,

we found another complete
store jar with the parchment.

You found a scroll?
Yes.

It's the first time
after 70 years

that an archaeologist found
an old parchment

inside a store jar.

Any writing on it?
No.

It was blank.

Hey, if you found parchment
out here, that's a big deal.

In my opinion, scrolls were
hidden in many more caves,

and cave 53
is the proof for that.

And just above this chamber,

oren's team
is in the process of excavating

cave 53b to see if more scrolls
are hiding inside.

Hello.
Hello. How are you?

Hello. Watch your head.
How are you?

Oh, my god, this 2x4,
this is holding up the cave?

Gutfeld: Yes, we hope so.

It will give us another
2 seconds to run.

That's about it.

Okay, so tell me
what's going on in here.

We noticed
a small entrance over here

and uncovered
these two walls.

So you saw that
this went further back.

Exactly, and do you know
what we found?

This is the best
3rd-century bc

hellenistic cooking pot
ever found here.

Are you kidding me?

Wow.

People weren't just
hiding things in here.

They were maybe living in here,
certainly cooking.

That's correct, not only
hiding place, maybe shepherds,

maybe hunters who used
these caves as well.

[ man speaks native language ]
just second.

[ both speaking
native language ]

they found something.
They found something?

Yes.
What did they find?

I don't know.
Let's go.

After you.

Oh, I was really hoping
I wasn't going to have to go

into this 2x4.

♪

hey, guys.

[ man speaks
native language ]

okay, what do you got?

They found pottery
all over.

[ speaking
native language ]

he said there's a chamber
that we missed over there.

Are you [bleep] me?

This is real.

He found a gap, which means
that the cave continues.

♪

oh, man, it goes back.
[ laughs ]

that's a literal
secret chamber.

I mean, it goes quite
a ways back.

Gutfeld: Yes.

We thought this is the end
of the chamber,

and now we see
that it continues.

That doesn't happen
every day.

There could be scrolls in there.
Why not?

That's another season
of "expedition."

"next season," my ass.
Let's get some shovels!

Come on.
Let's dig this out.

Not today.

That's the thing about
archaeology -- when you find

something exciting,

then you got to move
really slowly.

That, back there, that is
the unknown just waiting.

Nice work.

Nice work.
-Hey.

Gates:
But there may be other places
to look for scrolls right now.

To figure out where,
we first need to unravel

who wrote the scrolls

and put them in these caves
in the first place.

Oren leads me down
below the caves

to a stunning ruin
that may hold answers.

There was a community of people
living out here?

Oh, yes.
And when does this date to?

Well, to the end of the 3rd
and 2nd century bce,

1st century bce
and 1st century ad.

So we're in the time
of the scrolls.

That's correct.
This is the site of the scrolls.

And so who were the people
living out in this community?

Well, this is under dispute.
Uh-huh.

The essenes were a strict,
independent jewish sect,

who believed the priesthood
of jerusalem was corrupt,

so they broke off
and relocated to the desert.

How many people do you think
lived out here?

Not more than few dozen people
lived here, only men.

No women?
No women.

So this is kind of like
a monastery of sorts.

In a way.

They probably woke up
very early,

immersed themselves
in the ritual bath.

They had the communal meals
with no talking.

All studying, no talking,
no women.

Yes.

This would not
have been for me.

I would've been thrown out
in the first week.

Oren shows me
an engineering wonder

that served as the ceremonial
center for the essenes.

So this is
the ritual bath.

Gates: Now what you expect to
see out in the middle

of a bone-dry desert.

So water is coming down here
through that aqueduct system?

Yes.

Wow, so if it pours all the way
in jerusalem,

it'll come down
through these canyons.

That's correct.

The essenes were very strict
regarding purification,

and this is why we think

that qumran is a settlement
of the essenes

because you have lots
of ritual bath.

The essenes were obsessed
with ritual and purity,

two subjects
the scrolls mention a lot.

So the obvious question is, did
the essenes write the scrolls?

That's a very good
question.

Let me show you where we might
have evidence for that.

Okay.

It's like a maze.
Yes.

This is the room that's known
as the scriptorium.

This is
the scribe's room.

Okay,
and why is it called that?

Because three inkwells

were found over here
during excavations.

So we have evidence that writing
was happening here?

Yes.
That's correct.

The inkwells, coupled
with oren's discovery

of a blank scroll,
suggest that at least

some of the writing
was done in the desert.

But only three inkwells.

Only three.
It's not enough.

When you have more
than 865 scrolls,

you need many,
many inkwells.

For sure, not all
the scrolls were copied

or written over here.

Rome basically destroyed
jerusalem the year of 70.

Many refugees escaped
from jerusalem to the desert.

There is
another leading theory

as to where
the scrolls came from.

When rome took over jerusalem
in the year 70

and destroyed
the second great temple,

the jews likely fled
with countless treasures

and significant objects to save
them from the invading army.

Oren and others believed
that a library of scrolls

may have been saved
from the temple

and concealed
in various desert caves.

Do you think there's a chance
that they were storing them

there like a kind of
time capsule

for at least
future generations

if not,
you know, for us?

I'm not sure that they knew that
the dry climate of the dead sea

would preserve it
for the future,

but in fact, it worked.

For 2,000 years.

The answer to the question
that has dogged

archaeologists for decades,

"who authored
the dead sea scrolls?"

may be all of the above.

While it's almost certain
that some of them

were written here
by the essenes,

the idea that other scrolls
came from jerusalem

means that
it's entirely possible

that they were hidden
in more than one place.

There are
many other places

where refugees took
their treasures,

scrolls, even, not only
to the dead sea in the east

but also to the west of
jerusalem, to the lowlands.

And oren, it turns out,

is digging in more
than one place.

Okay, here we go.

We head to a site known as
beit lehi

in the remote desert
west of jerusalem,

where oren's team has uncovered
compelling evidence

that the jews fleeing from
jerusalem concealed themselves

and perhaps even more scrolls.

Are the roads this great
the whole way?

Oh, no.
It's getting much worse.

[ both laugh ]

another hour of off-roading
and we reach beit lehi.

♪

there, we meet oren's colleague,
archaeologist michal haber.

Michal, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, josh,

and welcome to the ancient
village of beit lehi.

Situated on an important
trade route

between jerusalem
and the port city of gaza,

beit lehi was first
settled in 800 bce.

It survived until
the 14th century,

but it's what lies below
these ruins that interests

oren and michal, and after
years of painstaking digging,

they've uncovered something
truly astonishing.

So you brought all of this down,
and then what?

And then we found something
incredible over here.

-Underground?
-Underground.

Gates: What I see is beyond
anything I could have imagined.

Oh, my god.
Look at this place!

It's not just a cave but
an entire network of tunnels,

an underground city
all carved by hand.

Are you kidding me?

It's enormous!

Gates: My quest to discover
new dead sea scrolls

brings me to a chamber
beneath the ancient village

of beit lehi, in the desert
outside of jerusalem.

Wow, are you kidding me?

It's enormous!

This was all filled in?

Gutfeld: All filled in.

This man-made cavern
may contain crucial clues

in our search
for more scrolls.

Michal, help me out.

Where are we?

We are in the depth
of a massive dovecote.

-Dovecote?
-Yes, for the raising of doves.

As you can see, we have hundreds
and hundreds of these niches.

Each one could have held up
to two or three birds.

This was an industry.

Droppings could have been used
for fertilizer.

They were raised for meat
and for sacrifice.

Wow, big business.

In the period in question,

when the dead sea scrolls are
written and then later hidden,

what's going on here
at beit lehi?

There are really a mass exodus
from the area of jerusalem.

They were hiding
inside these chambers.

Surely among the refugees
that were fleeing

were also members
of the elite.

Perhaps there were scribes
among them.

We make our way through
the underground labyrinth,

where oren and michal
have uncovered clues

that jerusalem refugees
not only hid here

but continued to practice
their faith in secret.

We have, in the cornice
above the entrance,

a seven-candle menorah.

2,000-year-old graffiti.

And right next to this ancient
symbol of the jewish faith,

they produced the sacred oil
to light the real thing.

What we have here is a typical
early-second temple period

olive oil press,

and it hasn't moved
for at least 2,100 years.

We found it by means
of a hiding tunnel.

We saw a huge shaft
aboveground.

We crawled through.

It dropped us off
in this chamber.

These so-called hiding tunnels
were tight,

secret passages
carved like an anthill

under the city of beit lehi.

They are direct evidence
that jews fleeing the romans

during the destruction
of the second temple

perhaps bearing scrolls,

but oren hasn't just
brought me here for a tour.

♪

above the underground labyrinth,
oren's team

is investigating a promising
development at the site.

Josh, this is pablo.

He's the core director
of the excavation.

-Hello.
-Hi, josh.

Pablo and his team
have been conducting

aerial surveys of the ruins,

and they believe
they found something.

I saw this depression
from the air, from the drone,

and we wanted to check it

because it looks like
a blocked entrance

to some underground cave
or even tunnel.

It goes back, you think?
Yes, I think so.

Wow.

Gates: Oren's team removes
the last few rocks

barricading the entrance.

[ speaking
native language ]

it goes back?
Yes, it goes back.

Okay, great.

Okay,
he said that we can go in.

♪

how's it look?

Gutfeld:
Looks like a tunnel or chamber.

Okay,
I'm going in, josh.

We crawl inside the
claustrophobic tunnel to see

if it leads
to more hiding places,

and, who knows,
perhaps the remains

of undiscovered manuscripts.

Wow, very tight.

Got to kind of shimmy
in backwards here.

Josh, slide in
on your stomach.

There's a chamber.

Look at
all the chisel marks.

I think
it's a ritual bath.

Like, these would be stairs
going down into here.

Yes.

Wow.

Hey, josh, look.

Unbelievable, another
one of these hiding tunnels.

Yes.
Does it go somewhere?

Let's check.

The narrow tunnel leads upwards
from the ritual bath.

This is exactly the kind
of hiding place

we've been looking for,

a prime spot
to secret away scrolls.

Is it a dead end?

It looks artificial?

Yes.

I'll see
if they can grab it.

To see if this obstruction
is part of a collapse

or put in place intentionally
to hide something,

oren is going to bore
through the stone

with a powerful
impact-driver drill,

which uses concussive force
and bit rotation

to deliver three times
the torque of a regular drill.

♪

♪

once we've penetrated the rock,
we'll peer inside

with a snake cam,
a miniature camera affixed

to a flexible cable small enough
to fit through the opening.

Okay, power is on.

I'm going to pass you
the camera, okay?

Okay.

Okay, going through.

Oh, my god.
It keeps going.

Ah, there's a tunnel!

♪

gates: The dead sea is famous
for more than just scrolls.

Around 37 bce, king herod
built a palace on these shores,

a desert spa
on one of the saltiest

bodies of water on earth,

and these ancient mud baths
and healing waters

are still a major tourist
attraction today,

said to treat everything
from arthritis

to sinus infections
to overworked tv hosts...

I could get used to this.

...And, of course,

his overworked camera crew.

All right.
Boys, back to work.

-Aw, come on.
-Come on.

Okay, 5 minutes
and a few more of these.

Bartender?

I'm in a subterranean chamber
beneath the ancient village

of beit lehi,
searching for sacred documents

from the time
of the dead sea scrolls.

Jewish refugees fleeing
the roman invasion of jerusalem

sought shelter
in these tunnels,

and they may have secured
their most prized possession,

scrolls from the second temple,
behind this stone blockade.

Okay, going through.

Oh, my god.
It keeps going.

Ah, there's a tunnel, amazing!

Do you think we can
break that rock out?

Yeah, we need the pickaxes
and try to break it.

Okay,
pulling the camera back.

We have no idea where
this passageway leads,

but whoever placed
the stone slab here

must have done it
to protect something important.

Oren chips away
at the soft limestone

to clear our path.

It's moving.

Ah, look at that!

Nice work, man.

Want to come in?

Yes, I want to come in,
I think, sort of.

Are we brave enough?

Oh, I'm brave enough.

I'm dumb enough.

The question is,
am I small enough?

[ grunts ]

we crawl inside, entering
an unexplored labyrinth

no one has seen
for 2,000 years.

These tunnels are
kind of infuriating.

They're not quite tall enough
to crouch in,

so you're constantly
on your hands and knees.

Oh, we're going down,
josh.

There's a passage
that goes down.

Ah!

Oren.
Yes, josh.

You okay?
I am okay.

Come down.

Okay.

Josh...

[ groans loudly ]

we venture deeper
into the tunnel system.

Hey, josh.

Suddenly, the tight chamber
opens up.

Wow, look at this.

Looks like a dead rat.

Oh, a spider.

Oh, come on.

Gah, that's a big one.

Hey, look at this.
Come here.

Come here.
Look, there's pottery.

Ah, yes?
Yeah, see it?

♪

cooking pot?

So people were probably living
in rooms like this.

Yes.
There's more.

More of it?
Yes.

It's clear that refugees
from jerusalem

didn't just shelter here
for a few days.

They lived here, hiding from
the threat of roman forces.

So much pottery.

Gates: You didn't even have to
dig for it.

And if they lived here, they may
have brought scrolls with them.

Wow, look, with the handle.

Oh, look at that,
the handle of the pot.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Second temple period
store jar.

Look at that.

That is awesome.

The dead sea scrolls
have all been found

in storage jars like this.

The next chapter in the saga
of the scrolls

may be hidden
in this very chamber.

Oh, oh, look at that.

Oh, look at that!

Oh, my god.

♪

next time,
on "expedition unknown"...

What makes this scroll
so different than the rest?

We have descriptions
of treasures.

65 bars of gold
at the sharp edge of the rock.

"sharp edge of the rock"...
Yes.

There's a lot
of sharp rocks.

Oh, my god.
That's writing!

You think this could be
the place?

I'm positive.

[ laughs ]
look at this!

It goes way, way back.