Why are the documents from Wadi Daliyeh valuable to historians of ancient Palestine?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Dead Sea Scrolls Chapter 49 of the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls; in the Shrine of the Book, D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Centre for Biblical Manuscripts, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

The documents discovered at Wadi Daliyeh are of immense value to historians because they represent the earliest extensive group of papyri ever found in Palestine, dating from 375 to 335 bce.1

These approximately 40 documents were deposited in a cave by Samarians who were massacred by the soldiers of Alexander the Great in 331 bce. The collection consists of legal documents written in Aramaic, featuring seals in Paleo-Hebrew.1