In 1947, a missing goat led to the chance discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls. These ancient Jewish manuscripts became one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century. British archaeologist Gerald Lankester Harding was one of the key figures in the early investigation of the scrolls. In a BBC recording made in 1949, he describes how they were found, the painstaking excavation that followed and the search to uncover their origins and significance. This episode was produced by Helen Ledwick in collaboration with the BBC Archives. Witness History is a short...
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finds of the 20th century.
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Is this episode right for you?
B2 · Upper-intermediate
Comfortable if you already follow TV news
- 85% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 157 words a minute: a natural pace.
- 64 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello and welcome to Witness History with me, Helen Ledwick. Now, if this is one of your favourite podcasts already, then feel free to skip ahead a little bit. But if you're listening for the very first time, then welcome. We're the podcast that takes you back to
a moment in history by speaking to those who were there. Episodes are just nine minutes long and they come out every weekday. So if that sounds like something you'd listen to, then why not subscribe and turn your push notifications on. And now we're going back to 1947 for what's been described as one of the greatest archaeological
finds of the 20th century. This is the story of hidden treasure and of a fabulous library of sacred books, hidden and lost for 2,000 years. This is the story of the dead sea scrolls.
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