Wikipedia's first sentence called it “one of the most famous of the dead sea scrolls”. Today it says “one of the dead sea scrolls found in cave 3 near khirbet qumran”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Copper Scroll is one of the most famous of the Dead Sea Scrolls . It was discovered near Qumran in 1952 by a nomadic group of Bedouins led by Henri de Contension . It was likely written by the Essenes . The Copper Scroll lists a number of locations where gold and other treasure was hidden. Its historical significance has been debated since its discovery.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17046306.
The opening as it stood in 2010 5 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15 ) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran , but differs significantly from the others.Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus , this scroll is written on metal : copper mixed with about 1% tin .Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold and silver are buried or hidden.It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography (i.e., its spelling), palaeography (forms of letters), and date (c.50-100 AD, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts).It is currently on display at the Archaeological Museum in Amman, Jordan .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 364925677.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15 ) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran , but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus , this scroll is written on metal : copper mixed with about 1 percent tin . Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of locations at which various items of gold and silver are buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography, palaeography (forms of letters) and date (c. 50–100 AD, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts). Since 2013 the Copper Scroll is on display at the newly opened Jordan Museum in Amman after being moved from its previous home, the Jordan Archaeological Museum .A new facsimile is in production by Facsimile Editions of London.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669351402.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
First-century CE treasure scroll from the Judean desert Parts of a replica of the Copper Scroll. The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15 ) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran , but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus , this scroll is written on metal : copper mixed with about 1 percent tin . The so-called 'scrolls' of copper were, in reality, two separated sections of what was originally a single scroll about 8 feet (240 cm) in length.Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of places where various items of gold and silver were buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography , palaeography (forms of letters) and date (c. 50–100 CE, possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts). Since 2013, the Copper Scroll has been on display at the newly opened Jordan Museum in Amman after being moved from its previous home, the Jordan Archaeological Museum on Amman's Citadel Hill.A new facsimile of the Copper Scroll by Facsimile Editions of London was announced as being in production in 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962128895.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
First-century CE treasure scroll from the Judean desert Parts of a replica of the Copper Scroll. The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15 ) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran , but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus , this scroll is written on metal : copper mixed with about 1 percent tin , although no metallic copper remained in the strips; the action of the centuries had been to convert the metal into brittle oxide.The so-called 'scrolls' of copper were, in reality, two separated sections of what was originally a single scroll about 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) in length. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of 64 places where various items of gold and silver were buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography , palaeography (forms of letters) and date ( c. 50–100 CE , possibly overlapping the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts). Since 2013, the Copper Scroll has been on display at the newly opened Jordan Museum in Amman after being moved from its previous home, the Jordan Archaeological Museum on Amman's Citadel Hill. A new facsimile of the Copper Scroll by Facsimile Editions of London was announced as being in production in 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176456264.
The opening as it stood in 2025
First-century CE treasure scroll from the Judean desert Parts of a replica of the Copper Scroll. The Copper Scroll ( 3Q15 ) is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Cave 3 near Khirbet Qumran , but differs significantly from the others. Whereas the other scrolls are written on parchment or papyrus , this scroll is written on metal : copper mixed with about 1 percent tin , although no metallic copper remained in the strips; the action of the centuries had been to convert the metal into brittle oxide. The so-called 'scrolls' of copper were, in reality, two separated sections of what was originally a single scroll about 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) in length. Unlike the others, it is not a literary work, but a list of 64 places where various items of gold and silver were buried or hidden. It differs from the other scrolls in its Hebrew (closer to the language of the Mishnah than to the literary Hebrew of the other scrolls, though 4QMMT shares some language characteristics), its orthography , palaeography (forms of letters) and date ( c. 50–100 CE , possibly overlapping with the latest of the other Qumran manuscripts). Since 2013, the Copper Scroll has been on display at the newly opened Jordan Museum in Amman after being moved from its previous home, the Jordan Archaeological Museum on Amman's Citadel Hill. A new facsimile of the Copper Scroll by Facsimile Editions of London was announced as being in production in 2014.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1278045874. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “one of the most famous of the dead sea scrolls”. Today it says “one of the dead sea scrolls found in cave 3 near khirbet qumran”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
one of the most famous of the dead sea scrolls
Now
one of the dead sea scrolls found in cave 3 near khirbet qumran
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.