Israeli scholars have pieced together and deciphered one of two previously unread manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls more than half a century since their discovery.

The 60 or more tiny fragments of parchment bearing encrypted Hebrew writing had previously been thought to come from a variety of different scrolls.

But now academics have found the pieces all fit together to make just one scroll.

The document makes reference to a unique 364-day calendar and a festival that marks the changing of the seasons celebrated by an ancient, celibate Jewish sect.

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Israeli scholars have pieced together and deciphered one of two previously unread manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls (pictured) more than half a century since their discovery, an Israeli university has said

The Dead Sea Scrolls have fascinated scholars and historians since the ancient texts were found around 70 years ago scattered within a series of caves in the West Bank.

Eshbal Ratson and Jonathan Ben-Dov from the University of Haifa's Bible studies department found the pieces all fit together after they started examining them just under a year ago.

Some of the fragments they had to decipher were smaller than 1cm² (0.15 inch²).

'They put it all together and said it was actually one scroll,' said Ilan Yavelberg a university spokesman.

A Haifa University statement said that Ratson and Ben-Dov were now working on deciphering the last remaining scroll.

Many experts believe the manuscripts of the Dead Sea were written by the celibate Essenes, a dissident Jewish sect that had retreated into the Judaean desert around Qumran and its caves.

The theory says the group either wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls or were caretakers of the legal, philosophical and religious documents.

The latest deciphered scroll contains references to the 364-day calendar used by the sect, as opposed to the lunar calendar used in Jewish religious practice today.

The 60 or more tiny fragments of parchment bearing encrypted Hebrew writing had previously been thought to come from a variety of different scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls have fascinated scholars and historians since the ancient texts were found around 70 years ago scattered within a series of caves in the West Bank

Visitors look at an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls at the new Museum of the Bible in the US city of Washington DC on November 14, 2017. Numbering around 900, they were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea

The scroll also identifies the name of a festival that celebrates the changing of the seasons.

The festivals included New Wheat, New Wine and New Oil, which are related to the Jewish festival Shavout and no longer observed in Judaism, writes BBC.

Researchers also identified a festival observed four times a year called Tekufah - which means 'period' in modern-day Hebrew and marks the transition between the seasons.

The parchment and papyrus scrolls contain Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic writing, and include several of the earliest-known texts from the Bible, including the oldest surviving copy of the Ten Commandments.

WHAT ARE THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS? Discovered between between 1946 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 ancient manuscripts containing parts of what is now known as the Hebrew Bible, as well as a range of extra-biblical documents. They were first found by shepherd Muhammed Edh-Dhib, as he searched for a stray among the limestone cliffs at Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea in what was then British Mandate Palestine - now the West Bank. The story goes that in a cave in the dark crevice of a steep rocky hillside, Muhammed hurled a stone into the dark interior and was startled to hear the sound of breaking pots. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a caves in the limestone cliffs at Khirbet Qumran (pictured) in the West Bank Venturing inside, the young Bedouin found a mysterious collection of large clay jars, in some of which he found old scrolls, some wrapped in linen and blackened with age. The texts are of great historical and religious significance and include the earliest known surviving copies of biblical and extra-biblical documents, as well as preserving evidence of diversity in late Second Temple Judaism. Dated to various ranges between 408BC and 318AD, they are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus and bronze. The scrolls are traditionally divided into three groups. 'Biblical' manuscripts, which are copies of texts from the Hebrew Bible comprise 40 per cent of the haul. Advertisement

The scrolls are written in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean, mostly on parchment, but with some written on papyrus and bronze. The scrolls were found in Qumran (pictured)

The scroll also has annotations in the margin from a scribe correcting the author's original work.

Thought to have been written between 200 BC and 100 AD, the documents inscribe some of the oldest known foundations of the Old Testament.

Despite experts citing the texts as among the biggest archaeological finds of the 20th Century, their origins and authorship have remained a mystery for decades.

Numbering around 900, they were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea.

Thought to have been written between 200 BC and 100 AD, the scrolls inscribe some of the oldest known foundations of the Old Testament

The scroll identifies the name of a festival that celebrates the changing of the seasons. The festivals included New Weat, New Wine and New Oil, which are related to the Jewish festival Shavout and no longer observed in Judaism