Researchers point to pickaxes found in the cave to support the theory that Bedouin looters may have stolen the scrolls in the mid-twentieth century, leaving the storage materials behind.

"I imagine they came into the tunnel. They found the scroll jars. They took the scrolls," said Dr. Oren Gutfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "They even opened the scrolls and left everything around, the textiles, the pottery."

Dr. Gutfeld remains optimistic about further discoveries, noting that there are hundreds of caves yet to be explored in the region.