In the background are the ruins of the settlement at Qumran.  The settlement was occupied for about two centuries until 68 or 69, except for a period after an earthquake in 31 BCE.  The settlement at Qumran consisted of a complex of structures with different functions, including workshops, stables, cisterns and what the excavators have indentified as a scriptorium.  The Jewish religious community at Khirbet Qumran was founded sometime during the Hasmonean period.  Its members-- probably Essenes--were disaffected Jews who had withdrawn from particpation in Temple worship.  In the foreground are visible some of the caves in which scrolls were found.  The remainder of the eleven caves are in the vicinity. 

Lid: Height 5 cm, diameter 17.8 cm 
Jar: Height 49.8 cm, diameter 24 cm 

Jars like this one contained some of the scrolls found at Qumran.  The arid clmate kept the documents from decay.  This type of pottery jar is unknown elsewhere, but such jars were discovered both in the caves surrounding the Qumran settlement and also in the in the settlement itself.  This suggests that it was the community at Qumran was responsible for placing the scrolls in the caves.