Recent studies of the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal that they may have been written by a sectarian group known as the Essenes, or at least part of it was.

This new development is based on the 200 textiles discovered in caves at Qumran, in the West Bank, where the religious texts had been stored. The Qumran is another archaeological site that experts have been studying for years.

Scholars have long been at odds on who could have authored the Dead Sea Scrolls and how the texts, which were supposedly of Israeli culture to Qumran, and so the new discovery could help solve this fascinating, long-standing scholastic mystery.

The study brings to light the fact that the found textiles were made of linen, rather than wool as was the previous assumption, which was the favoured fabric used in ancient Israel.

Also they have proven to lack important decorative elements that identify an artefact from that place and time. In fact, some of the material was even bleached white, certifying the fact that these fabrics are from another location and of another culture.

All in all, researchers say that these findings strongly indicate that the Essenes, who were a primeval Jewish tribe, composed and authored some of the scrolls.

However, not everyone is in accord with this analysis.

An archaeologist who has done work and excavation at Qumran has told Live Science that the aforementioned textiles could have come from a community that was running away from the Roman army after the collapse of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. These people might have been responsible for putting the text as well as the textile in the caves.

Whatever the outcome of the research might be, it only proves to move us forward in discovering a little bit more about the mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.