Most of the Dead Sea Scrolls are written on what type of material?

The Dead Sea scrolls were written on parchment made of processed animal hide known as vellum (approximately 85.5 – 90.5% of the scrolls), papyrus (estimated at 8.0 – 13.0% of the scrolls), and sheets of bronze composed of about 99.0% copper and 1.0% tin (approximately 1.5% of the scrolls).

Scholars with the Israeli Antiquities Authority have noted that there may be a hierarchy in the religious importance of the texts based on the type of animal that was used to create the hide. Scrolls written on goat and calf hides are considered by scholars to be more significant in nature. For example, archaeologists contend that the nine-meter Temple Scroll, which provides a detailed procedure for reconstructing the ideal Temple in Jerusalem and is written on goat hides, is among the most ritually significant discoveries at Qumran. The scrolls written on gazelle or ibex are by far considered to be less religiously significant in nature.

After seven decades from the discovery, archaeologists have uncovered roughly 40,000 fragments from more than 900 different manuscripts in 11 caves near the ancient ruins of Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Most were found wrapped in linen and stored in hand-made clay pots.