The scroll was discovered in Qumran Cave 1, by a group of three Ta'amireh shepherds, near the Ein Feshkha spring off the northwest shore of the Dead Sea between late 1946 and early 1947; initially discovered when one of the shepherds heard the sound of shattering pottery after throwing a rock while searching for a lost member of his flock.[1] Once the shepherds agreed to return in a few days, the youngest one, Muhammed edh-Dhib returned alone before them, finding a cave filled with broken and whole jars and fragments of scrolls.[13] Of the intact jars, edh-Dhib found all but two empty; one was filled with reddish earth, and the other with a leather scroll and two oblong items covered in a black wax or pitch, (later found to be the Great Isaiah Scroll, Habakkuk Commentary (1QpHab), and the Community Rule (1QS) respectively).[1] Edh-Dhib returned with the three scrolls to the displeasure of the other shepherds for his solo journey, and the scrolls were transferred to a Ta'amireh site southeast of Bethlehem where they were kept in a bag suspended on a tent pole for several weeks. During this time, the front cover of 1QIsaa broke off.[13] The three scrolls were brought to an antiques dealer in Bethlehem for appraisal.[14]