166 BETWf.ENITXTAND....RTIFACTrecoveredJewishdocumentswiththem.IScholarswereawareoftheruins
nearWadiQumransincethedescriptionofFerdinanddeSaulcyin1861,
bUIapartfromabriefsurveyandexcavationof(wotombsbyC.Clermanl-
Ganneauin 1873 andvariousspeculationstoidentifyit wilhoneofthe
citiesmentionedintheIlebrewBible(Gomorrah,CityofSalt,CIC.),thesite
didnotanractadetailedinvestigation.^2 Alsobeforethecloseof!.henine-
teenthcentury,SolomonSchechterhaddiscoveredtwomedievalcopiesof
whatisnowknownastheDamascusDocume'llamongthemassofman-
uscriptslongforgotteninthegenizahofa KaraitcsynagogueinCairo.^3
WhenSchechterpublishedthedocument in 1910,it sparkedimmediate
excitementamongscholars,althoughnoonecouldhavepredictedthat
tencopiesfromaroundtheturnoftheerawouldlaterappearincaves
nearQumran. Schechteraltribtlled theworkto aZadokitesect.Others
related this preViously unknownJewish groupwith PhariseesorSad-
ducees.<IInhindsightitissurprising,butnothingaboUlthesiteofQummn
orevena key~sectarian~documentparticularlysuggestedEssenes.Allof
that changed dramatiC'J.lIy after the discovery ofscrolls near Khirbet
Qumranin 1947.
Amongthefirstscrollspublished,numerouselementsintheCommu-
nityRule-especiallytheinitiationprocedures--recalledtoscholars the
descriptionsoftheEssenesbyancientauthors. Evenbeforecopiesofthe
DamascusDocumentcametoligh! inQumranCave 4 in1952,scholars
recognized thatthisdocument belongedwith the new texts and, by
implication,somehow withtheEssenes: itcontainssimilarlawstothe
CommumlyRule,anditsmysterious"TeacherofRighteousness"(CD1:11;
20:28)featuresprominentlyintheHabakkukPesher.Second,thescrolls
awakenedinteresl in thenearby ruinsofa scalementat Qumran that
FalherRolanddeVauxexcavatedin 1951 and1953-56.Seennowaspossi-
blyrelatedtoEssenescrolls,thissiteseemedtomatchPliny'sdescription
I E.g.,Christian D. Ginsbul1l, TheEssenes: TheirHistoryandDoctrilles(London,
Longman,Green,Longm..1n,Roberts,andGreen,1864);S<.'CthebibliogrJphyinEmilSChtlrer,
7beHislOryoflheJeu!isbPeopleilllbcABeofJesll$Christ(175B.C.-AD.135)(rev.anded.
G.Vermes,r.Millar,andM.Black;Edinburgh:T&TClark,1973-87),2:555-56.
2 PhillipR.Davies.QlImmn(CitiesoftheBiblicalWOfld;GuildfOfd,Surrey:lutterworth,
11)62),30-32
jSl:ef:mC.Reif,"1l1eDamascusDocumentfromtheDiroGeni7..ah:lISDiscovery,Early
Sl:udyandHistoricalSignifiC3nce.~inTheDamascll$Docllml,ml;.ACenlemlialofDisc~
Proceedl1JgsoftheThirdImenmti€l/IalSymposiumoftbeOrloPlGe7lterfortbe5ludyoftbe
Detu/SeaScrollsandAs.sQciaterllllemlllrf!,4-BFebmary, 1998 (ed.j.M.Baumganen,E.G.
Ch3zoo,andA.Pinnick;sn:>J34;lciden:Brill,2000),11}-1;.
<I PhilipR. Davies. tbeDamQS€llsCovePm1ltOSOTSup25; Shefftekl:JSOT Press,
1983),5-14.