ber of texts were written in three types of a “cryptic” Hebrew script at-
tested nowhere else.
Seventeen documentary texts from Cave 4 written in Hebrew, Ara-
maic, Greek, and Nabatean probably did not originally come from
Qumran. The Aramaic economic list 4Q355, Hebrew documentary texts
6Q26-6Q29, and Hebrew ostraca KhQ 1-3, however, are connected to the
site.
Several graffiti and ostraca (fifty-one in Hebrew and Aramaic, eleven
in Greek, and three in Latin) were found at Qumran and at{Ein Feshkha,
in addition to seven graffiti of uncertain content and ten recently discov-
ered ones. The vessels used for the graffiti are of various origins and docu-
ment the connection between settlement and the Dead Sea region, not
only the caves.Wadi Murabba{at
Many other texts of a different character were found south of Qumran in
caves perched in the eastern cliffs of the Judean Desert. Apart from traces
of habitation from the Chalcolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages and the Arab
period, the four caves in Wadi Murabba{at (NaFal Dargah) examined in
1952 yielded important finds from the late Second Temple period to the
time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (pottery, coins, textiles, Roman military
equipment, and documents). The oldest document from Murabba{at dates
to the Second Temple period and is a record of a court decision (Mur 72;
paleographically dated to between 125 and 100b.c.e.). A few private legal
documents suggest that refugees from the Jerusalem area fled to the region
at the end of the First Revolt; these include an acknowledgment of debt
(Mur 18); a writ of divorce dated to “year 6” (Mur 19); deeds of sale of land
(Mur 21, 23, 25); and a marriage contract (Mur 20)
The majority of texts, however, date to the Bar Kokhba period when
refugees brought private documents on papyrus (letters as well as legal
documents) and religious texts on scrolls with them. The private docu-
ments cover a wide range: marriage contracts, a certificate of remarriage,
farming contracts, and fiscal and administrative documents. Two letters
are directly written by Bar Kokhba to Yeshua Ben Galgula (Mur 43-44).
Mur 29 and 30 are especially important because they indicate that Jerusa-
lem recognized the authority of a Jewish state as late as September-
October 135.355Archaeology, Papyri, and InscriptionsEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:14 PM