1949 and 1956, the site was soon identified as a settlement for a group of
Essenes who had already been linked to scrolls found in a nearby cave in
1946/47. More caves and scrolls were discovered over the next decade (see
fig. 37 and map 11). Due to the lack of a detailed report on the stratigraphy
of the site and a complete presentation of finds, the history of the build-
ings and the stages of occupation are still not entirely clear. Many scholars
accept the following chronology: after an initial phase of settlement in
Iron Age II that lasted from about 630 to 580b.c.e., a second phase of oc-
cupation began around 100b.c.e.and lasted until about 9/8b.c.e.or
shortly thereafter (Period I). After a brief period of abandonment, the site
was reoccupied from around 4b.c.e.until it was destroyed by the Romans
in 68c.e.(Period II). A small Roman garrison was then stationed at
Qumran until 73 or 74c.e.(Period III).
More disputed is the function of the site in Periods I and II. While
most scholars still more or less accept de Vaux’s view that a sectarian com-
munity of Essenes inhabited Qumran during these phases, a significant
minority regard Qumran as part of the economic infrastructure of the
Dead Sea region. Advocates of the Essene hypothesis point to several fea-
tures of the site that suggest its use as a religious community center: the
high number and large size of the stepped pools, interpreted asmiqva}ot
(ritual baths; see fig. 39); the distinctive cylindrical jars (see fig. 38),
thought to have been used to store scrolls and other valuables; the high
number of ink wells, indicative of scribal activity; the animal bone depos-
its, suggestive of kosher communal meals; the communal dining rooms,
with adjacent pantries containing more than a thousand dishes; the nu-
merous workshops, including a kiln for the production of ritually pure
pottery; and the large cemetery nearby that is hard to explain unless a
community used it over time. Proponents of the Essene hypothesis also
point to the nearby caves with scrolls, several of which describe the beliefs
and practices of a sectarian group that resembles the Essenes as described
by Pliny, Philo, and Josephus.
Several alternative identifications of the site have been proposed in re-
cent years: a military fortress, a country villa, a commercial entrepôt, a for-
tified farm, or a center for ritual purification used by various Jewish
groups. Most of these proposals doubt that there was a connection be-
tween the scrolls and the site. Some of them maintain that the pottery rep-
ertoire at Qumran is not distinctive and that neither the settlement’s lay-
out and location nor the nearby cemetery is unique or indicative of a
religious community.340jürgen k. zangenbergEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:13 PM