Posted on 12/19/2009 6:02:29 PM PST by SunkenCiv
For his part, Peleg believes Qumran went through several distinct stages. As the morning heat mounts, he leads me up a steep ridge above the site, where a channel hewn into the rock brought water into the settlement. From our high perch, he points out the foundations of a massive tower that once commanded a fine view of the sea to the east toward today's Jordan. "Qumran was a military post around 100 B.C.," he says. "We are one day from Jerusalem, and it fortified the northeast shore of the Dead Sea." Other forts from this era are scattered among the rocky crags above the sea. This was a period when the Nabateans -- the eastern rivals of Rome -- threatened Judea. But Peleg says that once the Romans conquered the region, in 63 B.C., there was no further need for such bases. He believes out-of-work Judean soldiers and local families may have turned the military encampment to peaceful purposes, building a modest aqueduct that emptied into deep rectangular pools so that fine clay for making pots could settle. "Not every pool with steps is a ritual bath," he points out. He thinks the former soldiers built eight kilns to produce pottery for the markets of Ein Gedi and Jericho, grew dates and possibly made perfume -- until the Romans leveled the place during the Jewish insurrection.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
So, remnants of the Temple Library, taken out of Jerusalem just ahead of the Roman siege and destruction of the Temple, and hidden there?
Dead guys
Who is especially grateful the Dead Sea Scrolls were written?
The Grateful Dead.
Who didn't write the Dead See Scrolls?
Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles.
Mel Brooks or Buck Henry, I can’t remember which.
We do go back...
Yes we do.
Maybe it was his brother, Hunter Thompson?
Ping.
Wouldn’t they have used the three sea shells?
Thanks for this. Nice read.
Actually, I want a complete set [of teeth]
given that there are no alternatives at this point.
Set to have what’s left pulled in Jan.
Thanks for the ping. Interesting article, ongoing controversy.
My pleasure.
Ouch. I want you to know that if I could, I’d give you half the teeth I got.
LOL! They couldn’t cuss to get paper, we know that. “What are these unexplained smears on the Scrolls?”
:’D Good thing I’ve got everything posted for the evening.
You’re a super Dear.
Of course . . . I’d take the RIGHT half. LOL.
My upper left and my lower right are already gone. And many of the rest are fractured, broken, etc. and the rest are riddled with cavities. Wheeee.
And the roots are so long . . . and they are such fractured so easily . . . that an oral surgeon has to do the pulling.
That’s probably it. One guy (a little “out there”) claimed that this cache of scrolls actually from the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem, iow, the first destruction of the Temple. He based that on the contents of some of the ritual items from the Temple described as having been hid (this list is in the Copper Scroll). That doesn’t appear to be the case; his conclusion is based on the supposition that, when the Temple was restored by returning exiles from Babylon (Persian King of Kings Cyrus the Great said, go ahead, go back home if you want), some of the first Temple items had been irretrievably lost. But the texts themselves probably didn’t originate that far back, so it points to the Roman Wars period.
Guess 1: Dan Brown
Guess 2: William Rivers Pitt
Well yeah, he probably has kids in college, and an opportunity like this may not Qumran again... /rimshot
Hope it doesn’t hurt too much to laugh.
Well, assuming that was funny...
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