Ancient toilet may be new evidence of Jewish sect

Chicago Tribune ^ | 1-4-06

[SJackson]

QUMRAN, West Bank -- Researchers say their discovery of a 2,000-year-old toilet at one of the world's most important archaeological sites sheds new light on whether the ancient community was home to the authors of many of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

In a new study, three researchers say they have discovered the outdoor latrine used by the ancient residents of Qumran, on the barren banks of the Dead Sea. They say the find proves the people living here two millennia ago were Essenes, an ascetic Jewish sect that left Jerusalem to seek proximity to God in the desert.

Qumran and its environs have already yielded many treasures: the remains of a settlement with an aqueduct and ritual baths, ancient sandals and pottery, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, perhaps the greatest archaeological find of the 20th Century.

The scrolls, which include fragments of the books of the Old Testament and treatises on communal living and apocalyptic war, have shed important light on Judaism and the origins of Christianity.

[familyop]

Oops...sorry about the double post. I'm on a modem connection.

[familyop]

"You know, I've always wondered about toilet facilities in Jerusalem in the days of the Temple. Since Jerusalem represented Machane-Yisra'el (the encampment of Israel), did one have to leave the city every time one needed to relieve himself? I mean, they didn't have modern sewage facilities back then and . . .

. . . Am I making any sense, people?"

Yes. My best guess is that they had toilet facilities outside of their blocks. Dwellings were often built into close, modular clusters then and there.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Yes. My best guess is that they had toilet facilities outside of their blocks. Dwellings were often built into close, modular clusters then and there.

That might apply to any other ancient city, but my question regarding Jerusalem was predicated precisely on its unique status as Machane-Yisra'el. I'm guessing that in the wanderings in the Midbar people had to leave the camp to releave themselves, and since Jerusalem inherited the status of "the Encampment of Israel" then it would have inherited all the stringencies that went along with it.

[familyop]

Then maybe the Essenes were the official maintainers of the outhouse place. [Little humor there. That would have been a very long and anxious run for anyone in Jerusalem who had to go.]

Seriously, it is possible that people in Jerusalem went outside of the city. People who get plenty of exercise have that option (from experience as a soldier). Sedentary, contemporary people have more watery and unmanagable bowels.

[monkeyshine]

Why do you think they find so many pots at these archeology sites?

;-)