Posted on 07/30/2004 8:49:22 AM PDT by blam
Archeologists claim Essenes never wrote Dead Sea Scrolls
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
Last Update: 30/07/2004 09:23
Located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, Qumran is famous throughout the world as the place where the Essenes, who have been widely described in studies, conferences and exhibitions as a type of Jewish "monk," are said to have lived and written the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, based on findings soon to be published, Israeli archaeologists now argue that Qumran "lacks any uniqueness."
The latest research joins a growing school of thought attempting to explode the "Qumran myth" by stating that not only did the residents of Qumran live lives of comfort, they did not write the scrolls at all.
Two Israeli archaeologists, Yuval Peleg and Itzhak Magen, have recently completed 10 seasons of excavations at Qumran, sponsored by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria. These are the most extensive digs since those conducted by Roland de Vaux half a century earlier. Among the finds were numerous pieces of jewelry, imported glass and expensive stone cosmetics containers.
"It's impossible to say that the people who lived at Qumran were poor," said Peleg. "It is also impossible that de Vaux did not see the finds we saw. He simply ignored what didn't suit him."
Qumran became famous after the discovery in 1947 of scrolls in the nearby caves. They were first identified as having been written by the Essenes by Professor Eliezer Sukenik. Later, Dominican monk and archaeologist Roland de Vaux, a scholar at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, excavated Qumran from 1951-1956. De Vaux concluded that the site served as a community and scroll-copying center for the Essenes, who he believed lived in the surrounding caves. Archaeologist Yigael Yadin, Sukenik's son, supported de Vaux's conclusions, as did most of the scholars at the time.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are widely regarded as the most important archaeological discovery ever made in Israel. They are the only compendium of contemporary writings to survive the Second Temple period, and are thus an invaluable source of information about the customs of the times. They are also the oldest biblical scrolls ever discovered.
The first seven scrolls were found by Bedouin shepherds in 1947. Three of them were purchased by Sukenik, and the rest were bought years later by Yadin. De Vaux's excavations, carried out when Qumran was in Jordanian hands, unearthed hundreds more scrolls, most in poor condition. The most important of these was the Temple Scroll, which was purchased by Israel after the Six Day War. Some of the more important scrolls are on display in the Israel Museum's Shrine of the Book, considered the museum's prime draw.
Although the Essene connection to Qumran was accepted by most scholars, over the years, unanswered questions about the site multiplied. De Vaux never published the full reports of his dig. His finds are scattered in numerous storage facilities, and many may even have been lost. In recent years, archaeologists have begun to claim that de Vaux purposely concealed finds that did not fit his theory.
"De Vaux wrote that he found only ordinary pottery," explained Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "And he attached a great deal of significance to the finding of seven ritual baths. Today, we know that numerous ritual baths at a site is not unusual."
When Hirschfeld published an article in 1994 that challenged de Vaux and Yadin's conclusions, the responses he got were those of "true believers, not cool-headed scientists," he said.
In 1995, Professor Norman Golb of the University of Chicago caused an academic earthquake when he accused those in charge of Dead Sea Scroll research of concealing information from the public. Golb argued that the scrolls came originally from various libraries in Jerusalem, and were brought to Qumran and hidden in the surrounding caves to ensure their survival during the Great Revolt of the Jews against the Romans, which took place between 66 and 73 CE. Golb based his theory on the fact that the scrolls were written by more than 500 different hands. He and other scholars noted that some of the scrolls were particular to various sects active in Jewish society at the time, some of which were rivals of the Essenes. They charged that this fact had been concealed by scroll scholars.
According to Hirschfeld, the finds at Qumran are "revolutionary and contradict everything we know about every aspect of the Essenes."
But among the supporters of the traditional theory, there are those who remain unmoved. Dr. Maen Broshi, former chief curator of the Shrine of the Book and the one who coined the description of Qumran as "the oldest monastery in the Western world," said that he does not believe the reports of finds of jewelry and cosmetics vessels at Qumran. "If these items were found, they are not from the site itself, but rather belonged to the Roman garrison stationed there after its destruction," he said. According to Broshi, "even today, 98 or 99 percent of scholars still believe that Qumran was an Essene monastery."
The Essenes were one of many groups active at the end of the Second Temple period. In contemporary writings, such as those of the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius, they are described as a group that eschewed materialism and distanced themselves from population centers. Roman historian Pliny the Elder noted that a group of Essenes lived in the area of Ein Gedi, which is on the western shore of the Dead Sea south of Qumran. Scholars view the Essenes as close to the worldview of Jesus and the early Christians, especially because of their choice of poverty as a lifestyle. Many scholars believe that John the Baptist was influenced by the Essenes, making the subject of interest not only to academic circles, but also to a wider audience of Christian scholars and lay people. This in turn has made the Essenes the most widely studied group of the period.
GGG Ping.
Reminds me of the joke about the monk studying the dead sea scrolls who discovered that an early scribe had accidently left out the "r" in "celebrate" in the passage concerning rules for priests.
Interesting. Anybody seen the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority that is currently traveling the museum circuit?
I recall reading a book by an archaeologist (whose name I've forgotten) who theorized that the scrolls were written, not by the Essenes, but by a militant sect he referred to as the "Zadokites." He made a fairly good case for it, if I recall correctly.
"It's impossible to say that the people who lived at Qumran were poor," said Peleg. "It is also impossible that de Vaux did not see the finds we saw. He simply ignored what didn't suit him."I've read about this before. The so-called scribal room of the supposed Essenes (an obscure sect reported by Josephus I think it was -- and by no one else) turned out to be the dining room of the ancient analogue to a resort hotel overlooking the Dead Sea. The hotel (and brothel) thrived from the salt trade, which existed as long ago as Sodom and Gomorrah. The scrolls, along with sacramental items from the Temple, were hidden by Temple personnel prior to its destruction, and were not recovered because those who did the hiding died. The Copper Scroll contains mostly obscure descriptions (landmarks such as trees which no longer exist; names of this or that person's well; etc) of the hiding places, but the Copper Scroll itself was never recovered in ancient times. 's fascinating.
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From what I have read, noboy is really sure who the Qumran people were.
The Essenes were one of a bewildering number of different Jewish sects existing at the time and connecting them with Qumran is a tenuous effort.
What is more interesting than who the Qumranites actually were, were the contents of the scrolls. The scrolls themselves contain various types of documents. Some are not found in the Bible, such as the "War Scroll" or the "Temple Scroll".
Others are different versions of various books of the Old Testament which versions, although different in some aspects, all basically tell the same Biblical story, confirming the antiquity of the Old Testament itself. There are also books which are not not included in the Christian Bible or official Jewsih religious texts for various reasons but still used by some Judaeo-Christian religious groups today. Check out "Banned Books of the Bible" on the history channel.
The non-biblical texts allude to tales of a great struggle between the sons of darkness and the sons of light - whether this was a figurative or real struggle is uncertain, as well as who these characters represent represent.
The people who wrote the scrolls were obsessed with ritual cleanliness, with respect to issues like where a person could have a bowel movement, how to perform ritual baths and rites to remove uncleanliness, etc.
The Qumran site itself contains ruins which could be interpreted to be ritual baths.
Its extremely interesting and most unfortunate that more is not known of this intreguing settlement and the scrolls themselves. With time, more material may appear.
Anybody seen the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority that is currently traveling the museum circuit?I saw it. It was arranged for a limited number of museums, and one of those cancelled (supposedly due to terrorist threats; I won't record here what I really think happened) so the local museum (Grand Rapids Michigan) picked it up. The exhibition would be worth seeing if one is also going to see the rest of a major museum. IOW, it was kind of a dud. There were a dozen or so scroll fragments (literally fragments; it's fortunate that any of them survived) with a description of each one. That could easy be seen in 30 minutes, if that much time would be needed.
Given the nature of the ruins, I think it is difficult to ascertain with any degree of certitude what these structures were used for. We can only make assumptions.
What complicates the whole picture is an apparent conflict of interpretation between Jewish scholars and some Catholic scholars regarding the implications of these findings, which each group tending to view the material from their own perspective.
The real truth may lie somewhere in between or be something entirely different.
From what I have read, deciphering these scrolls was quite a cryptological effort.
For a layman like you or me, most of what has been uncovered, aside fro the actual site itself, would not mean much without extensive narrative and explanation.
The Qumran site itself contains ruins which could be interpreted to be ritual baths.Odd that the jewelry etc is attributed to the later Romans, while the baths -- which point in a very Roman direction -- are not. :')
The Jews in the Roman World
by Michael Grant
another editionJesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels
by Michael Grant
I'd be interested if anyone has recommendations for good books on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I've had a nagging interest in them ever since I learned about them in my Catholic HS freshman religion class. Most seem quite detailed, which at this point in my interest isn't really all that appealing.
mark
Unless ancient pilgrims traveled like the folks on the S.S. Minnow, and neglected to pack their stuff when they left, the presence of things like jewelry and cosmetics containers indicates that the people lived there.
BTTT
bttt
Complicating the controversy was the discovery amid the ruins of a Gao'uld Hand Device...
It took me a minute....Very Good!
I think one of the big things was that they didn't claim Mary was a virgin.
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