Latrines of the Essenes?

The New York Times ^ | November 14, 2006 | By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

[aculeus]

Archaeologists, it seems, will dig anything, even latrines. Sometimes this uncovers the stuff of scholarly evidence.

Over a hill, a discreet distance from and out of sight of the ruins of Qumran, near the Dead Sea, a broad patch of soil appeared to be discolored. Two archaeological sleuths had reasons to suspect this may have been Qumran’s toilet. Soil samples yielded the desiccated eggs of human intestinal parasites.

The researchers say this could well be evidence supporting the controversial view that Qumran was occupied by an ascetic Jewish sect, the Essenes, and that they probably wrote the Dead Sea scrolls and hid them in nearby caves. The discovery of the scrolls, beginning in 1947, was a sensation, with the promise of yielding insights into Judaism and early Christianity.

The new findings were announced yesterday by Dr. James D. Tabor, a biblical historian at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Joe E. Zias, a paleopathologist in Israel. In an interview, Dr. Tabor said the link between the latrine and the Essenes was intriguing, but not firm. Not enough organic material has been recovered for scientific dating tests. Qumran has been in ruins since A.D. 70.

Two of the scrolls refer to a requirement that latrines be “northwest of the city” and “not visible from the city.” The Qumran latrine, some 1,000 yards away, seemed to comply.

Dr. Tabor conceded that it was possible, as recently proposed, that the site was a pottery factory but said it would have been run by a strict religious Jewish community.

[MeanWestTexan]

"Soil samples yielded the desiccated eggs of human intestinal parasites."

Gag.

[aculeus]

PING

[Fitzcarraldo]

I thought Jewish dietary laws were designed to prevent this.

[ElkGroveDan]

Soil samples yielded the desiccated eggs of human intestinal parasites....

...along with torn pages from an ancient, soiled, Sears catalog.

[SouthTexas]

Two archaeological sleuths had reasons to suspect this may have been Qumran’s toilet......... and that they probably wrote the Dead Sea scrolls

Isn't this a bit of a stretch?

[oh8eleven]

The Qumran latrine, some 1,000 yards away, seemed to comply.
One thing's for sure, whoever wrote that requirement didn't have a prostate problem.

[Alouette]

FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

[Tax-chick]

Isn't this a bit of a stretch?

I was thinking that, too.

I guess it's clear evidence that people with worms used the toilet, though.

[SouthTexas]

And people wonder why we doubt some of their "science".

[The_Victor]

The Qumran latrine, some 1,000 yards away, seemed to comply.

1/2mile+ walk to the toilet. I hope the Essenes were regular.

[Red Badger]

Isn't this a bit of a stretch?

What else you gonna be doin' out in the desert 2000 years ago?..............

[Terabitten]

evidence supporting the controversial view that Qumran was occupied by an ascetic Jewish sect, the Essenes

I didn't know that was controversial - I thought it was pretty well accepted fact.

[Red Badger]

1/2mile+ walk to the toilet. I hope the Essenes were regular.

With intestinal parasites? 1/2 Mile run.................

[dforest]

Some more "shit" to blame the Jews for

[MeanWestTexan]

Not sure about the "designed" to prevent -- more like "God said so" and the answer is "Yes, sir, how high?" --- but to those that try to guess the mind of God, parasites is really good rationale.

Regardless, there are a lot more IP that one can still get from kosher animals (and, even more likely in that day, drinking water).

There were also almost always non-Jews that lived among the Jews who would not have been subject to the Laws of Moses.

[The_Victor]

With intestinal parasites? 1/2 Mile run(s)............

[jim macomber]

My brother is an acrchaeologist and one of his colleagues specializes in fossillized...um...the end result of what people ate. It's a recognized specialty.

What I got a kick out of was this guy used to love to say, "It may be sh*t to you but it's my bread and butter."

[Tax-chick]

And people wonder why we doubt some of their "science".

Yeah, funny about that. "They had worms, so they wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls." I really follow that logic ...

[Coyoteman]

My brother is an acrchaeologist and one of his colleagues specializes in fossillized...um...the end result of what people ate.

The term we use in archaeology is "coprolites."

(Archaeologists are privvy to many ancient secrets.)