Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

| Peer-Reviewed

Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 3)

Received: 4 January 2022 Accepted: 4 February 2022 Published: 8 June 2022

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.

Published in	Social Sciences (Volume 11, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
Page(s)	162-174
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Khirbet Qumrân, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, Philo, Pliny, Yaḥad, Sicarii, Zealots

References

[1]	Feyerabend, Paul K. Philosophical Papers, Vol. 1: Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
[2]	Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Routledge, 2002, passim, esp. 17, 20–21, 246, 251, 267.
[3]	Popper, Karl. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. London: Routledge, 2002, 20.
[4]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, passim.
[5]	Burdajewicz, Mariusz. “History of the ‘Qumran Caves’ in the Iron Age in the Light of the Pottery Evidence.” In The Caves of Qumran: Proceedings of the International Conference, Lugano 2014, edited by Marcello Fidanzio, 247–259, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Vol. 118. Leiden: Brill, 2016, 247–248.
[6]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 118–122.
[7]	Putz, Ann. “Qumran: Archaeology and Theories of Identification.” Nebraska Anthropologist, Vol. 77 (2002): 36–46. (Online), available at: https: //digitalcommons.unl.edu/nebanthro/77/ (accessed: March 4, 2021).
[8]	Hellmich, Christina. “Creating the Ideology of Al Qaeda: From Hypocrites to Salafi-Jihadists.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2008): 111–124.
[9]	Zelin, Aaron Y. “The War between ISIS and al-Qaeda for Supremacy of the Global Jihadist Movement.” Research Notes: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, No. 20 (June, 2014): 1–11.
[10]	Allen, Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. “Josephus: Noble Sicarii Suicide or Mass Slaughter at Mount Masada?” Journal for Semitics, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2019): 1–28.
[11]	Zeitlin, Solomon. "Zealots and Sicarii." Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 81, No. 4 (December, 1962): 395–398.
[12]	Smith, Morton. “Zealots and Sicarii, Their Origins and Relation.” The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 64, No. 1 (January, 1971): 1–19.
[13]	Schäfer, Peter. The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman World: The Jews of Palestine from Alexander the Great to the Arab Conquest. London: Routledge, 2003, 129–130.
[14]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 117–121.
[15]	Yadin, Yigael. “Masada. First Season of Excavations, 1963–1964.” The Israel Exploration Society (1965): 105–108.
[16]	Roth, Cecil. “Were the Qumran Sectarians Essenes? A Re-examination of Some Evidences.” Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. 10 (1959): 87–93.
[17]	Shanks, Hershel. “Qumran–The Pottery Factory.” Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 32, No. 5 (2006): 26–32.
[18]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 1–74.
[19]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 12, 47 and 49.
[20]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 47 and 49.
[21]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 35–36.
[22]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 131–132.
[23]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 56–57, 86.
[24]	Laperrousaz, Ernest-Marie, ed. Qoumrân et les Manuscrits de la Morte: Histoire et Archéologie du Site. Paris: A. & J. Picard, 1976, 99–109.
[25]	Wood, Bryant G. “To Dip or Sprinkle? The Qumran Cisterns in Perspective.” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 256 (Autumn, 1984): 55.
[26]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007), 13, 63.
[27]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007), 51.
[28]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 21.
[29]	Gunneweg, Jan and Marta Balla. “Was the Qumran Settlement a Mere Pottery Production Center? What Instrumental Neutron Activation Revealed.” In Holistic Qumran: Trans-Disciplinary Research of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, edited by Jan Gunneweg, Annemie Adriaens and Joris Dik, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Vol. 87 (March, 2010), 47–49.
[30]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 42–44.
[31]	Stacey, David. “Some Archaeological Observations on the Aqueducts of Qumran.” Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2007): 222–243.
[32]	Lesches, Schneur Zalman. Understanding Mikvah: An Overview of Mikvah Construction. National Library of Canada: Cataloguing in Publication Data, 2001, passim.
[33]	Lesches, Schneur Zalman. Understanding Mikvah: An Overview of Mikvah Construction. National Library of Canada: Cataloguing in Publication Data, 2001, 45.
[34]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 36–37.
[35]	Reich, Ronnie. “Miqwa’ot (Jewish Ritual Immersion Baths) in Eretz Israel in the Second Temple and Mishnah and Talmud Periods.” Ph.D. Diss., Hebrew University, 1990, passim.
[36]	Zissu, Boaz and Amir Ganor. “Horvat Ethri–A Jewish Village from the Second Temple Period and the Bar Kokhba Revolt in the Judean Foothills.” Journal of Jewish Studies, Vol. 60, No. 1 (Spring, 2009): 90–136.
[37]	Zangenberg, Jürgen K. “Pure Stone: Archaeological Evidence for Jewish Purity Practices in Late Second Temple Judaism (Miqwa’ot and Stone Vessels).” In Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism, edited by Christian Frevel and Christophe Nihan, 537–572. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
[38]	Weiss, Zeev. “From Galilean Town to Roman City, 100 BCE–200 CE.” In Galilee in the Late Temple and Mishnaic Periods: Volume 2: The Archaeological Record from Cities, Towns and Villages, edited by David A. Fiensy and James Riley Strange, 55. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.
[39]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 12–15, 27.
[40]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 5, 11, 12, 42.
[41]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 14.
[42]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 44.
[43]	Magness, Jodi. “Were Sacrifices Offered at Qumran?: The Animal Bone Deposits Reconsidered.” Journal of Ancient Judaism, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2016): 5–34.
[44]	Golb, Norman. "The Problem of Origin and Identification of the Dead Sea Scrolls," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, No. 124 (1980): 1–24.
[45]	Golb, Norman. “Les manuscrits de la mer Morte: Une nouvelle approche du problème de leur origine.” Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, No. 5 (1985): 1133–1149.
[46]	Golb, Norman. “Who Hid the Dead Sea Scrolls?” Biblical Archaeologist, Vol. 28 (1987a): 68–82.
[47]	Golb, Norman. “Réponse à la 'Note' de E.-M. Laperrousaz," Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales, No. 6 (1987b): 1313–1320.
[48]	Golb, Norman. “The Dead Sea Scrolls." The American Scholar, Vol. 58 (1989): 177–207.
[49]	Golb, Norman. “Khirbet Qumran and the Manuscripts of the Judaean Wilderness: Observations on the Logic of Their Investigation.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 49, No. 2 (April, 1990): 103–114.
[50]	Golb, Norman. “Khirbet Qumran and the Manuscript Finds of the Judaean Wilderness.” In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 722, edited by Michael Wise, Norman Golb, John Collins, and Dennis Pardee, 51–72. New York: The New York Academy of Sciences, 1996.
[51]	Golb, Norman. “The Qumran-Essene Theory and Recent Strategies Employed in its Defense.” (2007): 1–13 (Online), available at: https: //oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/Recent_Strategies_2007.pdf (Accessed: March 18, 2021).
[52]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 61.
[53]	Taylor, Joan E. “Khirbet Qumran in Period III.” In Qumran—the Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates, Proceedings of a Conference Held at Brown University, Nov. 17–19, 2002, edited by Katharina Galor, Jean-Baptiste Humbert and Jürgen Zangenberg, 134. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
[54]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 41–43.
[55]	Taylor, Joan E. “Khirbet Qumran in Period III.” In Qumran—the Site of the Dead Sea Scrolls: Archaeological Interpretations and Debates, Proceedings of a Conference Held at Brown University, Nov. 17–19, 2002, edited by Katharina Galor, Jean-Baptiste Humbert and Jürgen Zangenberg, 133 n. 4. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
[56]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 50 and 101.
[57]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007), 65.
[58]	Dhali, Maruf A., Sheng He, Mladen Popović, Eibert Tigchelaar and Lambert Schomaker. “A Digital Palaeographic Approach Towards Writer Identification in the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Pattern Recognition Applications and Methods, ICPRAM 2017, 693–702. Porto: Scitepress, 2017.
[59]	Yardeni, Ada. “A Note on a Qumran Scribe.” In New Seals and Inscriptions: Hebrew, Idumean, and Cuneiform, edited by Meir Lubetski, 286–298. Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007.
[60]	Yadin, Yigael. The Temple Scroll, Vol. 2. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, The Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University, The Shrine of the Book, 1983, 390–402.
[61]	Yadin, Yigael. “Is the Temple Scroll a Sectarian Document!” In Humanizing America's Iconic Book: Society of Biblical Literature Centennial Addresses 1980, edited by Gene M. Tucker and Douglas Knight, 153–169. Chicago: Scholars Press, 1980.
[62]	Milgrom, Jacob. “Studies in the Temple Scroll.” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 97, No. 4 (December, 1978): 501–523.
[63]	Maier, Johann. The Temple Scroll: An Introduction, Translation and Commentary, The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, Vol. 34. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987, 4.
[64]	Wentling, Judith L. “Unraveling the Relationship Between 11QT, the Eschatological Temple, and The Qumran Community.” Revue de Qumrân, Vol. 14, No. 1/53 (Juin, 1989): 61–73.
[65]	Stegemann, Hartmut. "The Qumran Essenes: Local Members of the Main Jewish Union in Late Second Temple Times." In The Madrid Qumran Congress: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Madrid, 18–21 March 1991, edited by J. Trebolle Barrera and L. Vegas Montaner, 83–166, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Vol. 11. Leiden: Brill, 1992.
[66]	Wise, Michael. A New Translation: The Dead Sea Scrolls. New York: Harper Collins Publisher, 2005, 211–223.
[67]	Puech, Émile. "Some Results of the Restoration of the Copper Scroll by EDF Mécénat." In The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years after their Discovery: Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20–25, 1997 edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman, Emanuel Tov and James C. VanderKam; executive editor Galen Marquis, 893. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society and the Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, 2000.
[68]	Puech, Émile. The Copper Scroll Revisited, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Vol. 112. Leiden: Brill, 2015, 15–17.
[69]	Benoit, Pierre, Józef Tadeusz Milik and Roland. de-Vaux. Les Grottes de Murabbaat, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon, 1961, passim.
[70]	Lehmann, Manfred R. “Studies in the Murabbaʿat and Naḥal Ḥever Documents.” Revue de Qumrân, Vol. 4, No. 1/13 (Janvier, 1963): 53–81.
[71]	Cotton, Hannah M., Ada Yardeni. eds. Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek Documentary Texts from Naḥal Ḥever and other Sites: The Seiyâal Collection, Discoveries in the Judaean Desert, Vol. 27. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977, passim.
[72]	Mor, Menahem. The Second Jewish Revolt: The Bar Kokhba War, 132–136 CE, edited by Alan J. Avery-Peck and William Scott Green, 239. The Brill Reference Library of Judaism, Vol. 50. Leiden: Brill, 2016.
[73]	Flint, Peter W. The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls and the Book of Psalms, Vol. 17. Leiden: Brill, 1997, 43–45.
[74]	Vermès, Géza. The Complete Dead Sea scrolls in English. London: Penguin Books, 2004, 14.
[75]	Cross, Frank Moore and Esther Eshel. “Ostraca from Khirbet Qumrân.” Israel Exploration Journal, Vol. 47, No. 1/2 (January 1, 1997): 26.
[76]	Crown, Alan David and Lena Cansdale. "Qumran: Was it an Essene Settlement?" Biblical Archaeology Review, Vol. 20, No. 5 (1994): 24–78.
[77]	Stacey, David. “Some Archaeological Observations on the Aqueducts of Qumran.” Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 14, No. 2 (2007): 236–237.
[78]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 18.
[79]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 34.
[80]	Magen, Yitzhak and Yuval Peleg. “The Qumran Excavations 1993–2004: Preliminary Report.” Judea & Samaria Publications, No. 6 (2007): 22.
[81]	Ariel, Donald T. “The Coins from the Surveys and Excavations of Caves in the Northern Judean Desert.” 'Atiqot XLI, Part 2 (2002): 281–304 (esp. 282, 285 & 286).
[82]	Laperrousaz, Ernest-Marie. "’Infra hos engadda’: notes à propos d'un article recent.” Review Biblique, Vol. 69 (1962): 369–380.
[83]	Hirschfeld, Yizhar. “A Community of Hermits Above Ein Gedi.” Cathedra, Vol. 96 (2000a): 8–40.
[84]	Hirschfeld, Yizhar. “A Settlement of Hermits above ʿEn Gedi.” Tel Aviv, Vol. 27 (2000b): 103–155.
[85]	De Vaux, Roland. Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Schweich Lectures of the British Academy 1959. London: Oxford University Press, 1973, 58-59.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. (2022). Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Social Sciences, 11(3), 162-174. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc Sci. 2022;11(3):162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15,
  author = {Nicholas Peter Legh Allen},
  title = {Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {11},
  number = {3},
  pages = {162-174},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221103.15},
  abstract = {This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism
AU  - Nicholas Peter Legh Allen
Y1  - 2022/06/08
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 162
EP  - 174
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
AB  - This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen

School of Ancient Languages and Text Studies, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. (2022). Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Social Sciences, 11(3), 162-174. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc. Sci. 2022, 11(3), 162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Nicholas Peter Legh Allen. Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism. Soc Sci. 2022;11(3):162-174. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15,
  author = {Nicholas Peter Legh Allen},
  title = {Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {11},
  number = {3},
  pages = {162-174},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20221103.15},
  abstract = {This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Khirbet Qumrân: Scrolls, Sectarians, Subversives and Scepticism
AU  - Nicholas Peter Legh Allen
Y1  - 2022/06/08
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 162
EP  - 174
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20221103.15
AB  - This paper re-visits the popular Qumrân-centric narrative as first formulated and introduced by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s. Although not totally implausible, the primary claims of this currently, leading hypothesis seem to be scientifically falsifiable on a number of counts. In addition, other important and seemingly underestimated evidence, better assists in describing an alternative reconstruction of Khirbet-Qumrân’s last days. As its point of departure, this paper employs a working precis of Roland de Vaux’s initial conjectures. Then, based on the more reliable data gained thus far, an attempt is made to corroborate or refute its claimed truth-value, step by step. As this learned narrative has been augmented and enhanced during the past 70 years, where relevant, the import of these refinements is dealt with in a similar manner. Here, the paper makes special reference to the seemingly undervalued yet pioneering work of Norman Golb, Yizhar Hirschfeld, Yitzhak Magen and Yuval Peleg. It also makes careful reference to any available data that may shed light on this problematic issue. Consequently, reference is made to ancient reports, known religious practices, historical records or material culture, in an attempt is made to suggest a more plausible hypothesis as regards the presence of both scriptural and sectarian literature in the Qumrân region. Accordingly, based on the available evidence, this paper confirms that there is simply insufficient substantiation to firmly place an Essene community at Khirbet Qumrân for any significant amount of time, let alone wishful claims of this once being the “mother” community in Judea.
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
ER  -

Copy | Download