Qumran: Caves, Scrolls, and Buildings

Abstract

The caves in the vicinity of Khirbet Qumran and their contents have been the subjects of much academic vitriol over the past fifteen or so years. Two competing positions currently exist regarding what Khirbet Qumran was and who lived there. The first position, originally articulated by de Vaux and today championed in the archaeological community by Jodi Magness, Magen Broshi and the late Hanan Eshel, states that Qumran was a sectarian settlement, most probably Essene, one of the three main Jewish movements in the Greco-Roman period described by Josephus, with secondary support from Philo and Pliny. The second position is not so much a position as an anti-position, arguing against the Qumran-Essene hypothesis. Thus, there is good archaeological evidence, independent of the Scrolls, for tying the caves to Khirbet Qumran. Keywords:caves; Khirbet Qumran; scrolls