The Qumran Cemetery: 150 Years of Research

Abstract

Any satisfactory interpretation of the site of Khirbet Qumran must take into account the large cemetery just east of it. Indeed, just by virtue of the physical proximity of the ruins and the cemetery, as by their lay-outs which are mutually adapted one to the other, the relationship between the two demands an explanation.' But an accurate assessment of the whole can only be attained when each part has first been properly understood. While for many years, scholars were dependent solely upon Father Roland de Vaux's excavations from the forties and fifties, in recent years there have been several new excavations, in the site itself as well as in the cemetery, which can now be used to complement our knowledge about Khirbet Qumran. And most recently, new anthropological studies on de Vaux' excavations have just been published.2 The present paper will focus on the cemetery, first by summarizing the results of all the work conducted in the cemetery, including that of the past five years, and second by offering some tentative conclusions as to the nature of the burials within it.