Two Notes on the Archaeology of Qumran

Abstract

The first part of this article focuses on an installation in a room on the eastern side of the site of Qumran which appears to be correctly identified in R. de Vaux's recently published field notes as a toilet. The presence of a toilet at Qumran is discussed in relation to the community's rules and regulations regarding purity and sanitary practices. The second part of the article focuses on the hoard of 561 silver coins from three pots in Locus 120 at Qumran. The composition and character of the hoard may best be understood in connection with the sect's interpretation of the Temple tax as a one-time payment made when a man reached adulthood and his name was recorded for the first time in the census registers. It is also possible, however, that the hoard represents the collected wealth of the community at the end of Period Ib, with no connection to the Temple tax.