Reasessing Qumran archaeology

I am sick of the christian bull*** and cryptology with no
archaeological content at all, so here is some real Quram
archaeology, freely available, but seemingly never found
by the big bullshitter.
Confusingly, there are at least two more articles/chapters
by Hirschfeld with very similar titles.

Hirschfeld, Y. (2002),
"Qumran in the Second Temple Period: Reassessing the
Archaeological Evidence"
Liber Annuus, 52:247-296.
<www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA52/LA52247Hirschfeld_Qumran.pdf>
[50 pp, 956 kb]
The plates (B/W photo's ) are in a separate file
<http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA52/LA52t01Hirschfeld.pdf>
[8 pp, 2 mb]


"Few other sites in this country have generated research
literature as ramified and extensive as that relating to
Qumran, mainly on account of the treasure of scrolls found
in the caves near the site. At this stage, I seek to re-
examine the remains at Qumran as they are, outside of the
cultic context imparted to them by the excavator and
disregarding the contents of the scrolls that were indeed
found in the vicinity of the site but not among the remains
themselves. I have divided this article into four parts. In the
first one, I will examine de Vaux's interpretation and his
excavation methods at Qumran.
The second and third parts will deal with the archaeological
remains at Qumran dating from the second half of the 2nd
century B.C. until the second half of the 1st century A.D. In
the fourth one, I will try to summarize the finds in light of the
literary sources."

1. De Vaux's Excavations at Qumran

"A careful examination reveals that the excavation was not
conducted according to the customary stratigraphic rules.
De Vaux gave each architectural space (room, hall,
courtyard, or water installation) a separate locus number
that in most cases remained permanent even when two or
even three floors were revealed, one above the other, in the
same space. For example, in the two rooms (Loci 1 and 2)
south of the tower, two floors were found one above the other
0.5-0.6 m apart, and above them another level 1.3 m higher.
Despite this, the locus numbers of these rooms remained
unchanged."

"The conclusion to be drawn from this is that the excavation
at Qumran was not stratigraphic. The basic principle of
chronological distinction between archaeological strata
according to dated finds (ceramic vessels, coins, etc.) above
and below floors is not expressed in the Qumran excavations."

"As a result of this, elevation numbers do not appear in the
plans of the area of Qumran (since there was obviously no
separation of levels), and the walls of the buildings are not
numbered (since no attempt was made to identify their
stratigraphic contexts). It thus emerges that the locus
numbers allocated by de Vaux at Qumran are merely
inventory numbers for the various architectural spaces and
installations that were excavated at the site."

"The fact that the Qumran excavation was not conducted
according to the usual stratigraphic methods removes the
foundation from beneath most of the stratigraphic proposals
that de Vaux repeated in various publications. The only
points which may be made with certainty are: (1) most of
the site's construction existed for about 200 consecutive
years, from the second half of the second century B.C.E.
until the Great Revolt in 68 C.E., and (2) some time in the
first century B.C.E. the structure underwent modification and
expansion. The modifications occurred some time during
Herod's reign, in a period of prosperity and economic boom
in Judea."

2. Qumran during the Hasmonean Period - A Fortified Road-Station
- Water Supply
3. Qumran during the Herodian Period: A Rural Estate Complex
- Water Supply System
- Industrial Installations
- The Excavation Finds - Evidence of Wealth
- The Cemetery of Qumran
- The Caves of Qumran
- Qumran and .Ein Feshkha
4. Who Were the People Who Dwelled in Qumran?

--
p.a.

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