Qumran in the Second Temple Period. Reassessing the Archaeological Evidence

This study concentrates on issues concerning the identification of Qumran and the source of the scrolls discovered in the caves adjacent to the site. It is customary to maintain that Qumran was the religious and ritual center of a sect which was akin to the Essenes, whose members lived in the caves and engaged, inter alia, in copying scrolls at the site itself. In recent years, a growing number of scholars support the thesis that the scrolls originated in Jerusalem and were hidden in the caves near Qumran on the eve of Jerusalemʼs destruction. A study of the archaeological evidence lends support to this claim.