Mystery of Dead Sea Scroll Authors Possibly Solved

Yahoo! ^ | 22 Nov 2011 | Owen Jarus

[shove_it]

The Dead Sea Scrolls may have been written, at least in part, by a sectarian group called the Essenes, according to nearly 200 textiles discovered in caves at Qumran, in the West Bank, where the religious texts had been stored.

Scholars are divided about who authored the Dead Sea Scrolls and how the texts got to Qumran, and so the new finding could help clear up this long-standing mystery.

The research reveals that all the textiles were made of linen, rather than wool, which was the preferred textile used in ancient Israel. Also they lack decoration, some actually being bleached white, even though fabrics from the period often have vivid colours. Altogether, researchers say these finds suggest that the Essenes, an ancient Jewish sect, "penned" some of the scrolls.

Not everyone agrees with this interpretation. An archaeologist who has excavated at Qumran told LiveScience that the linen could have come from people fleeing the Roman army after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and that they are in fact responsible for putting the scrolls into caves.

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[shove_it]

Ping

[Fractal Trader]

ping

[DainBramage]

Or “made copies of”.

[Raycpa]

Saying the authors of the dead sea scrolls mystery is solved is like saying they identified the author of the library of congress.

[kinsman redeemer]

One of my family's favorite Christmas traditions is to read Bartholomew's Passage

Check it out.

[Raycpa]

They discovered that every single one of these textiles was made of linen, even though wool was the most popular fabric at the time in Israel,

If the caves were a place of safe keeping, why assume that only the scrolls were supposed to be saved. Perhaps the peoples that stored the scrolls also thought the linens which were uncommon should be stored as well.

[Pravious]

George Bush did it!

[Mr. Lucky]

The Dead Sea scrolls could have been penned by “an ancient Jewish sect”? Wow! This is a major find. Whoever would have guessed.

[Raycpa]

The owners of the clothing likely were not poor, as only one of the textiles had a patch on it."This is very, very, important," Shamir said. "Patching is connected with [the] economic situation of the site."

Unless the linens were inventory of goods to be sold.

Sheesh, these types of researchers really bug the crap out of me. They concoct ideas that are consistent with their beliefs and avoid brainstorming on all the possible reasons for what they see. How do we know the stuff stored in these caves was not inventory held for sale and that the folks themselves were dirt poor and wore rags? How do we know that these goods were not stolen from another group or some sort of war spoils that were being shared? Any number of alternative theories can be derived from the evidence that everything they found was linen. Heck, maybe they only found the linen cave and have yet to find the wool cave. Or maybe subsequent visitors took the wool clothing and the decorated linens and had no use for the plain linen clothing.

[Pride in the USA]

ping

[steelyourfaith]

bttt

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks shove_it.

...may have been written, at least in part, by a sectarian group called the Essenes, according to nearly 200 textiles discovered in caves at Qumran, in the West Bank, where the religious texts had been stored... all the textiles were made of linen, rather than wool, which was the preferred textile used in ancient Israel.

So, IOW, because NO scrolls were found with these textiles, *and* because these textiles are linen rather than the wool preferred by the Jews in post-exilic Israel, the Essenes must have written the Dead Sea Scrolls -- even though the Essenes were themselves Jews. And the scrolls are written on vellum for the most part (a few are on papyrus).

Each time some minor find has been saddled on as proof that it was the Essenes, along has come some contradicting facts. This is only surprising to those who cling to the Essene mythos, which is modern in origin.

If there were something explicit in the texts themselves -- "these are the writings of the Essenes" -- or if these fabrics were found with the scrolls, then yeah. Otherwise, no. The main structure at Qumran was an inn, and farmhouse, and some ancient products were made there. No scrolls. The supposed scribal workshop turned out to be the main dining room of the inn.

The Essenes are very nearly imaginary in the first place. The Essenes show up in Josephus, and nowhere else. There are no Essene monuments, no references to them in the Scriptures, and no other contemporary reference to them.

The best explanation for the Dead Sea Scrolls is that religious Jews fleeing one of the Roman attacks (and/or one of the Jewish faction's attacks on another Jewish faction) stashed writings as well as ritual materials from the Temple in various places where they could be retrieved later.

The "treasure map" in the Copper Scroll lists various things that were hidden, and the locations, none of which of course make any sense now (look in the hole behind Bob's date palm tree, that kind of stuff). The fact that the Copper Scroll exists in the first place shows that it wasn't an ascetic community of monks that wrote the scrolls -- unless one wants to try to claim that some of the scrolls were written by the Essenes who lived in the area, while some were brought up from Jerusalem, and that all were hidden in the same few caves.

Then all that's needed is an explanation for why the Essenes needed to hide their scrolls at the same time the fleeing religious Jews from the big city had to hide theirs.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Fractal Trader.

[SJackson]

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..................< That the Essenes wrote the scrolls isn't a new idea. I'll leave it to the archeologists to explain why the fabrics, presumably not from the UPS man who delivered them to the caves, prove this.

[Monkey Face]

Hahahahahahahahaha>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[SunkenCiv]

:’) I’m glad I could be there for ya. ;’)

[ApplegateRanch]

look in the hole behind Bob's date palm tree,

A friend of a friend is named Bob, and has a date palm tree near his house in Vegas...

Think I'll head for Lost Wages tomorrow.

Gas dropped 5 cents; and tomorrow our local station gives an aextra 10 cents off for cash, so I should be able to afford the 900 mile trip. The treasure will more than pay for the return home!

[MestaMachine]

I did a White Paper on this in college that had my prof excited as heck. He wanted to publish it, but the college refused because I wasn’t part of his research team and it had nothing to do with my major.
Suffice it to say, people had been combing these scrolls looking for Jesus...who wasn’t there. But Paul/Saul was...after the murder of Steven...who had been reared in the Essene tradition and was well loved. It was the Essene history of this visit where Saul sought a hiding place and they were going to kill him. He escaped by being lowered down a steep wall or cliff in the middle of he night, and some went with him. By Essene Tradition, their names were erased from The Book, never to be spoken again.
They called Saul a “Man of Scoffing” and a “Man of Lying”.
The war Scrolls are fascinating as well...and they were also Essene.
I am simply amazed that it took them this long to acknowledge this.