Qumran - Archaeological Site

1. Looking east from the Qumran gorge, the small structure on the upper left amid the trees contains the modern Qumran visitor's center. The ruins of Qumran can be seen immediately to the right. The settlement was built close to the seaward side of a plateau. The Dead Sea forms a hazy backdrop. To the extreme right is the Wadi Qumran, a torrent which is dry most of the year. On the few occasions when it rains though it becomes a ravaging torrent which has eroded the side of the plateau on which Qumran is built. From the mid-left the remains of an aqueduct can be seen running down to the settlement. This channel helped furnish Qumran with a valuable supply of water. At the end of the outcrop in the center of the picture is Cave 4, the location which supplied the vast bulk of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

2. This is another view of Wadi Qumran taken from the esplanade abutting the southern side of the Qumran settlement. Cave 4 can clearly be seen. It is an artificial cave cut into the cliff face by men. Several hundred scrolls were found in the cave. It was found and opened up in the 20th century by local bedouin who had been searching for scrolls. Behind the cave on the cliffs the upper course of Wadi Qumran can be seen as it cuts its way down toward the wadi floor.

3. Coming up from the visitor's center one comes to the corner of the tower. What we see to the left is mainly the buttressing for the tower. This marks the north-western corner of the main building. Ahead is a modern walkway which allows visitors to walk through the site and see some of the complexities of the water system. Behind the walkway on the right one can see the aqueduct that brought rainwater down into the site. In the central distance one can see the Qumran gorge.

4. This photo was taken from the walkway. The southern end of the main building can be seen at the top left. The main channel snakes its way through the settlement—here around the round cistern before bending south eastwards. This round cistern was originally constructed during the Iron Age, making it one of the oldest structures at Qumran. Note also the arch cut into the stone on the central left: this fed water down into a stepped cistern (L117) behind it. The canopy in the distance is where photo #2 was taken.

5. Looking down from the tower westward one sees a worker's installation which may have been the bottom of a kiln (or some other structure than needed heating from beneath). To its left there is a flat area which marks the entry point for a stepped cistern (L117) which is further left. (The steps can just be made out as they descend leftwards.) The main water channel can be seen before the walkway. Behind the walkway are the ruins of the western building. Further behind is the aqueduct which brought rainwater down to the settlement.

6. Looking from the tower southward one sees a long narrow room built against the inner wall of the western wing of the main settlement. Here, de Vaux discovered two inkwells and plastered elements he interpreted as benches or tables on which to write. The largest surface, upon being reconstructed, measured 5 meters in length, 40 centimeters in breadth and only 50 centimeters in height. These benches (or tables) had fallen through the floor above when the ceiling collapsed. De Vaux referred to this room above as the "scriptorium" and concluded the Dead Sea Scrolls could have been written here, but not all scholars agree with this interpretation. Nearly all scholars, however, conclude that some form of writing took place here on the upper floor of Locus 30. Several ostraca, including a practice alphabet, have been found in and around the site.

7. Looking east toward the Dead Sea: this stepped pool is located immediately south of the main building but within the main southern wall. It was originally one long pool before an internal wall separated it into two, making the western half (L56) like most other stepped pools on the site. The eastern side (L58) was excavated and a much deeper storage cistern was created. The original pool took fullest advantage of the sloping location, requiring only minimal excavating for the capacity. This pool came into existence some time after the Qumran water system was raised. This raising allowed water to be carried further and opened up the possibility for a much bigger storage capacity on the site. The southern end of the main building can be seen to the left. Between it and the wall of the pool there is a channel which carried water to further stepped pools, L48/49 and L71.

8. Looking south-east one sees a long narrow room built against the main southern wall of the settlement on the left. (This location is south of #7.) The far end once featured pillars which gave de Vaux the idea that there was a second storey, though no traces were found of such a storey. This room was considered a "refectory" by de Vaux because an adjacent room, commonly referred to as a "pantry", contained over a thousand pieces of pottery. This pottery was thought by de Vaux to have been used for communal meals, though some have challenged this interpretation. In fact the size and layout strongly suggest this was some kind of drying floor for the production of clay from the adjoining evaporation cisterns. That it lines up with the summer solstice supports this theory.

9. To the right (south) of #8. This location is commonly known as the "pantry". At the southern end of this room 708 bowls, 204 plates, 75 goblets, 37 terrines, 21 jars, 11 jugs, and other ceramic items were found by de Vaux, mostly neatly stacked. De Vaux believed that this crockery was used for meals in L.77, which he referred to as the "refectory". The southern end of the room had been walled off. The effects of an earthquake may be indicated by the fact that this wall had later collapsed over the pottery, crushing it and that the southern walls needed to be strengthened externally. During the last period at Qumran a water channel had been rerouted to pass immediately south of the northern wall, then, following the outer wall of L.77, it eventually supplied the large cistern (L.71). Another interesting find from the location was a bowl inscribed with the name "Eleazar". Note the remains of two pilasters. Their purpose is unknown, but they do not seem to have been load-bearing.

10. One of the most interesting discoveries at Qumran was the unearthing on the eastern side of the main building of this stepped cistern featuring a crack down the steps marking where the land dropped, apparently due to an earthquake. There is a channel further to the south which fed the largest of the Qumran cisterns which was broken at the same time by the same means. As that cistern was used in a late phase of the site, we can surmise that the cistern we see was also damaged then. Also of interest are the dividers that run down the steps. Some scholars have suggested that these served as partitions separating those entering the pool from those exiting, similar to miqva'ot (Jewish ritual baths) found near Jerusalem, but not all scholars accept this interpretation. (Katharina Galor, who carried out the most complete analysis thus far of the Qumran water system, commented, "rom a practical point of view, the interpretation of using the low divisions as a symbolic space divider does not make any sense.") The partitions may have served to aid in channeling water into the pool.

11. Looking south one sees a long narrow pool dug into the southeast corner of the settlement. This is the last and largest pool in the water system at Qumran. This enormous structure could hold 300 cubic meters of water, a capacity which is more than all the other stepped pools combined. During Period III, (i.e., after the Jewish War), a water channel was partially rerouted due to prior destruction in order to continue to fill this pool. Scholars debate whether it was a miqvah (Jewish ritual bath), a cistern, or a clay collection vat.