Greg,
The only ceramic evidence actually securely associated with dates of
interments I know of is "end of the second or the beginning of the
first century B.C.E." (Magen and Peleg, p. 98 in the Galor, Humbert, and
Zangenburg volume [2006]).
I would even even doubt the validity of that dating. Although I only have a
photocopy of the article the jars appear to be typical to the Hasmonean 2
(85/75 - 31 BCE) period in Jericho. (Surely they are either Rachel's SJ3 or
SJ4A1?).
And for Joe to claim the
"relative geological and cultural isolation" of Qumran ignores the fact
that it shares the same geology and culture as the large contemporary site
at Jericho only 13 km away. Like Joe I cared little "about Qumran, could
not read the scrolls
nor understand the arguments surrounding them", but when I looked at the
archaeology of the site having spent ten long seasons excavating in
Jericho (and, inter alia, Cypros, Herodium, Masada) the similarities were
far more numerous than the differences.
David Stacey
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