Hi, Ian <G> >The Lisan Peninsula is very low, as is the land below >Qumran. It doesn't take much change to cover much of it.
No, it sure does not... The Dead Sea is a closed basin; all you need to bring the water level up is a geological "humid period." While the geological record can indicate when a pluvial period (e.g. ca. 10,000 - 6500 BP -- Noah's flood period was a very heavy continuous pluvial period) has occurred from the increase or decrease in Lisan-type deposits (greenish-grey, laminated clay layers), geological records do not tend towards very narrow time frames. The Noahian flood period was followed by severe drought, then a moderate pluvial period. The early Bronze (ca. 4400-4300 BP) occurred near the end of of this moderate pluvial age... with another severe drought indicated in the record shortly after we arrive at the Bronze Age. >From then until around 1500 BP (Byzantine culture) the geological record from the Dead Sea shows fluctuations of various magnitude in the Lisan- record. The geological record indicates that the period from around the 8th Century BCE (to get off the geochronological Base Period onto more familiar ground) to 500 CE was a dry period with humid intrusions. The water level in a closed basin can easily fluctuate 50-60 meters within a very short time frame. These time spans of humid intrusions cannot be shown geologically at much closer than about 200-400 years. If Khirbet Qumran was originally built during the 2nd BCE, then *from the geological record* it was built smack in the middle of one of those 200-400 year high periods. That a Roman structure shows up 300 years later only tells us that the Roman structure was built during the following low period -- which is also recorded in the geological record. >Nevertheless, Qumran is still on the litorral of the Dead >Sea. Yep. [Snip] >Part of the aqueduct is a tunnel cut through the rock >of the hills above the site. You are only talking >about the part that arrived at Qumran. De Vaux >indicates that there must also have been a catchment >basin "to regulate the flow of water" as the quantity >of water which flowed through Wadi Qumran when it did >flow "far exceeded the capacity of the cisterns". Well, if you've ever seen rainfall in a desert climate... flash-flooding is normal. In fact, the rain fall can be so heavy, that you can _hear_ the rain coming towards you. During heavy rainfall, flood channels 19 feet deep and 35 feet across will fill to their brim within 2-3 *minutes*. And while, for example, Scottsdale's green-belt is an open-ended flood control system resting on a sand base, the Dead Sea is not. It is a closed-basin resting on a rock base with nowhere for the water to go but up. Some control over the rate of water flow is built-in to the angles of the aqueduct (a technique that was already known to the Minoans), but De Vaux is undoubtedly correct about a catch basin somewhere along the line -- those cisterns would have over-flowed in minutes during a typical seasonal rainfall without something more to regulate in-flow. But, then, as I recall, some folks on this list are not too knowledgeable about water needs for plant or human -- or the differences between a closed basin and an open one. Cheers, Rochelle PS: Much to my amusement, at a lecture I heard a few weeks ago, there was this biologist relating how humans need a minimum of 1-1/2 to 2 liters of water per hour in this climate (Northern Negev... including the Dead Sea) and that by the time you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated. As they say in South France, te... -- Dr. R.I.S. Altman, co-coordinator, IOUDAIOS-L [EMAIL PROTECTED] For private reply, e-mail to "Rochelle I. Altman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: "unsubscribe Orion." Archives are on the Orion Web site, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il. (PLEASE REMOVE THIS TRAILOR BEFORE REPLYING TO THE MESSAGE)
