David Staceys response to Judi Magness response of his article in DSD clearly shows what happens when the the cemetery is not fully understood in all of its parameters. While Stacey has perhaps more field experience than most archaeologists working in IL today, his attempt to explain the cemetery at Qumran as a paupers cemetery fails to comes to terms with several facts which are unique at Qumran for which I would argue for it being a Essene cemetery. For example, a large number of burials are secondary burials, not primary burials, secondly there are burials in wooden coffins implying added expense, both of which paupers could not afford. Thirdly, they aside from one woman on the margin, are all men and no children, would it be that only adult males are poor ? For me it's inconceivable that these poor or their families would have had enough income to transport the body to Qumran before nightfall, pay workers to dig the grave, buy wooden caskets, re-open some tombs to bury another individual at a later date etc. The key to understanding Qumran lies with the cemetery, for it is here that those individuals who lived and died there tell their story. Lastly, I would suggest to all those interested in Qumran to have a long hard look at the cemetery first and then see if their conclusions are in sync or conflict with the cemetery data . If that is not convincing then have a look (RQ) at recent our finding of the public latrines some distance from the site, just as Josephus related. In short, Qumran is 'glatt' Essene to argue otherwise, is legitimate, however there is and has been too many attempts to understand the site by those with little or no experience in burial archaeology, therefore what is simple has become complicated. Trying Googling archaeology, Masada, Ein Gedi, Jericho, and see how many hits one gets compared to Qumran, the results are shocking, as those three sites are diverse, complicated and more relevant to the arch. of the ANE, than Qumran, however Qumran has become a magnet for all the fringe theorists due to its association with the DSS.
Joe Zias Joe Zias www.joezias.com Anthropology/Paleopathology Science and Antiquity Group @ The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel
