Dear Joe Zias,
Not to be a bother, but I recently reread your article "The Cemeteries of
Qumran and Celibacy" in DSD 7, and I had some follow-up queries. First, if I
understand the diagram in Figure 1 from Humbert and Chabon, and read de Vaux
correctly, the graves in the southern cemetery are aligned north-south (with
the exception of T4), excluding of course the southern extension. Yet if I
read your article correctly, the excavated graves of the main southern
cemetery are bedouin (as especially indicated by the grave goods in T1, i.e.
jewelry, which I think are your best indicator of distinctive cultural
background). May I then infer that bedouins used the same layout, etc., in
the main southern cemetery as the "Essene" burials in the central and
northern sections? Do you consider the southern cemetery to also include
"Essene" graves?
Also, the extensions to the north, central, and southern sections are
mainly laid out north-south, though a little more casually (with notable
exceptions of some east-west in the southern extension). Are these
extensions also bedouin in your view? To what extent is it accurate to say
that bedouin graves at Qumran share the north-south orientations of the
"Essene" burials?
Also, although you note that at least one of the southern burials is
anomalously shallow, is it correct to say that the graves you label bedouin
also share the shaft grave architecture of the others?
Best regards,
Russell Gmirkin
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