The cemeteries of Qumran

Qumran

Archaeology

The Cemeteries of Qumran

This report is a review of the journal called "Celibacy: Confusion Laid to Rest?" written by Joe Zias and published in the Dead Sea Discoveries journal, volume 7 in the year 2000. The author attempted to provide insights into new discoveries made out of the Qumran Cemetery and the implications to the cemetery because of the notion of celibacy in the Essene community during ancient times. The author points out that the majority of studies in the Holy Land and the immediate surrounding areas have focused specifically on the Dead Sea Scrolls which were discovered near Qumran. "While nearly all serious scholarship on the has focused on the texts themselves, there has been an ongoing and unresolved argument over the nature of the site itself since its excavation in the 1950s, with many conflicting theories." (Zias)

Therefore, the author's approach was to try to resolve some of the outstanding issues and concerns about the actual cemetery as opposed to the related discoveries of the scrolls. The intention was to present insights into the celibacy of the Essene settlement based on assertions made from the archaeological discoveries of the Qumran Cemetery. The reason there was renewed interest in the Qumran Cemetery project which was discovered in the 1950's was that some new controversy was raised based on women and children being found buried in the cemetery that was thought to be an all male celibate society. Scholars had theorized that Qumran cemetery was a part of the Essene settlement near by and they have been credited by other historians as the keepers of the Dead Sea Scrolls which not by coincidence were found near the Essene community cemetery.

However, there were many vocal dissenters who felt that there could not have been any connection between the Essene settlement and the Dead Sea Scrolls found in caves west and north-west of the Essene settlement. The author's approach to resolving these new questions was to use a more modern approach to data gathering. "Therefore, we have attempted to reassess these difficult issues by expanding the research domain, employing a combination of archaeological, anthropological, historical and literary disciplines." (Zias)

Results feel that Joe Zias met the objective of proving that the Qumran Cemetery was in fact a cemetery for an all male community and that the recent discovery of some female and child graves did not change that fact. He also proved that the Qumran Cemetery did in deed belong to the male celibate Essene Community. "In order for a cemetery to be categorized as Essene, it must contain a minimum of four shared criteria: orientation, tomb architecture, demographic disparity and few if any personal grave goods. Without these defining criteria, all appearing in the Qumran and Ain el-Ghuweir cemeteries, any attempt to assign definite Essene affiliation will remain unconvincing." (Zias) the fact that celibacy cannot be proven through archaeological grave discovery is apparent, but assumptions can be made from the grave discoveries and those assumptions seem to point to the fact that the cemetery was Essene.

The fact that the cemetery was inhabited by a male majority implies that the residents must have been part of an all male community. There are some of the opinions that the site was nothing more than a military grave sight. "Golb was of the opinion that the 1200 graves at Qumran were simply the graves of "warriors who fought at Qumran" who had been massacred by the Roman army." (Zias) but the author puts that opinion to rest by presenting the obvious. The fact that the grave remains were not injured or marred in the way soldiers of the time would have been disfigured shows this was not a military grave sight. "Secondly, experience has shown that military cemeteries are somewhat unique and easily recognizable by the fact that there is a high level of traumatic injuries in the population, generally on the left side of the body, where soldiers usually attempt to ward off blows from a right-handed attacker." (Zias) the assumption was that these graves were not an unplanned military grave because the normal thing to do at the time was to bury soldiers in mass graves. The Qumran Cemetery was a well planned sight that was too well organized and it showed a great deal of coordinated planning and use over time.

The women and children discovered on the Qumran sight could have put doubt in the theory that the sight was in fact Essene. But there were other theories to would justify a woman or child being buried at that particular cemetery. "Elder poses some interesting solutions to this difficulty, based upon the literary and archaeological evidence found at the cemetery of Qumran, in that celibate males lived and were buried in Qumran whereas non-celibate males and females and their families lived at Ain Feshkha and Ain el-Ghuweir even though no cemetery was found at the former site." (Zias) and other philosophies exist such as the graves of the women and children could simply have represented the death of someone that passed away during a holiday visit could explain the discrepancy.