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Re: Ioudaios: Population at Qumran (fwd)
> From: Joe Slater <joe@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au>
> Subject: Population at Qumran
>
> I have been reading various estimates of Qumran's population. I note that
> a mill has been identified on the site. Has anyone calculated the amount
> of flour it could produce, and hence the population the site could
> comfortably support? Failing that, does anyone know of a reference that
> deals with early mills and their output?
>
> Note that establishing the output would determine both an upper and a
> lower estimate for the population, since one would not build a mill with
> a capacity greatly in excess of its predicted demand.
I don't think that you can draw such a conclusion. From my working at
mill sites, the bore is usually determined by the size of rock that can
be easily taken out. In other words a hole in the stone basement is
expanded and the first choice of size depends on what cracks already exist.
Also capacity must be measured by how many workers are there? Housing can
be permanent stone, or less permanent, hence there is no way to actually
measure mill capacity for your purposes
Yours Pinchas Richard Wimberly, Jerusalem