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miscellaneous
1) The translation "my garments" in 3Q Copper Scroll is not certain,
notwithstanding the fact that it was suggested by Al Wolters, who has
made many significant contributions. Even if one were confident of that
translation (which I am not), it is a leap to assume that it refers to
the Jerusalem temple priest. Though it is a widespread proposal that
the Copper Scroll describes treasures from the Jerusalem temple, in my
view, it is more likely lists items for the temple.
2) The suggestions or invitations to "Forget the Essenes" and "Let us
get OUT of our heads this notion of a community writing its own texts"
seem to me not among Greg D.'s more useful contributions.
3) Scribal hand connections are useful, but, as has been observed, their
use for consensus-bashing (whatever the consensus is imagined to be)
is rather limited. The numbers of extant Qumran mss and the numbers
given for Essenes--more than 4000 and myriads--are not incommensurate.
4) The suggestion for neutron activation and other tests on Qumran pottery
is a good, though not a new, one. Logistical help may be required more
than brilliance to acheive it. The scroll-jar type is a quite unusual type.
DeVaux knew of only one other example (and a few others have been suggested.)
Why then write (Fred C. 30 Oct) of "all the chatter about the same jar-types
being found in the ruin as in the caves"?
Stephen Goranson UNC-Wilmington