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Re: orion Hirschfeld's Excavations (Reuters)
Thank you, David, for the reference to the Reuters report.
The "first century" pottery, it reports, was found in "one" of the
"cells...that Hirschfeld believes are characteristic of those that would
have housed individual members of the ascetic religious sect."
This pottery from one "cell" was "used during the time the Essenes would
have lived there"--assuming they did. The word "cell," if it had been
applied to the Qumran area, might possibly have prompted some writers
influenced by Professor Norman Golb to object. It may be worth recalling
that the theory of Prof. Golb, who is mentioned by Reuters--namely, that
the scrolls found at Qumran were brought from Jerusalem in the sixties
CE--lacks any physical evidence. And first century pottery is not rare.
The site is described as being "200 yards above the popular hiking spot of
Ein Gedi." Is 200 yards sufficient to justify describing the proposed
Essene settlement (and a proposed related perfume factory in a valley) as
separate from Ein Gedi? Is balsam perfume manufacture, if one glass piece
indicates that, necessarily characteric of Essenes?
Cassell's Latin Dictionary--contrary to a claim on orion that such is
"un-Latin"--includes the meaning of infra, geographically, as "to the
south." It cites Julius Caesar and Virgil. The Oxford Latin Dictionary
(P.G.W. Glare, 1982, p. 903) includes "downstream" and "southwards." It
cites several contemporaries of Marcus Agrippa and of Pliny.
Yizhar has done important archaeological work elsewhere. So far, in this
instance of interpretation, he has not made a persuasive case .
best wishes,
Stephen Goranson
goranson@duke.edu
>Reuters also has a version of the Hirschfeld story. It can be found at
>http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=7189557-93e
>
>David W. Suter
>Saint Martin's College
>Lacey, WA 98503
>dsuter@catadon.stmartin.edu