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RE: orion 1st BCE generation
On the radiocarbon dates, see the graphic
display of the 21 Qumran items on p. 462
of the Flint/Vanderkam volume. You can
see at a glance that there is only ONE
(not SEVERAL) of the 21 radiocarbon dates
at two sigma which begins later than
about 50 BCE. (Exact numbers are at the
table on pp. 468-471.)
Out of 21 items, I proposed that the bulk--not
necessarily all, but most of these--are roughly
contemporary at the final generation of the
distribution. Of the 21 radiocarbon datings,
12 items overlap c. 50 BCE at one-sigma,
another 4 items overlap c. 50 BCE at the
early end of two-sigma, and 1 item is
entirely removed from the range of 50 BCE
(4QpPsA, which is completely 1st CE).
In the article I argued that this distribution is
not significantly different than what would be
produced if these texts all held true dates in
the mid-1st BCE. By "generation", although
I noted in Flint/Vanderkam that the term was
to some extent arbitrary, I did intend it in
the usual sense (c. half century or so),
situated somewhere within the 1st BCE, with
the cave deposits also in the 1st BCE.
On another point, the deposits in the caves
will likely have ended through some political
circumstance affecting the site. That is the
case whether one holds to 1st BCE or 68 CE.
In neither case does it mean the people of
the Scrolls quit producing more texts. It
simply means no more of their texts
ended up deposited in caves at that particular
site (Qumran) after a certain date. It gives
no information concerning the fate or further
history of the texts' scribes, readers, or
owners.
Greg Doudna
Copenhagen