[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: RE: orion-list Golb on 63 BCE
> > The caves at Qumran are far from the genre of the Bar Kachva
> > caves.
>
> Note that Cave 4 (and the others near it) was a dug cave, and therefore
> different from the natural caves in the side of the cliff. The introduction
> that I had to the site indicated that the dug caves would have been
> comfortable for habitation, unlike the natural ones.
>
> David Suter
> Saint Martin's College
But still not of the same genre. The Bar Kachva (someone
must one day standardize the spelling) caves were not for
longterm occupation, they were intended for everyone to run
into them when the Romans showed up. A good example would be
the tunnels at Kibbutz Lahav. Here the original settlement
was on top of the caves. Actually there were two
settlements and a synagogue associated with this series of
caves. They lived in them only when the Romans came. At
they serviced an entire community. The caves at Qumran
served more as a depository of scrolls or homes for hermits
than a means of defense of a community. Were there weapons
found, were they burnt out as those in Bar Kachva were,
is there evidence of long term food storage as typically
found buried in the remains of Bar Kachva caves?
I am sorry but I feel we are dealing with two different
animals.They may have been contemporary, but did not serve
the same function.
Brad Harrison
----------------------
blh198
blh198@soton.ac.uk
For private reply, e-mail to blh198 <blh198@soton.ac.uk>
----------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to majordomo@panda.mscc.huji.ac.il with
the message: "unsubscribe Orion." For more information on the Orion Center
or for Orion archives, visit our web site http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il.