rlogan

Archaeologist David Stacey has a piece here:

http://scrollsforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=65


It is mainly a commentary on Hirschfeld's "Qumran in Context"


The theory Stacey put forward is that of Qumran, for a period, being an outlying part of the Jericho Royal Estate. Its use as a pottery factory and military outpost will be familiar to readers here who have followed the issue. He rejects the Essene monestary theory without he necessity of saying there were no Essenes there at all.

As far as the scrolls are concerend it addresses some questions that were imporant to me. One, the probablility that there were multiple deposits for different reasons over time. Two, that a small pack train would easily move a large quantity of scrolls, envisioned in a Temple Library evacuation scenario. The choice of this location fits Stacey's model.