The Qumran necropolis.
The cemetery at Qumran contains some 1200 graves. That number was was once much larger, as the erosion of the plateau has claimed a significant portion of the cemetery. The graves are individual, and arranged in straight lines with the deceased lying supine, facing north. Those buried here are not Jews. There is a small compound, pictured below, where the deceased were bought for religious ceremonies, and the preparation of the body for burial. Animal sacrifices were preformed. The sacrificed animals were buried under pottery bowls (that were manufactured, in their thousands, at the site). Water was supplied to the compound by an aqueduct and tunnel. The water was needed to wash down the compound to prevent the spread of disease. There were a number of pools for the purification of those who came into contact with the deceased. These also served for the storage of water.
It should be emphasized that the compound is small. The square enclosure with the truncated, or collapsed, pyramid at one corner, is only about 40 x 40 meters. No residential quarters were found in, or anywhere near, the compound. Despite the compounds small size, and lack of residential quarters, it is commonly claimed that a large group of religious scholars (usually said to be Essenes) lived and studied here. Some have suggested that the scholars must have lived in the surrounding caves, or tents, but there is no evidence for this idea, and significant evidence against it. In order to accommodate at least some (estimates range from 12 to 20) scholars, it has been suggested that they lived in a bunk room on a now collapsed second floor. No effort has been spared to make the facts fit the theory. The obvious use of the compound is never mentioned.
The Dead Sea scrolls Hoax.
The Dead Sea scrolls are a mixture of old documents that were hidden in a number of caves to be found and used to support the establishment of Israel, a country intended for Jews only. The main document "finds" were in caves near the Qumran cemetery.
The first documents were "found" in 1947.
Israel was created in 1948.
In the decades following the establishment of Israel, texts were also "found" at other sites (Masada, Wadi Sdeir, Nahal Se'elim, Nahal Hever, and Murabba'at) in the Judean Desert. These, and the Dead Sea scrolls, are the only really old (well, supposedly really old) Biblical texts in the Hebrew language that have ever been found. All the previously known Biblical texts in Hebrew, date from later than 900 AD. Paul Kahle has stated:
"It is a well-known fact that Hebrew Biblical MSS dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries are very rare. The so-called Babylonian Codex of the Prophets, dated A.D. 916,... has long been regarded as the oldest dated MS of (part of) the Hebrew Bible."
Previous to the "finds", critics had pointed to the late date of the Biblical texts in Hebrew, and deduced that the Hebrew Old Testament must have been translated from the Greek Old Testament, and not the other way round. Then, low and behold, a very timely miracle occurs. The Dead Sea scrolls are "found", and dated to a thousand years earlier than the oldest previously known texts.
The critics are not given access to the scrolls, nor even photographs of the text, lest they spoil the party. In fact, for decades, only seven scholars are given access to the scrolls. This goes on until certain critics are dead and the scrolls have been purged of all anachronisms (like vowel points and Arabic numerals). Then, in 1991, only 45 years after their "discovery", the Huntington Library, in San Marino, California, without consent, makes facsimile copies of the scrolls available to all.
So that, in brief, is the Dead Sea scrolls Hoax.
More, however, can be deduced.
One can even guess where the Dead Sea documents came from.
In Old Cairo, Egypt, there is a very old synagogue called the Ben Ezra Synagogue. Like many synagogues it has a storeroom, called a genizah, where worn-out religious books were stored prior to proper burial. Unlike many synagogues, the books in its genizah were never buried, so a treasure trove of ancient texts awaited discovery.
It turns out that some of the Dead Sea documents are nearly identical to texts from the Cairo Genizah. Many are similar, not only in content, but in style, and appearance. Some, not only have the same text, but also the same scribal markings. So, it is likely that many of the Dead Sea scrolls had their source in the treasure trove, that is, the Cairo Genizah. One suspects that the Elephantine letters, and the Nash papyrus, were also from the Cairo Genizah.
One document from the Dead Sea scrolls is of particular interest, the so called "Damascus Document". Worldwide, there are twelve manuscripts of the "Damascus Document"; ten manuscripts from the Dead Sea scrolls and two manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah. There are no manuscripts of the "Damascus Document" from anywhere else. This strange distribution is a result of the fraud. It is very difficult to explain how copies of a work, that is claimed to have been written by scholars at Qumran, and hidden in caves there for two thousand years, ended up in the Cairo Genizah, and nowhere else. So difficult, in fact, that no one seems to have offered an explanation. The "Damascus Document" was first published in 1910 by Solomon Schechter in "Fragments of a Zadokite Work."
The Ben Ezra Synagogue was established around 900 AD. The Arabs have ruled Egypt since they defeated the Greek armies around 640 AD. Now, the synagogue (and its Jews) existed happily, undisturbed, in the midst of the Islamic world. So, maybe the original Jews were a group of Arabs. This would explain why Hebrew and Arabic are very similar languages. This would explain why the Hebrew and Islamic religious traditions are so close. And, it would also explain why Jews turned up in Spain with the Arabs. [It seems likely that the Jews were originally from Iraq.]
Another couple of points:
The Biblical texts from Masada, Wadi Sdeir, Nahal Se'elim, Nahal Hever, and Murabba'at (twenty-five texts) are identical to the Masoretic text of the Bible, even though they were supposedly written a thousand years before. This is unheard of, and essentially proof, that Medieval documents were planted in the desert to be found by others.
It should be noted that a few Jewish scholars (in particular, Solomon Zeitlin) have long insisted that the Dead Sea scrolls were a Medieval production. Zeitlin was a well-known Talmudic scholar and would not claim this unless convinced it was true. Internal evidence from the scrolls themselves indicates a Medieval production. See, here.
It is estimated that up to 20 people occupied the site of Qumran (estimated by the number of inhabitants for whom there was room in the buildings). Now these 20 people were not just ordinary people, they read and wrote Greek, Phoenician, Aramaic, Nabataean, and Hebrew documents, like natives, and managed to write learned works on numerous religious topics (more than 900 manuscripts were "recovered"; about six hundred separate works), while gathering enough water, and raising enough food, for their survival, in a desert.
And, the fact that many scrolls are written on vellum (90% of them) proves these are indeed a Medieval production. The oldest vellum manuscript to which a definite date can be assigned is the treatise of Dioscorides on Medicine. It has been assigned to the year 510 AD, or thereabouts. The earliest estimated age of any vellum manuscript was, before the Dead Sea scrolls, the second century AD. So the mythical Qumran scholars were also, apparently, great innovators.
Interestingly, the 20 mythical Qumran scholars had between them, 36 copies of the Psalms, 26 copies of Deuteronomy, and 21 copies of the book of Isaiah. And all this at a time when one book was worth a king's ransom. Such extravagance! Such waste! Such an unbeliveable tale!
Anyway, I think it is clear that the Dead Sea scrolls, and the other texts from the Judean Desert, are simply a bunch of old documents that have been thrown together, planted in the desert, and sold to a gullible world.
Other popular topics are:
The COVID-19 Hoax. UPDATE
A large collection of photos of Jewish political leaders, e.g., Nelson Mandela, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, etc.
There are no ancient Jewish cities in Israel, but there are lots of ancient Greek cities.
WOW; Presidents Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden are Jews.
Is it too late to save Florida from Drowning? What will your beachfront property be worth in 50 years?
The free Operating System Linux running Microsoft Operating Systems on Virtual Computers (a DIY guide).
Proof that the name ADAM is of Greek origin.