Osadnictwo w Khirbet Qumran w okresie żelaza II

Abstract

The archaeology and history of Qumran has a long history in a heated academic discourse regarding first and foremost the Late Hellenistic – Early Roman period of the settlement, a part of which would correspond with the Essene habitation. The goal of this article is to present an overview of the available historical sources and archaeological fi nds concerning the somewhat neglected period of the site’s history, namely the Iron Age. The following points are discussed: the possible identification of the site in the biblical accounts, the character of the settlement and its chronology. While there is still no consensus as to the original, ancient name of the settlement, the excavator’s interpretation of the site as a military fort of the kingdom of Judah, has been questioned in recent years and some new hypothesis have been put forward. As for the chronology of the settlement, the proposal of R. de Vaux of its dating to the Iron Age II seems to be valid in general outline. The recent comparative analysis of the pottery sherds shows their very close typological affinities with the pottery assemblages coming from other, well datable strata of the sites in Judah, and from Jerusalem in particular. The close examination by the present author of the unpublished diagnostic pottery sherds from Qumran has also made possible to narrow down the date of the founding of the settlement to around the middle of the seventh century BC at the latest, and its end to not later than the Babylonian conquest of Judah and Jerusalem in 586 BC.