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Re: inkwells and Pliny
Dear Greg,
You wrote:
>did almost all of these scribes have a scribal lifespan
>of only one [ds] text?
This is yet another good observation against the scrolls being a local
Qumran production. You're obviously correct in implying that if a scribe was
working at Qumran we'd expect to see many more from the same hand on the site.
>On 68 CE as
>the deposit date of the texts (instead of earlier),
>the only evidence for the 68 deposit is an argument
>from scenario.
The date would naturally be restricted to the post-Herod occupation of the
site. If the site were abandoned in around 40 BCE, either due to the
Parthian invasion or the power struggle between Antigonus and Herod, then
the site was overrun and the inhabitants either killed or driven off. (What
happens to any scrolls in such a situation?) If the earthquake idea was the
cause of the destruction, why not simply rebuild then and there and not wait
for forty years? It seems more likely that the scrolls arrived later -- at
least to me.
Yes, still more scenario, I know.
Yours,
Ian Hutchesson