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orion DSS dating
At 08:27 28/07/97 +0000, Stephen Goranson wrote:
>commensurate with the fact that the scrolls were written over a long
>period of time.
I understand that this is not a question with an exact answer, but has
anyone defined a ballpark for this "long period of time"?
Considering the following constraint in isolation, 500 different
handwritings suggest that, if we consider scribes throughout Israel as the
Essene connection implies then we wouldn't be limited to generations of
scribes living and dying at Qumran to account for the necessary number of
scribes. While other constrainst might rule this out, considered in
isolation, all but 130 of the 800 scrolls might then have been produced in a
very brief period. Off-hand, I'd even think that would be a reasonable
likelihood. Prof. Emanuel Tov holds that 130 were produced from a distinct
scribal school which can be ascribed to Qumran. If we hypothesize 12
scribes, which seems to be a reasonable guesstimate, how long would it take
them to produce 130, apparently mostly short, mss.? A year or two? Is
there any one handwriting responsible for a quantity of scrolls that would
define the minimum?
How might this production constraint relate to the other factors?
Yirmiyahu Ben-David
Paqid 16, Qehilat Ha-Netzarim (Nazarene Jews)
www.netzarim.co.il
Ra'anana, Israel