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orion-list: More than enough



Professor Pfann,

I thank you for your support. You have shown that I am right about: a)
donkeys, b) drinking water being carted in, and c) a source -- and that
is ALL you have shown. I am sorry; a word was missing from my post -- that
should have been "hardly easy walking distance." Only an outsider could
think that 2 miles over that terrain in that climate is in easy walking
distance. On foot it will take around 1-1/2 to 2 hours each way; people
who live in such climates know better then to walk fast.
 
Shall we get down to the heart of the matter? This was supposedly a farming
community. No matter how puissant, no matter how many communities it could
theoretically sustain for *drinking* water, a water source 2 miles away is
_not_ a nearby source in terms of agricultural water in a pre-mechanical
society in _any_ climate. The fields were at the oasis, and so were the
farmers; they were not two miles away sitting on rocks at Qumran.

Please check with the people who do farm in that climate -- particularly
about getting out to the fields before it is light. Please read research
that has been done on how humans adapt to living in such a climate and
compare this with the description of the Essene life-style. Please read
about the problems of infections, particularly fungal, in that climate and
the dangers attached to even a small cut from digging in rock. Also note
that if a person with a fungal condition bathes in a community bath, others
will be infected. If, after all these checks -- checks with those who
actually live and function in that *real* world, the Essene hypothesis can
be sustained, then you have a case.

But you are certainly right, this is more than enough -- I have work to do.

RISA
--
Dr. Rochelle I. Altman, co-coordinator IOUDAIOS-L  risa@hol.gr

For private reply, e-mail to "Rochelle I. Altman" <risa@isis.hol.gr>
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