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GARO NALBANDIAN

QUMRAN’S CEMETERY. Dotting the desert landscape near Qumran are nearly 1,200 stone circles that mark the graves of many of the site’s ancient inhabitants. Two of the graves, however, contained not human remains but carefully buried storage jars once filled with date honey. Scholars have several theories as to why the jars were buried in the cemetery. Archaeologist Dennis Mizzi takes a fresh look at the evidence to see what these intriguing jar burials suggest about the religious beliefs of the Qumran community.