Biblical Views: Where Are the Scribes in the Dead Sea Scrolls?

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The caves near Khirbet Qumran revealed almost a thousand Dead Sea Scrolls as well as large numbers of tabs for fastening scrolls. At least four inkwells were discovered in the nearby settlement of Qumran. Altogether we have access to material evidence for scribal activity more ample than anywhere else in the ancient world. While it has become clear that not all the scrolls were composed or copied in the vicinity of Qumran, some scribal activity was clearly taking place there—something that has recently been confirmed by materials science. In light of this, it is all the more striking to […]

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Endnotes

1.
In Charlotte Hempel’s inaugural lecture, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Isolationism, Elites, and Austerity (www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/ptr/departments/theologyandreligion/news/2017/hempel-inaugural.aspx).