Image Details

plan by Avigdor Orgad, based on Roland de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls

An elaborate water system is easily visible in blue on this site plan of Qumran. The dark brown outline marks the original square Hasmonean fortress, which included a tower in the northwest corner (in tan;) and an open central courtyard (in light purple). Many of the rooms were probably added after the fortress went out of use as a military headquarters in 63 B.C.E. and became an industrial pottery factory.