Image Details

Hershel Shanks

A LOOKOUT FOR INVADERS. This tower was part of the original Hasmonean command post built at Qumran. The site, with its view of the Dead Sea, served as an advance-warning system to alert the main military presence at Hyrcania. After the Romans took control of Judea and the surrounding areas in 63 B.C.E., Qumran was no longer militarily important and was converted into a full-time pottery factory.