Archaeologists, it seems, will dig anything, even latrines. Sometimes this uncovers the stuff of scholarly evidence.
Over a hill, a discreet distance from and out of sight of the ruins of Qumran, near the Dead Sea, a broad patch of soil appeared to be discolored. Two archaeological sleuths had reasons to suspect this might have been Qumran's toilet. Soil samples yielded the desiccated eggs of human intestinal parasites.
The researchers said this could well be evidence supporting the controversial view that Qumran was occupied by an ascetic Jewish sect, the Essenes, and that they probably wrote the Dead Sea scrolls and hid them in nearby caves. The discovery of the scrolls, beginning in 1947, was a sensation, with the promise of insights into Judaism and early Christianity.
The young male zealots who established their sect at Qumran chose a life of austerity and isolation, but they could not have foreseen the hardships created by their religiously imposed toilet practices, researchers said Monday.
"They paid a high price for their holiness," said biblical historian James Tabor of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, one of the co-authors of a paper appearing in the international journal Revue de Qumran.
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"Some people might laugh, but it is terribly sad," he said. "They were so dedicated and had such a strenuous lifestyle, but they were probably lowering their life expectancy and ruining their health in an effort to do what is right."
The findings were announced by Tabor and Joe Zias, a paleopathologist in Israel. Tabor said the link between the latrine and the Essenes was intriguing, but not firm. Not enough organic material has been recovered for scientific dating tests. Qumran has been in ruins since A.D. 70.
Two of the scrolls refer to a requirement that latrines be "northwest of the city" and "not visible from the city." The Qumran latrine, about 1,000 yards away, seemed to comply.
Tabor conceded that it was possible, as recently proposed, that the site was a pottery factory but said it would have been run by a strict religious Jewish community.
"All I am saying," he concluded, "is that researchers should look at everything and try to come up with the best answer as to who lived at Qumran in the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls." In his view, that would be the Essenes.
