The Dead Sea Provenience Project that started in 1998 concerns the Qumran Pottery
found in association with the site and the caves where the Dead
Sea Scrolls were found. The pottery was submitted to instrumental
neutron activation analysis (INAA) to learn where the pottery was
made.
The present Homepage concerns the initial collaborative
project that started in 1998 between:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Jan Gunneweg Ph.D., Archaeometrist,
Archaeologist)
The Technical University of Budapest (Marta Balla Ph.D.,
Geologist, Archaeologist)
The Ecole Biblique of Jerusalem (Jean-Baptiste Humbert, O.P.,
Archaeologist and caretaker of Roland De Vaux's Qumran
heritage)
After hundreds of publications concerning the discovery, the
cleaning, photographing, restoration and the textual exegesis of
the Qumran Dead Sea scrolls, it seemed to us a logical step to
study the Qumran storage jars, the cups, the dishes and other
ceramic containers which have been unearthed at the Qumran
Complex itself and in its surrounding caves in order to learn:
* W H E R E * all these vessels were
manufactured to establish the cultural interactions with people
near Qumran or further away
and furthermore to establish what is the connection between the Qumran complex and the
caves on the cliffs above it. When the link between the caves and the site is missing, the entire story of Qumran might fall.
Of course, it will not be easy to receive an answer to the
provenience of all the vessels--otherwise one has to analyze
every piece of ceramic found. It is, however, hoped that a
representative sampling will see to it that one can reach a
conclusion which is based on sound statistics. Meanwhile, 220
samples of all kinds of pottery have been analyzed and a picture
emerges that will be of enormous importance for further Qumran
research
Sampling one of the Qumran storage jars
As is shown in Gunneweg's Homepage of his branch of work at
the Hebrew University (a link to be found at the bottom of this
page), it is, today, possible to trace pottery through its
chemical composition to the pottery manufacture center where it
was made.
The INAA technique is based on the premise that every clay
source on earth has its own specific chemical composition and pottery made
thereof can be recognized and told apart. If clay was altered
by the potter, one obtains again another chemical composition
that is characteristic to that potter or to the site where he
worked. Once the abundances of all the chemical elements are
known, one may compare each analysis with those of ceramics that
are classified by the archaeologists as 'locally made'and proven
to be so by chemistry. Kiln wasters (misfired pottery lumps) are
site specific. So are bricks, tiles, oven linings and bins for
storage. A statistical match between the chemical composition of
a pottery vessel and that of a waster or any of the other
materials mentioned above means that one has found the place
where that pottery was made.
The analytical procedure as well as some of the results of
this study have been recorded on two videos of each 52 minutes, the first one entitled: Dead Sea Scrolls, Voices from the Desert and a follow-up entitled "The Haunted Desert, Archaeology at Qumran"both made by KBYU/Scandinature Films, Sweden. They were aired by the Discovery Channel.
Also the BBC has made a documentary entitled The
Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Kick
Productions
So far, we have obtained analytical results for about 200 samples of various
styles of vessels found at Qumran. For most of the pottery, we
have not only obtained a chemical composition, a so-called
"chemical fingerprint" but also a match with a specific site.
After our work will have appeared in book form, excerpts of its most important
content will be recorded on our webpage so that the finds will
become open to the general public
Initially, we expected to learn:
1. Is there a difference between the pottery found in the
Qumran complex and that from the caves?
2. Was all or part of the sampled pottery locally made in
Qumran? This will, for example, hopefully provide an answer to
the question whether the people of Qumran--perhaps the
Essenes--came with their own specific pottery from
elsewhere or that they manufactured their own on the spot in the
Qumran Complex.
Balsam juglet with content.
Was balsam produced at Qumran or elsewhere?
3. If the jars and other utensils were brought in from
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Masada, Engedi (or from any other
site for which we have INAA data), we will hopefully be able to
match the chemical compositions of the analyzed Qumran pottery
with those ancient pottery INAA data stored on our data banks.
4. Is it possible to "see" a difference in the pottery
manufacture-technology when the analyses would point to
different chemical compositions of the vessels? By the means of
mineralogical studies, one may indeed be able to observe
differences due to various potter's practices, such as the
addition of temper to the clay or by levigation. (e.g. by
Petrography)
5. By analyzing the various styles of pottery found at
Qumran and similar ones from other sites, nearby and further
away, will we be able to trace the interactions that certainly
took place between the Essenes in Qumran and other
populations so that the site of Qumran will get its long deserved
archaeological link with other sites in the region.
Cylindrical and Ovoid jars, sometimes called "Scroll
Jars"
To recapitulate, one has to determine the chemical composition of
pottery and the match with others, after which a re-newed
stylistical study must be performed to check whether the
differences in chemistry also correspond to differences as seen
by stylistical studies.
Did this kiln fire the scroll jars? The Qumran kiln
with the Dead Sea on the background
At present, we have highly scientific techniques at our
disposal. The Khirbet Qumran material cultural remains can be
studied to extract the utmost important information to interpret
Qumran archaeologically and historically.
Jan Gunneweg of the Hebrew University and J-B Humbert of the Ecole Biblique of Jerusalem are the co-editors of a Publication of the Scientific Archaeology of Qumran. The volume
will appear in a joint publication of the Presses Universitaires
de Fribourg, Suisse and the ecole biblique of Jerusalem.
The planned volume will be consecrated to the following subjects:
Petrography and geology of Qumran
Qumran Cemetery Anthropology
Carbon-14 dating performed on a collection of bones, teeth and
textiles
X-Ray Diffraction and C14 tests on the plaster of cisterns at Qumran
Provenience analyses on pottery by Thermoluminescence and
Magnetic Susceptibility and Instrumental Neutron Activation
A textile analysis of Qumran linen and wool and the
pigments used for coloring the textiles by SEM and X-Ray
Diffraction, Synchrotron and Raman microscopy
For the extension of the project for looking for parallel materials, see: The
Cave of the Letters with letters from the Bar Kochba period.
As everything else in life, there is a price for every
piece of information extracted from scientific research so that
mankind may enjoy the roots of its past and learn from that to
furnish the private lives of its individuals with a deeper
insight into the importance of each one's existence.
The Dorot Foundation provided the initial funds, the Abraham and Lillian Rosenberg Foundation provided the rest, whilealso the O'Rourke Family Trust Foundation helped out
However, more funding would be appreciated
In case one wants to help, please, send an
e-mail to:
