Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Jigsaw puzzle Jan Gunneweg, Jan Wouters, Marta Balla In the present paper, neutron activation analysis was applied to the scroll jars at Qumran to learn their provenance. Then, a date of the jars was obtained by Thermoluminescence in order to place them into the same time sequence of the Dead Sea scrolls, which are dated by palaeography. This, in turn was cross-dated by AMS C14 dating of the linen wrappings of the manuscripts and wood of the settlement. At the same time, a study was made to identify textile fibres as well as dyes used to colour them. The latter was entirely done in the framework of Cost Action G8. The conclusion is that the caves and the settlement as well as the cemetery are interlinked and can be used as a basis for interpreting the scrolls since one knows from where the scroll jars came with their content and at what time period the settlement flourished. Comments? Please write: Jan Gunneweg To return, click Archaeometry abstracts of our work or click "BACK" or click the Homepage . Jan Gunneweg Ph.D., The Hebrew University, revised November 2005