After
fifty years of intense scroll studies, the archaeology in Qumran is viewed from
a different perspective, i.e. through the provenance of its pottery by neutron
activation analysis. NAA has often in the past provided objective data that
has remained unquestioned until the present. We, therefore, were confident that
the nuclear technique would also be helpful this time. Our initial goal was
to obtain an objective clue that would be able to link the Qumran caves and
their content with the building complex excavated in the early 1950's by the
late Roland de Vaux. The newly obtained factual evidence will certainly enlighten
many current inquiries, while raising other questions.
The overall picture is that we have been able to trace most of the scroll jars
to where they were made as well as other pottery that point to relations between
the Essene (or other sectarian) community with the environment in the Dead Sea
area.