Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran.

• Author: Mizzi, Dennis

Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran. By SIDNIE WHITE CRAWFORD. Grand Rapids: WILLIAM B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 2019. Pp. xviii + 406. $50.

The archaeological site of Qumran (main occupation phase: ca. 100 BCE--68 CE), located by the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, has been the subject of many studies, principally because of the discovery of hundreds of Jewish texts--the so-called Dead Sea Scrolls--in adjacent natural and artificial caves. The history of research on the site is characterized by numerous controversies centering on the question of the site's function and the identity of its inhabitants. The majority of scholars posit that Qumran was related to the sectarian groups mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are often identified or associated with the Essenes described in the classical sources (Josephus, Philo, Pliny the Elder, and others). Despite the appearance of a consensus, there are in fact many variants of the Qumran-Essene hypothesis, as it is commonly referred to. Some scholars, moreover, challenge and reject it altogether, proposing a series of alternative interpretations, all of which divorce the Scrolls from the Qumran settlement and its inhabitants.

In her book Scribes and Scrolls at Qumran, Sidnie White Crawford presents a new, updated synthesis and her own version of the Qumran-Essene hypothesis. In a nutshell, she argues that the Dead Sea Scrolls represent a single collection of texts that formed part of a library that included a strong scribal component. This library was housed at Qumran, which served, among other things, as a scribal hub and central library for the wider Essene movement. At Qumran, scribes wrote, repaired, and collected scrolls. These were kept in a library within the built settlement, which Crawford locates in the complex of rooms designated as Loci 1, 2, and 4. Some of the nearby artificial caves (e.g., 4Q and 5Q) served as extensions of this library and were used for the storage of older texts. At the same time, throughout the course of the first centuries BCE and CE, the inhabitants started placing many of the scrolls in their collection inside a series of natural caves in the limestone cliff that dominated the local landscape. The scrolls were stored in cylindrical jars covered by bowl-shaped lids. Crawford does not explicate the reason behind this practice, but she posits that the deposition of the scrolls was intended to be either long-term or permanent. In 68 CE, the disruptive events of the First Jewish Revolt brought life at Qumran to a complete halt.

The book begins with an overview of past...