The death age profile found at Qumran also shows an important difference
from ordinary family cemeteries. Prior to our modern methods of health care it was
common to have a high rate of youth mortality. This can be seen by touring the cemeteries
of Europe and America. As Joe Zias pointed out: When viewing the demographic data
in antiquity, sub-adult mortality (under eighteen years) usually averages around
50% with some reported figures for this period as high as 68%, [8]. Examination
of the Roman Tombstone data above shows that 40% of commemorated deaths occurred
before the age of 20. On the other hand, a segment of the population from all biological
groups escaped the youth health dangers and many lived into advanced old age. Refer
to the Tombstone evidence above. A wealth of information is available on the demographics
of ancient times. For example, consider
Walter Scheidel,
Disease and the Demography of Roman Egypt [10], or Bagnall and Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt, [11].
Many studies report new-born infant death rates in ancient times at greater than
300 per thousand. Eleanor Scott estimated mortality rates for new-born
infants in early medieval England at about 100 per 1000, [12]. But infants often
are absent from cemeteries. A range of historical and ethnographic parallels provide
possible reasons for this. Scott notes
the practice in Roman Italy of burying the new-born under the eaves of the house.
She cites the ancient Greek practice of burying infants below the house, to enable
their soul to enter the next child born to the household. In
the large Egyptian Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BCE) town at Lahun, (William
Flinders) Petrie uncovered infant burials in boxes beneath the floors of houses.
There is no written evidence to account for this, and the historical and ethnographic
parallels can only make us aware of the range of possible social and individual
motivations behind the practice, [13].
Until the past century children were highly important to
families economics. An agriculture family found children indispensable to operation
of the family farm. A potter might find it economically helpful to have a child
run errands for him. Such use of child labor applies to many occupations. In the
face of the Qumran grave statistics we have another startling fact. Since youth
mortality in ancient times was nearly the same in all communities, across all ethnic
lines, and across all national boundaries, we should find at least 12 children buried
at Qumran, from our sample size of 26 and if it were an ordinary family burial ground.
But none were found. Clearly the Qumran community did not have ordinary families
nor did they depend upon children as part of their economics.
High mortality rates extended throughout life. On the basis of a study of well over
30,000 Roman period tomb markers showing age John Durand reports:
Expectation of life at birth for the urban population of the western Roman Empire
during the first and second centuries is estimated at between fifteen and twenty-five
years. The expectation for the whole population of the Empire was probably about
twenty-five or thirty years, [14].
The Roman tombstone evidence shown above also speaks to high mortality rates for
the elderly. Only about 16 percent of the population survived past 50. The results
of the lack of medical competence to provide longevity is also described by Douglas
W. Owsley and William M. Bass from the Department of Anthropology, University of
Tennessee, Knoxville, [15]:
Demographic analysis of skeletons from the Larson site (39WW2) Walworth County,
South Dakota, 1750-1785: The population had an extremely high infant mortality rate
and high rates of childhood mortality. The lowest probability of death was for adolescents.
Mortality increased for young adults, ages 15-19. This increase was especially marked
for females, the actual peak of adult female mortality was during ages 15-19. A
second mode in the female mortality curve occurred at ages 35-39. The greatest percentage
of male deaths was observed in the fourth decade, ages 30-34. Only 4.0% of the population
attained the age of 50.
Although the illustration is remote in time and place, we can see how strikingly
it describes the exhumed population of Qumran.
On the other hand, old age was well known in antiquity. The Emperor Augustus of
Rome lived to be 84. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance the age of exemption
from compulsory civic and military service was often 70, and examples of older people
remaining active are frequent. A 13th-century Doge of Venice led his forces into
battle when he was 97! A summary of this history of old age was edited by Pat Thane,
Thames and Hudson, [16].
On the basis of the Roman tombstone evidence we should expect to find about four
people older than 50 in the Qumran graveyard, out of our sample size of 26. We find
two, and they are of lesser age. Because of this lack of elderly from exhumed graves
we can also surmise that the economics of Qumran did not allow older people who
would become a burden on the community.
The random sampling methods of grave exhumation used by de Vaux makes child internments
without discovery highly unlikely if we accept the childhood statistics cited above.
Since children are missing from Qumran we can conclude, with a high degree of certainty,
that the main Qumran graveyard is not a family burial ground. This conclusion is
further confirmed by the absence of elderly people. The evidence strongly suggests
that individuals were brought into the Qumran community after they were past puberty,
and left Qumran before old age. Families did not live and die at Qumran.
This raises the obviously important question: Was Qumran organized as a community
for some purpose other than family life?
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Age Profile
When Sheridan attempted to obtain radio-carbon dates on the remains from the cemetery
she discovered that the material from the bodies was completely contaminated by
the grave environment. Apparently, this problem affected all Qumran graves, suggesting
that all internments were buried with sufficient time to bring the contamination.
(The shorter time period suggested by Zias for the Southern Extension graves might
countermand this finding, if the remains of those graves were subjected to further
radio-carbon examination.)
Death and burial in all communities since ancient times have been a local operation.
One did not transport dead bodies long distances to bury them. This was especially
true for the Near East where warm weather quickly caused deterioration. The rule
among both Jews and Arabs was to bury the body within one day. Hence, any theory
that would demand the transport of dead bodies over a day's journey to a remote
graveyard is unrealistic. If a man died at Qumran he would be buried at Qumran.
If someone died in Jerusalem he would not be carried to Qumran for burial. (The
walking distance at a rapid pace from Jerusalem would be about five or six hours.
The transport of a dead body would make this journey much slower, taking up the
good part of a day.)
A profile of number of deaths within our sample size of 26, both from the Sheridan
and the Roehrer-Ertl reports, plotted against age, shows the following:
|
Table Three |
|
Number
of
Deaths
|
|
X
X
|
X
|
X
X
|
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
|
X
X
X
|
X
X
X
X
X
X
|
X
X
|
X
|
|
X
|
|
|
Age |
10-15
|
15-20
|
20-25
|
25-30
|
30-35
|
35-40
|
40-45
|
45-50
|
50-55
|
55-60
|
60-65
|
65-70
|
Note that this table includes all burials exhumed at Qumran - male, female, and
Roman.
This histogram shows that a preponderance of deaths occurred between the ages of
30 and 45 at Qumran. This finding is in contradiction to the general cemetery statistics
of ancient times, as shown in Figure One above. A larger number of deaths should
occur earlier in life. Refer to the Roman tombstone evidence below, Figure Two,
[7]. This graphical plot is skewed because gravestones are an indication of family
wealth, and because of the social importance of the individuals who died. Poorer
families could not afford tombstones, and childhood may not have obtained social
notice.
Figure Two
However, the Qumran profile agrees with another finding from the Roman tombstones.
This may be seen from the commemorative evidence from Britain, Figure Three below,
[7].
Figure Three
The male and female commemorations in Britain appear similar
to those from Roman Italy, except that childhood death seems to have been given
more consideration. However, the military commemorations are notably different.
No childhood mortality shows because members came into military service at the ages
of 17 or 18. On the other hand, the military profile shows commemoration well into
old age.
The similarity between Roman Britain military deaths, and the Qumran death
profile shown in Table Three above, may be seen by a graphical plot showing both
on the same chart, Figure Four below.
Figure Four
For this Figure, I have taken the Roman Britain military
data directly from Figure Three above. The Britain military sample size was 84.
I have calculated the Qumran data from Table Three above, with a sample size of
26, including the three known Roman and three female burials.
The commemoration of Roman Military deaths in Britain probably
was more faithful to the military population than commemorations were to the civilian
population because of a more certain income that would pay for the memorial, and
because of the honor the military received. The practice might be compared to the
burial of those who die in military service today.
The similarity of these two graphical plots is remarkable.
They speak toward a social discipline in both cultures that would bring about the
same mortality profiles. The underlying causes of death at Qumran compare to the
underlying causes of military deaths in Roman Britain. Since the military mortality
profiles are markedly different from the civilian, Figure Three above, what is it
in the military that would cause this difference? If we examine those causes we
should be able to reach certain conclusions about death at Qumran.
Military age does not begin until after puberty. This means
that all youth mortality has been removed from the population. Diseases that occur
in youth do not affect the military death rates. Mortality depends on health dangers
that are purely adult. Qumran mortality profiles follow the purely adult profiles
of a military group.
Note that the Roman burials at Qumran probably came from
the military outpost stationed at Qumran, and hence obeyed the rules for military
mortality. They would contribute sympathetically to the Qumran death profile. Similarly,
females invited into Qumran probably would obey the same rules for adult admission
as the males, and hence their mortality profile would not include childhood contribution.
Mortality dangers associated with adult females would not be displayed if, for example,
childbirth was forbidden. Since the female representation is a small proportion
of the graveyard population other uniquely female mortality dangers probably do
not show in the small sample size. Thus the female mortality profile also contributed
sympathetically to the Qumran death profile.
The dangers of death were similar in both populations.
(Death on the battlefield did not appear to contribute significantly to the Roman
Britain military mortality rates.) This implies that mortal illnesses were similar
in both geographical regions, and that they were due to natural causes. We do not
know how much heart disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes, liver and kidney
diseases, and so on may have contributed. Most likely old-age dangers, such as stroke,
did not affect the Qumran youthful population, although those statistics may appear
in the Britain military population. We can infer that the Jewish population at Qumran
did not have superior physical genetic endowments to make them more immune to the
causes of natural death.
These facts have a peculiar importance to Qumran. The data
imply that the Qumran population was screened to selectively solicit healthy membership
after puberty, as in the military. Handicapped were not accepted into Qumran unless
the handicap did not affect the function of the individual. In functional respects
Qumran was similar to military practices and discipline. But this probably was true
for physical attributes only; the population could have been screened for superior
education and intellectual capacity that does not show in the mortality statistics.
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Statistical Sampling
Over the past century mathematical techniques were developed
to evaluate the quality of a product on a manufacturing production line. For example,
a gun bolt must fit within the gun chamber fairly tightly, to seal the compression
chamber when the round is fired. However, this must not be so tight that the rounds
cannot be introduced into the chamber with relative ease. This restriction places
a requirement that both the chamber and the bolt meet standard dimensions. Since
mechanical variations take place in manufacturing some limit must be placed on both
dimensions that will hold the variations to a range that will make an efficient
weapon. On a mass production line a measurement of each piece would place an onerous
financial burden on the manufacturer. Therefore sampling techniques were established
to ease that burden. Only a small percentage of the production need be tested to
verify that the finished product will work to specifications. This method is called
Quality Control. Most often the requirement is that these methods measure random
samples. This is called statistical sampling, and is based upon mathematical theories
of probability density functions. Many books have been written around these methods
designated Engineering Statistics. The United States government provides information
on such methods, [17].
When de Vaux went through the Qumran cemetery exhuming
graves he did so in a manner that in all practical aspects was random. He was simulating
a sampling process that was similar to quality control on manufacturing production
lines. He knowingly or unknowingly provided us with sampling statistics. The histogram
in Table Three above shows the age distribution of the sample. Because of the simulation
to manufacturing sampling statistics we can extrapolate the Sheridan and Roehrer-Ertl
results onto the entire main cemetery with considerable confidence. Assuming a random
distribution of age from the exhumations I calculated the arithmetic mean at approximately
35 years. I then found the 3-sigma limits of that sample at +/- 30 years. More than
ninety-nine per cent of the population of Qumran should mathematically fit within
longevity of 5 to 65 years.
We must keep in mind that the population was truncated.
Childhood deaths are missing from the population because members were admitted after
puberty. Old age is truncated because members were asked to leave the community
when they reached an older age. Therefore, conclusions drawn from the principles
of sampling statistics are subject to some modification. Certainly we have some
estimate of group health, longevity, and demographics by the comparisons I have
made here. Community adaptation and daily life now has more open doors to our understanding,
contrary to the opinion of Sheridan. The meaning of the data is not subject to a
limit of the 3% exhumed graves as she and Schuller stated, [5, 6].
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The Purpose of Qumran
To understand the population of the graveyard we must address
several questions: How many people lived within the complex? Where did everyone
sleep? Why is the graveyard so large, when the community appeared so small?
Our
choices in understanding the function of Qumran then devolve to (a) a military center,
(b) a commercial center, perhaps (c) an educational institution, or perhaps (d)
a community dedicated to the preparation of religious scrolls.
The answer to these
questions depends on an understanding of the living population of Qumran. The following
is edited from a lecture given by Yizhar Hirschfeld, [18].
I have removed his speculative
remarks.
The part of Qumran which is most similar to the other sites is the main
building. The dominant feature of the main building is the tower in the northwestern
corner of the courtyard. The main building was probably the living quarters of the
site. The surrounding wings were the industrial area of the site. The water supply
system of Qumran was capable of collecting 1,127 cubic m of water. This is a considerable
amount of water, but not unusual in comparison to the quantities that were collected
at other desert sites in the region.
The site of Qumran does not appear to have
been a center for the people living in nearby caves. A systematic survey of the
caves has demonstrated that they were used for hiding objects, not for permanent
inhabitation. On the other hand, the site does not appear to be a fortress either.
The tower surrounded by a glacis made the site defensible, but the living quarters,
featuring several entrances and irregular construction, were characteristic of a
civilian complex. The industrial installations and the nearby tracts of work land
prove that a principal occupation of the inhabitants was agriculture and agricultural
processing.
A survey of the Qumran geographical area through Google maps shows cultivation
nearby today. We would be hard pressed to suggest that it was not possible to have
an agricultural operation associated with the Qumran complex 2,000 years ago. Questions
such as rainfall, Dead Sea level, aridity, and so on during the period of occupation
are beyond the scope of this paper. The existence of farming did not preclude a
religious function of the community. It merely could have been the way the community
helped support themselves.
Recent excavations revealed several kilns, an entire
room full of pottery, many pottery shards and other evidence possibly supporting
an extensive ceramics industry at the site. Some of the over 700 bowls found in
Locus 89, "the pantry," were probably produced for trade and, as they strongly resemble
vessels found in late Hasmonean and early Herodian Jericho, it seems that there
were close economic ties between Qumran and other areas, reaching perhaps as far
a Jerusalem. In all likelihood, Qumran supplied pottery to such nearby sites as
Rujm el-Bahr, Qasr el-Yahud and, perhaps, Ein Gedi and Masada. The similarity in
style of pottery found in the ruins and the clay jars that held the scrolls was
an important point in associating Qumran with the cave scrolls when the traditional
hypothesis was first proposed. The pottery activity may simply have been one source
of revenue for the community, without assuming that was its only source, or forcing
it into a solely commercial enterprise. (Or, on the contrary, forcing the community
into a distorted monastery complex with all male members.)
Although recent excavations
reveal a more refined mode to the architecture, this merely means the community
did not confine itself to austere surroundings. We should not conclude that Qumran
was a rich Manor House for royalty. The graveyard, with the lack of children and
the elderly, is a mighty reflection of the lives lived at Qumran.
Hirschfeld felt
that Qumran required considerable economic resources. He argued that the lack of
any scroll evidence within the site strongly suggests a proposal that no scrolls
were written there, [19]. But the proposal is not valid. Excavations at nearby Masada
and Hyrcania revealed scroll evidence at those sites but they were not used exclusively
to write scrolls. Masada was a palace for Herod the Great. We would expect religious
texts to be in use at all sites. Hence, the lack of scroll evidence points toward
an opposite proposal, that all scrolls and scraps of scrolls were gathered and placed
in the Dead Sea Caves when the site was abandoned. Someone could have gone through
the site and carefully removed all scroll material.
The point that Hirschfeld made
about Qumran economics places emphasis on the care the managers of the site had
to maintain to keep it financially viable. It was a site that could not permit extra
financial burden. Therefore, the rule was simple: no children and no old people.
It was also a site that was dedicated to the production of religious scrolls, an
occupation that had no need for women.
(We should not become confused about the
nature of the sociological function of Qumran. The group may have been completely
outside the main cultural stream of the Jewish people, including Essenes. It may
have been a group dedicated to God, and showing no allegiance to other human associations.)
I have tried to estimate the possible numbers of people living in the Qumran complex
and see no reason why it could not easily reach 100 or higher. The sleeping quarters
could easily have been on an upper floor, traces of which were lost because of the
methods of the 1950's excavations. Besides the complex water system, the overall
design of Qumran points to a communal way of life. Qumran had a scriptorium where
scrolls were produced, a dining hall, a garden, stables, a bakery and various workshops.
This evidence reveals the style of the daily life of the community.
I have refrained
from identifying the inhabitants of Qumran as Essene. I do not believe they were
Essene. I believe they were a community dedicated to the preparation of scrolls
for their religious expression, as first proposed, but had to maintain themselves
economically. They had husband and wife teams that served in domestic roles, such
as cooking and cleaning. But the population was mainly male. This is the evidence
of the graveyards. It was a population that could not afford families, nor childhood
costs, nor cost for maintenance of the aged.
Operation of Qumran may have occupied
perhaps two hundred years, from circa 150 BCE to 70 CE. But now I expand the meaning
of the preparation of religious scrolls. In addition to their own needs, the members
prepared scrolls for other Jewish communities, thus to support themselves economically.
Furthermore, such activity would be compatible with a deeply religious life pursuit.
Such proposal would help explain why there was such an abundance of scrolls. It
would also explain why the caves carried such a rich assortment of different scrolls
never before known. The caves around Qumran were not a place to stash scrolls from
Jerusalem or other Jewish intellectual centers at the imminent threat of Roman armies;
they were a place to stash scrolls from Qumran, as originally proposed. (I avoid
discussion why the unique Qumran religious scrolls were not known from other Jewish
communities prior to these discoveries.)
Qumran had a primary function that was
at the heart of their purpose. That function was the preparation of scrolls designed
to fulfill a need for apocalyptic expression. Qumran was more than a simplistic
Essene community; it was a community dedicated to apocalypse and understanding of
the future of mankind. The heart of their purpose, their worship services and their
theological discussions, was centered on that eschatological framework. They helped
sustain themselves by writing religious scrolls and making pottery for other communities.
The evidence speaks to the solicitation of young men for membership in the community.
If life expectancy was short, the new entry of middle-age persons or older would
not be economically sound. The mortality profiles demonstrate this conclusion.
If
we follow this occupation model young men would be solicited to enter the community
directly after the age of puberty. With a high mortality rate in the general population
young persons would be at a premium. The time from age 15 to the average death would
be 20 years. If the occupiers of Qumran numbered perhaps 100, how many men would
die each year? If fifty percent of the population of Qumran would die within 20
years, and if the Qumran operation went on for 200 years, then five would die per
century, multiplied by two centuries, multiplied by the number of members. This
simple mathematical calculation reveals the size of the Qumran graveyard. The graveyard
would grow to 1000 graves over 200 years. This is the approximate size of the graveyard
we have discovered.
Ernest P. Moyer
January 12, 2007
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List of References:
[1] Susan
Guise Sheridan, Jaime Ullinger and Jeremy Ramp, Anthropological Analysis of the
Human Remains from Khirbet Qumran: The French Collection, The Archaeology of Qumran,
Vol. II., J-B Humbert, OP and J. Gunneweg, eds., Presses Universitaires de Fribourg,
Suisse and the École Biblique et Archéologique Française, pp. 133-173, 2003. See
also
http://www.nd.edu/~qumran/JBHQumran.pdf
[2] Olav Roehrer-Ertl, F. Rohrhirsch
and D. Hahn, “Über die Gräberfelder von Khirbet 1999 Qumran, insbesondere die funde
der campagne 1956. I: Anthropologische datenvorlage und erstauswertung aufgrund
der collectio Kurth”, Revue de Qumran 19/73, p. 3-46. See also
http://www.primatology.de/de/anthropologie/qumran/katalog/graeber.html
[3] S.Steckoll, The Community of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Atti de Centro studi e documentazione
sull’Italia romana 5: Convegno internazionale sui metodi di studio della città antica,
p. 198-244, 323-344
[4] Haas N. and H. Nathan, “Anthropological survey on the human
skeletal remains from 1968 Qumran”, Revue de Qumran 23/6, p. 345-352
[5] S. G. Sheridan.
"Scholars, Soldiers, Craftsmen, Elites?: Analysis of the Human Remains from Qumran,"
Dead Sea Discoveries, 9(2):199-248.
http://www.nd.edu/~qumran/DSD2002.pdf
[6] Schuller
E., “Women in the Dead Sea scrolls”, The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years,
1999:
A Comprehensive Assessment. Vol II. Ed. by P.W. Flint and J.C. VanderKam, Leiden,
Brill, p. 117-144
[7] Louise Revell, "The Roman life course: a view from the inscriptions,"
European Journal of Archaeology, Vol 8, (1), pages 43-63, 2005.
[8] Joe Zias, The
Cemeteries of Qumran, Celibacy: Confusion Laid to Rest? Dead Sea Discoveries Vol
7, 2000, pp. 220-253.
http://www.joezias.com/QumranCemetry.htm
[9] Sigrid Peterson:
http://orion.huji.ac.il/orion/archives/1999b/msg00545.html
[10] Walter Scheidel,
Disease and the Demography of Roman Egypt, in the series History and Archaeology
of Classical Antiquity, Volume 228, Brill, Leiden, 2001.
[11] Roger S. Bagnall and
Bruce W. Frier, The Demography of Roman Egypt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
1994.
[12] Eleanor Scott. The Archaeology of Infancy and Infant Death, Oxford, 1999.
[13] Presentation on the Flinders Petrie Egyptian Archeology web site:
http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/age/childhood3.html
[14] John D. Durand, Mortality Estimates from Roman Tombstone Inscriptions, The
American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Jan., 1960), pp. 365-373
[15] Douglas
W. Owsley and William M. Bass, A demographic analysis of skeletons from the Larson
site (39WW2) Walworth County, South Dakota, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
Volume 51, Issue 2 , Pages 145 - 154, published On Line May, 2005.
[16] Pat Thane,
Ed., The Long History of Old Age, Thames and Hudson, London, 2005.
[17] Engineering
Statistics:
http://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_control
[18] Yizhar Hirschfeld, Recent Discoveries in the Archaeology of Qumran, Greenfield
Seminar Series on March 19, 1998.
http://orion.huji.ac.il/orion/programs/aerial.shtml
[19] Y. Hirschfeld, Qumran in the Second Temple Period, Reassessing the Archeological
Evidence, Liber Annus, Vol 52, 2002, pages 247-296.
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA52/LA52247Hirschfeld_Qumran.pdf
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA52/LA52t01Hirschfeld.pdf
This notice
was posted on the Hebrew University website: (The Institute of Archaeology deeply
regrets to announce that Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld passed away on November 16th, 2006.)
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