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Toilet reveals a clue on the keepers of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Posted Nov 16, 2006 at 03:25PM by Myra M. Listed in: Archaeology Tags: James Tabor, Joe Zias
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The last supperReligion - Image 1

So we're not too keen on toilets, right? I mean yeah, we make it pretty, we do our thing there, the end. It's not like it gives us clues on our daily activities or something.


NOT. Biblical scholar James Tabor and Israeli anthropologist Joe Zias discovered a "secluded" toilet at the Qumran site, a place where the Dead Sea Scrolls where unearthed, supposedly also where the Essenes, a "hard-core Jewish sect," lived. Now, a two thousand years old toilet may not be really that fascinating, but when you're studying a group of people who lived two millenia ago, and are trying to prove their existence, then an archaic toilet might be just your thing.

You see, there are Biblical experts who contest the Essenes' existence and believe Qumran is "a fortress or a pottery-making center that had nothing to do with the Essenes." However, the discovery of this toilet interestingly is aligned with common Jewish practices before, and the Essenes, hard-core Jews as they were, most likely fervently practiced the same sanitary procedures as well.

"Preserved parasites" were also found in the site, which indicated the presence of poop, or to be more specific, buried poop. Now, burying one's own fecal matter was believed to be a traditional Jewish custom, as "bathroom duties were believed to be unclean in the sight of God."

Hmmm... curiouser and curiouser. This sheds another angle to the Essenes' existence; although of course, we can never be too sure. Want to play Robert Langdon, anyone?

[Via MSNBC] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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