An historic/archaeological site.
This important site lies on the Dead Sea shore and includes the remains
of a village and caves where the famous Dead Sea scrolls were
discovered. Early settlement at Khirbet Qumran began in the 8th century
and occupied c.186BCE and 70AD by the sect (almost certainly the Essenes
attested to in Josephus, Pliny and Philo) that produced the corpus now
known as the "Dead Sea Scrolls".
Depending
on estimates, the compound housed anything up to 200 men living out the
Jewish cycle of prayer in privacy, celibacy in direct opposition to the
Temple priests in Jerusalem. The site serves as an almost perfect
illustration of the practical implications of the doctrine set down in
the sect's writings.