ASOR 1952-26

Original caption: Entrance to E4 as viewed from southeast.

c005Qumran26

Comment: E4 refers to Team E cave 4 of the expedition. This is GQ29 of the final designation. We see the workers inside the cave.  It is useful to know that the entrance is viewed from the southeast, since this provides an indication of its orientation. The team was led by Milik, who considered the cave to have been emptied of scrolls already in antiquity. As described in DJD 3, p.11, Cave GQ29 has a small entrance and was entered by a tunnel 2 m. long. 40-50 cm high. Inside there was a chamber about 3 m in diameter of a kind of conical shape at the top. Seven jars were found embedded in the soil (DJD III, Pls. IV and VI). Seven lids were piled up against the wall (DJD III, Pl. IV), apart from the jars, and there were remains of a further 9 jar lids, a bowl (DJD III, Fig. 5.21; Pl. V) and a lamp (Fig. 5.2; Pl.VII). There were also fragments of six further jars and a lid. There were also three fragments of linen (not recorded in DJD III/1).

For further information, see Weston W. Fields, The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Full History, Vol. 1, 1947-1960 (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 136-7; Mireille Bélis, ‘À la recherche de la « petite grotte » 29, dite « grotte de Timothée »,’ Actes du Colloque d’archéologie palestinienne, Paris, 11 et 12 octobre 2013. 

The cave has proven difficult to locate subsequent to the expedition of 1952. It was identified by Rudolf Cohen and Yigael Israel, ‘The Excavations of Rock Shelter XII/50 and in Caves XII/52-53,’ Atiqot 41/1 (2002), 207-13 (Heb.); 41/2 (Eng.), 185-86; however, their description does not match that of de Vaux.

This same picture appears in DJD III, Pl. II:4, with the caption ‘Entrée de la grotte 29’.

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