Redating the Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran : the case for 63 BCE, 1999, 95 p. -

This article sets forth a comprehensive argument that all of the Qumran texts were deposited at the time of the first Roman invasion of Judea in 63 BCE, rather than over a century later at the time of the First Revolt. Internal text references and the archaeology of Qumran are discussed in detail leading to this synthesis. It is argued that there is no continuity between Qumran Period Ib and later habitations at Qumran and that the scroll deposits should be associated exclusively with Qumran Period Ib, which ended in the context of the Roman arrival c. 63 BCE. The scholarly consensus that Qumran text activity and text deposits occured in the 1st century CE is shown to have originated in an error in archaeological interpretation and to have no secure underlying basis.