|
|
|
about news academics media contact blog
|
Now Available: 
About the Book The settlement of Khirbet Qumran has been at the center of archaeological debate since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Recent publications have questioned Roland de Vaux’s initial conclusion that the Essenes built Qumran and there composed the Dead Sea Scrolls. This book examines the history of interpretation of the settlement at Qumran and introduces a new digital methodology that employs virtual reality to analyze the remains. The book concludes that after an initial Iron Age occupation, the site of Qumran was established as a Hasmonean fortress, abandoned, and later reoccupied by a small religious community that expanded the site in a communal, non-military manner. This group was ultimately responsible for some of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in the nearby caves. About the Author Robert R. Cargill is an archaeologist and biblical scholar at UCLA, where he serves as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Center for Digital Humanities. He is also the Chief Architect and Designer of the Qumran Visualization Project, a 3D, real-time, virtual reconstruction of the site of Khirbet Qumran. His research focuses on Northwest Semitic languages and Near Eastern archaeology of the Second Temple Period. Bibliographic Information Cargill, Robert R., Qumran through (Real) Time: A Virtual Reconstruction of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Bible in Technology 1, (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2009). ISBN: 1607240580 (buy on amazon | buy from Gorgias Press) Praise for Qumran through (Real) Time --Dr. John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale Divinity School "Robert Cargill provides an up-to-date study of the Archeology of Qumran, based on digital modeling. He concludes that the site, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, was established as a Hasmonean fort between 140 B.C.E. and 130 B.C.E. This fort was abandoned after a short time, and at the end of the second century B.C.E. the abandoned fort became a sectarian site, which lived until 68 C.E. Cargill has reexamined the Archeological record in great detail and offered an analysis that will appeal both to scholars and non-specialists, who are interested in the Dead Sea Scrolls." --Dr. Hanan Eshel, Bar Ilan University "Robert Cargill has brought a new scientific methodology--virtual modelling--to bear on the reconstruction of the history and architecture of the Qumran site. His volume provides a thorough analysis of the details of the site and its stratigraphy, making use of all of the past research, that is an important contribution to the ongoing discussion of the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls sect and its occupation of Khirbet Qumran." --Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman,
Professor of Hebrew and Juidaic Studies, New York University Excerpts from Qumran through (Real) Time on the need for scholars to embrace new forms of digital publication: "This research also realizes the overt incompatibility of publishing a book involving digital reconstructions in three-dimensional space in the traditional paper and ink format. It is, of course, highly ironic that this three-dimensional research is looked down upon by many, who prefer the time-honored, traditional medium of the printed book, which cannot fully convey the technological approach described within its pages. It is as incomplete as literally trying to describe a picture with a thousand words! Thus, the present research calls on scholars, publishers, dissertation committees, and departments of archaeology, architecture, and other related programs to make themselves more accommodating to newer digital forms of publication. As the word processor has replaced the typewriter, so too will digital and three-dimensional formats soon replace analog and two-dimensional formats for publishing archaeological materials. These new digital formats should not be seen as “alternative” or lesser means of publication, but as “progressive” media that are on the cutting edge of modern archaeological research." --Robert Cargill, Qumran through (Real) Time, p. 217-18 on the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls: "The present research concludes that much of the library of documents collectively known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the caves surrounding Qumran, was the product of the Jewish sectarians living at the site. The documents were a combination of the collective accumulation of the wealth of the residents that had moved to the site; the scrolls consisted of previously existing documents brought to the site, new compositions created at the site, and copies of previously existing compositions created at the site. While the documents from Caves 4a, 4b, 5, and 7–9 are definitely the products of the community at Qumran, the contents of Caves 3 and 11 may not have belonged to the community. The documents from Caves 3 and 11 may have been placed there by different Jews fleeing the Roman army during the Jewish Revolt. --Robert Cargill, Qumran through (Real) Time, p. 219 on the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls: "The present research concludes that much of the library of documents collectively known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the caves surrounding Qumran, was the product of the Jewish sectarians living at the site. The documents were a combination of the collective accumulation of the wealth of the residents that had moved to the site; the scrolls consisted of previously existing documents brought to the site, new compositions created at the site, and copies of previously existing compositions created at the site. While the documents from Caves 4a, 4b, 5, and 7–9 are definitely the products of the community at Qumran, the contents of Caves 3 and 11 may not have belonged to the community. The documents from Caves 3 and 11 may have been placed there by different Jews fleeing the Roman army during the Jewish Revolt. --Robert Cargill, Qumran through (Real) Time, p. 219 |
|
©2001-20010 Robert R. Cargill |