ON THE AGE AND CONTENT OF JAR‐35—A SEALED AND INTACT STORAGE JAR FOUND ON THE SOUTHERN PLATEAU OF QUMRAN* |
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| Authors: | K. L. RASMUSSEN J. GUNNEWEG J. VAN DER PLICHT I. KRALJ CIGIĆ A. D. BOND B. SVENSMARK M. BALLA M. STRLIC G. DOUDNA |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Institute of Physics and Chemistry, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, DK‐5230 Odense M, Denmark;2. Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel;3. Center for Isotope Research, Nijenborgh 4, 9747 AG Groningen, The Netherlands, and Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands;4. University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, A?ker?eva 5, SI‐1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;5. Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK‐2100 Copenhagen, Denmark;6. Institute of Nuclear Techniques, Budapest University, H‐1521 Budapest, Hungary;7. Centre for Sustainable Heritage, University College London, The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, Gower Street (Torrington Place Site), London WC1E 6BT, UK;8. Columbia College, 13910 45th Avenue NE #802, Marysville, WA 98271 USA |
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| Abstract: | An intact and sealed storage jar known as Jar‐35 was found in 2004, south of the Qumran settlement. A previous study identified tartrate in the deposit of the jar, indicating the possible past presence of wine ( Buti et al. 2006 ). However, we cannot confirm this finding. Using liquid and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection, no trace of tartaric acid or salts thereof could be detected in our samples. We show that the major component of the deposit is gypsum. No other organic compounds were identified with the methods that we have applied. Both radiocarbon dating of charcoal in the deposit and thermoluminescence dating of the ceramic jar show that it dates to the main period of habitation at Qumran (c. 100 bc to ad 70). |
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| Keywords: | QUMRAN DEAD SEA CERAMICS JAR‐35 GYPSUM TARTARIC ACID DATING |
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