KHIRBET QUMRAN kĭr’ bĕt kŏŏm’ rän (Arab. hirbet qumrân, ruin of [the Wadi] Qumrân). A site near the NW shore of the Dead Sea where the Wadi Qumrân flows from the Judaean hills into the Dead Sea. Though long known to travelers the site was not excavated until the discovery of the DSS in neighboring caves from 1947 onward drew attention to it. The excavations were carried out in 1951 and 1953-56 under the direction of R. de Vaux and G. L. Harding. The site, which stands on a plateau about half a m. from the shore, consists of a complex of buildings and an associated cemetery. The earliest building on the site, which dates from the 8th-7th cent. b.c., is prob. to be connected with King Uzziah (2 Chron 26:10) and is perhaps to be identified with the “City of Salt” (’îr-hammelah) (Josh 15:62) (though this would involve the assumption of revision of the text of Joshua in the monarchy period). The site was deserted for some centuries after this settlement and there was no sign of activity until the 2nd cent. b.c., when the ancient building was modified and used by a small group of settlers (Level Ia), but the most flourishing period (Ib) followed in about 110 b.c. when, with an enlarged population, the complex was provided with an elaborate water system, a pottery, smithy, laundry, bakery, mill, kitchens, refectory and assembly halls. This phase ended about 30 b.c. following a fire, and a few years later an earthquake, and the site remained virtually uninhabited until 4 b.c. when it was reconstructed by new settlers (Level II) much on the lines of Ib and remained in occupation until its destruction by the Romans in a.d. 68 during the First Jewish Revolt. It was fortified (III) and continued as a Rom. post until the end of the cent. The site again was used as a center by the rebels during the Second Jewish Revolt (a.d. 132-135) but no serious rebuilding was again undertaken.

The surrounding caves in which were found the DSS contained pottery contemporary with Levels Ib and II. Many of the scrolls had been copied at Khirbet Qumran (a scriptorium was found in Level II), and prob. were deposited in the caves in a.d. 68 when the Rom. conquest was imminent.

The identity of the community is uncertain, but most scholars would now connect them with the Essenes (q.v.). See Dead Sea Scrolls.

Bibliography J. T. Milik, Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea (1959), 45-56; FLAP, 273-276; R. de Vaux, L’archéologie et les manuscrits de la Mer Morte (1961), 1-39.