Dr. Gary Gromacki
Associate
Professor of Bible and
Homiletics
Baptist Bible Seminary
Clarks Summit,
Pennsylvania
<ggromacki>at <bbc>dot <edu>
Here is a picture of a water cistern without steps located at Qumran. The settlers of Period Ia (150-175 B.C.) refurbished a round cistern built in the Iron Age. Bryant Wood writes, "The amount of water needed for a community of approximately two hundred people and their pack animals, for the eight months of the year during which rainwater was not available, is around 258 cubic meters (9,112 cubic feet). System capacity, on the other hand, including allowance for evaporating losses, is approximately 578 cubic meters (20,413 cubic feet), more than twice what was needed. The water volume of the cisterns without steps, on the other hand, was around 259 cubic meters (9,147 cubic feet), more than enough to meet the practical needs of the community." (Bryant Wood, "Cisterns and Reservoirs" in Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Edited by Lawrence Schiffman and James VanderKam. Vol.1 [New York: Oxford University Press, 2000], 132).
_____________________________________________________________________________________
LINKS TO OTHER DSS WEB PAGES BY DR. GARY GROMACKI
Doctrine of God Doctrine of the Bible Doctrine of Man and Sin
Doctrine of Salvation Doctrine of the Community Doctrine of the Messiah
Doctrine of Eschatology Archaeology of Qumran Bibliography on the DSS
Web Sites on the DSS DSS Table of Contents