Dr. Gary
Gromacki
Associate Professor of Bible and
Homiletics
Baptist Bible Seminary
Clarks Summit,
Pennsylvania
<ggromacki> at <bbc>dot <edu>
Jodi Magness writes, "The location of the tower in the middle of the north side of the settlement indicates that it served as a watch tower. This is because, like today, most people approaching Qumran in antiquity would have come from the direction of Jerusalem and Jericho to the north. There was no entrance to the tower at the ground level. Instead, it was accessed at the second story level by climbing the staircase in L13 to the south. This staircase consisted of a flight of stone steps attached to the south wall of L13... DeVaux noted that the isolation of the tower reflects the inhabitants' concern for security. It was separated from the rest of the settlement by two open spaces on the east (L18) and south (L12, L17), each of which were closed at the end by doors. The tower guarded the main point of entry into the settlement." (Jodi Magness, The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002], 50-51.
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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