ABSTRACT
This chapter examines several lines of argument relevant to the notion that there was a single community at Qumran through both of what Qumran excavator Roland de Vaux called Period 'Ib' and 'Period II'. It argues against the notion that the same community or people continued in both of these two periods. Indeed, there was a 'main period' of Qumran's activity and people associated with the site in that period placed the deposits of scrolls in caves near the site, but that 'main period' was Period Ib and did not include activity at Qumran after that neither in Period II, III, or at the time of Bar Kokhba. The chapter surveys several issues bearing on the assumption of continuity between Qumran's Periods Ib and II, including pottery, language, women, dining, animal bone deposits, ownership, and scrolls. Qumran's Periods Ib and II should not be conflated in scholarly discourse as if they imply a single context.
