Thursday, January 04, 2007

Essene latrine update Ancient latrine fuels debate at Qumran
Not much new from previous posts, except for two items:
A description of Essene practice by the Jewish historian Josephus Flavius in the first century notes that Essene rules required them to distance themselves from inhabited areas to defecate and "dig a trench a foot deep" which was to then be covered with soil.

Didn't see any mention of there being a "trench" in the earlier articles, just that the, er, "stuff" was buried.
Another problem is that archaeologists have already identified a toilet at Qumran — inside the settlement. But Zias believes it was for emergencies: In some cases, divine commandments notwithstanding, nine minutes outside the camp was too far to go.

When ya gotta go. . . . .