Editing Dead Sea Scrolls (section)

===Qumran–Essene theory===
{{Main|Qumran-Essene hypothesis}}

The view among scholars, almost universally held until the 1990s, is the "Qumran–Essene" hypothesis originally posited by Roland Guérin de Vaux<ref>de Vaux, Roland, ''Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls'' (Schweich Lectures of the British Academy, 1959). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.</ref> and Józef Tadeusz Milik,<ref>Milik, Józef Tadeusz, ''Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judea'', London: SCM, 1959. {{ISBN?}}</ref> though independently both [[Eliezer Sukenik]] and Butrus Sowmy of [[Monastery of Saint Mark|St Mark's Monastery]] connected scrolls with the Essenes well before any excavations at Qumran.<ref>For Sowmy, see: Trever, John C., ''The Untold Story of Qumran'', (Westwood: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965), p. 25. {{ISBN?}}</ref> The Qumran–Essene theory holds that the scrolls were written by the Essenes or by another Jewish sectarian group residing at Khirbet Qumran. They composed the scrolls and ultimately hid them in the nearby caves during the [[First Jewish–Roman War|Jewish Revolt]] sometime between 66 and 68&nbsp;CE. The site of Qumran was destroyed and the scrolls never recovered. Arguments supporting this theory include:
* There are striking similarities between the description of an initiation ceremony of new members in the Community Rule and descriptions of the Essene initiation ceremony mentioned in the works of Flavius [[Josephus]], a Jewish-Roman historian of the Second Temple period.
* Josephus mentioned the Essenes as sharing property among the members of the community, as does the Community Rule.
* During the excavation of Khirbet Qumran, two inkwells and plastered elements thought to be tables were found, offering evidence that some form of writing was done there. More inkwells were discovered nearby. De Vaux called this area the "[[scriptorium]]" based upon this discovery.
* Several Jewish [[Mikvah|ritual baths]] (Hebrew: {{Langx|he|מקוה|translit=miqvah|label=none}}) were discovered at Qumran, offering evidence of an observant [[Jew]]ish presence at the site.
* [[Pliny the Elder]] (a geographer writing after the fall of [[Jerusalem]] in 70&nbsp;CE) described a group of Essenes living in a desert community on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea near the ruined town of '[[Ein Gedi]].