Professor Pfann, I thank you for your support. You have shown that I am right about: a) donkeys, b) drinking water being carted in, and c) a source -- and that is ALL you have shown. I am sorry; a word was missing from my post -- that should have been "hardly easy walking distance." Only an outsider could think that 2 miles over that terrain in that climate is in easy walking distance. On foot it will take around 1-1/2 to 2 hours each way; people who live in such climates know better then to walk fast. Shall we get down to the heart of the matter? This was supposedly a farming community. No matter how puissant, no matter how many communities it could theoretically sustain for *drinking* water, a water source 2 miles away is _not_ a nearby source in terms of agricultural water in a pre-mechanical society in _any_ climate. The fields were at the oasis, and so were the farmers; they were not two miles away sitting on rocks at Qumran. Please check with the people who do farm in that climate -- particularly about getting out to the fields before it is light. Please read research that has been done on how humans adapt to living in such a climate and compare this with the description of the Essene life-style. Please read about the problems of infections, particularly fungal, in that climate and the dangers attached to even a small cut from digging in rock. Also note that if a person with a fungal condition bathes in a community bath, others will be infected. If, after all these checks -- checks with those who actually live and function in that *real* world, the Essene hypothesis can be sustained, then you have a case. But you are certainly right, this is more than enough -- I have work to do. RISA -- Dr. Rochelle I. Altman, co-coordinator IOUDAIOS-L [EMAIL PROTECTED] For private reply, e-mail to "Rochelle I. Altman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from Orion, e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: "unsubscribe Orion." Archives are on the Orion Web site, http://orion.mscc.huji.ac.il.