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1.1.LocationofQumraninthelightofthegeologicalstructure
oftheregion
QumranissituatedontheNWmarginoftheDeadSeabasin,onasand-
gravelplateau,atadistanceofsome2kmfromtheseashore,about90m
abovethesurfaceoftheDeadSeawaters.Onthewesttheplateauis
boundedbysteepfaultescarpmentsovertwohundredmetreshigh,andon
thesouthbyaprecipitousbankofadrystream(Arabic,wadi’,Hebrew
,nachal’)flowingtotheDeadSea.Thepanoramafromthisplaceembraces
theJordanvalleywithJerichointhenorth,andthefarshoreoftheDeadSea
intheeast,dominatedbythetoweringwalloftheMoabMountains.
Locatedtowardsthesouth,nearthecoast,istheoasisofEinFeshkha.10
Fartheron,invisiblefromQumranbeyondarockbarreachingtheseawater,
thereareremnantsoftheKhirbetMazinharbourdocks(cf.Netzer1999:77-
78)11beyondwhich,atadistanceofsome15km,wewouldfindthesmall
ruinsofEinel-Ghuweir(cf.Bar-Adon1977:226-227)andEinat-Turaba,
then,atasimilardistance,theoasisofEinGedi(cf.Mazar,Dothan,Du-
nayevsky1966;Hirschfeld2000),followedbythefortressofMasadatower-
ingovertheDeadSeavalley(cf.Yadin1966,Netzer1991),andfinallythe
oasisofEinBoqeq(cf.Fisher,Gichon,Tal2000).
OntheeasternbankoftheDeadSea,2kmsouthoftheWadiZarga
Main,liestheoasisofEinez-Zara(ancientCallirrhoe),wateredbyabout40
springs.Intheantiquityaharbourwasbuiltthereforthefortressof
MachaerousaswellasbathswhichwerefrequentedbyHerodtheGreatfor
theircurativeproperties(cf.Strobel,Clamer1986;Clamer1989;1997;Amret
al.1996).
Intermsofthegeologicalstructure,theDeadSeabasin(DSB)islocated
alongtheleft-lateraltransformfault,whichisaboundaryseparatingthe
ArabianplatefromtheSinaisub-plate(Garfunkel1981;Garfunkel1998;Gar-
funkel,Ben-Avraham1996).Thetransformextends1000km,fromtheRed
SeadivergencetotheTaurus-Zagrosplateconvergence.
ThenorthernpartoftheDSBisboundedonbothsidesbyhighlongitu-
dinalfaultscarpsrevealing:
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10Thosetwositeswerelinkedbyalongwall,aboutonemetrebroadandmorethanone
metrehigh(cf.deVaux1973:59-60),whosefunctionhasnotbeenestablishedwithcertainty,
butwhosepresenceisindicativeoftheirdirectassociation(cf.Humbert2003:419-425;Hum-
bert2006:20-29;Hirschfeld2004:183).
11AccordingtoNetzer,KhirbetMazinwasprobablybuiltintheperiodoftheHasmonean
rule,underAlexanderJannaeus.TherecentdatingoftherenderingofaKhirbetMazincistern,
performedwithacontributionbythepresentauthor,yieldedanolderage,330B.C.-200B.C.
(68.7%),whichprobablyresultsfromtheoccurrenceof,deadcarbon’inthesampleanalysed.
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