Qumran in context: aspects of material and literary culture

This workshop aims to situate Khirbet Qumran within its broader archaeological, cultural and literary environment. By bringing together scholars working in different disciplines concerning the subject, this workshop fosters an interdisciplinary dialogue on how material and literary evidence converge. A special emphasis is put on cultural exchanges between Khirbet Qumran and the settlements and cultures around the Dead Sea, and on the insights such research can yield into the region’s sociocultural dynamics and the broader cultural-historical context of its inhabitants.

This workshop is supported by the Birmingham-Leiden Strategic Collaboration Fund.

• 10:00-10:30 Introduction
• 10:30 Tim Claessen BA The dead of the Dead Sea
• 11:15 Professor Dr Jürgen Zangenberg Qumran in its socio-topographical context: a tour around the Dead Sea
• 12:00-13:15 Lunch
• 13:15 Professor Dr Charlotte Hempel The administration of agriculture in the Dead Sea Scrolls
• 14:00 Dr Abigail Naidu [TBC]
• 14:45-15:15 Coffee Break
• 15:15-16:00 Dr Daniel Reynolds [TBC]
• 16:00-16:30 Dr Karen Wenell Response and discussion