Wrapping Up 1QM

What is it about?

This article evaluates the debated placements of fragments in the reconstruction of the War Scroll from Cave 1 (1QM). There are three fragments (frgs. 3, 9, 10) and one fragment cluster (1QM 2, 8, DSSHU pl. 34; 1Q33 2) that have debated placements. These placements are important for establishing the text of 1QM and the determination of whether there was another War Scroll from Cave 1 among the fragments assigned to 1QM and 1Q33. I will evaluate the remaining debates about fragment placements in 1QM, focusing especially on Hanan and Esther Eshel’s proposal (2000) that the fragment cluster is the remnant of a different scroll, which they label 1QMa. To assist in weighing the plausibility of fragment placements in 1QM, this article incorporates 3D visualizations of how 1QM would appear in a rolled state to demonstrate how well some proposed fragment placements cohere with the scroll’s damage patterns.

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