AN INCENSE ALTAR FROM QUMRAN?

Abstract

In 1992 and 1994 S. Goranson published a beautiful bronze inkwell from Qumran, one of altogether six inkwells connected to Khirbet Qumran.' Goranson did not mention that the inkwell was reportedly found together with a bronze incense altar. According to Kando, these two items were found together by the Bedouin at Khirbet Qumran sometime before R. de Vaux and L. Harding started their preliminary excavations in November 1951. Kando sold them to J. Allegro in 1953,2 and they have been the property of the Sch0yen Collection since 1994. The altar and the inkwell were chemically tested in November 1996. The bronze in both items is close to identical.3 Some traces of ink were tested, although the remnants were too meager to enable a