QUMRAN
In the final paragraph of section IV, “Archaeology of Khirbet Qumran”, the different possible identifications suggested at the beginning of the excavations were presented.
It is evident that identifications with the Pharisees and Sadducees must be discarded from the outset, since they did not constitute a separate community nor did they separate themselves from the Temple cult, nor did they reject the sacrifices therein.
Nor can it be ebionites, since these emerged much later. The Qumran documents are dated between 150 B.C. and 68 AD, while in the Ebionite thesis the writings would have been written long after the year 70 AD, and kept in the caves around the year 303 AD.
This position clearly confronts the archaeological and paleographic data. The thesis of the Karaites is attractive, since there are certain important similarities. But the Karaites were founded in the 8th century AD. by Annan.
It is quite possible that they received their inspiration from the writings of Qumran. They were possessors of copies of the so-called “Damascus Document”, of which much earlier Qumranite copies have been discovered in 4Q and 6Q.
His identification with the zealots is not satisfactory either. To establish an identification on a somewhat solid basis, the background of the community must be studied.