A Scroll Divided?

Abstract

When the Dead Sea scroll 1QHodayota, containing a collection of thanksgiving psalms from Qumran, was acquired by Eleazar L. Sukenik in 1947, he received it in two separate bundles of folded and wadded material. In this article, I explore whether the material from these two bundles belongs to the same scroll or to two separate scrolls as Jean Carmignac and Angela Kim Harkins have proposed. While it is generally recognized that the folded bundle contained cols. 9–20, it is disputed whether cols. 1–8 were found with cols. 21–28 in the wadded bundle. I examine early photographs and accounts of the discovery, acquisition, and opening of 1QHa to establish what material came from the wadded bundle and whether there is evidence that the bundles belonged to the same scroll. I also discuss different scenarios for how the folded and wadded bundles of 1QHa might have been formed and which of them offers the most plausible explanation for the state of the material evidence.