The Animal Bone Deposits at Qumran: An Unsolvable Riddle?

Despite numerous attempts at elucidating the significance of the animal bone deposits, the phenomenon remains one of the elusive aspects of Qumran archaeology. Among the many proposed hypotheses, there are those that see the deposits as the remains of sacrifices carried out at Qumran, a line of interpretation that has been picked up afresh by Jodi Magness. In the present paper I argue that, while Magness makes a compelling case for seeing the bone deposits as the remains of sacrifices, the totality of the evidence does not seem to support her notion that sacrifices were offered at Qumran. Nonetheless, Magness’ hypothesis provides important foundations for further explorations of the significance of the deposits. Two alternatives are suggested, namely that the animal bones could represent sacrificial remains from animals offered in the Jerusalem temple but consumed at Qumran or that they could be evidence for the ritualization of ordinary meals involving meat partaken there. In the end, it must be acknowledged that this phenomenon may very much present us with an unsolvable riddle – the bone deposits may be identified as the remains of ritual activity, but its meaning may well be unrecoverable.