Another Look at the Cave 1 Hodayot: Was CH I Materially Part of the Scroll 1QHodayota?

This essay builds on the monumental material reconstruction of the Cave 1 hodayot scroll (1QHa) first proposed by Hartmut Stegemann and brought to completion by Eileen Schuller in the critical edition available in DJD 40, which is, and will remain, an invaluable scholarly resource. At the same time, the proliferation of scholarly editions of the Cave 1 hodayot projects to modern readers an illusory material unity that the Cave 1 hodayot did not enjoy in antiquity. This study highlights some curious aspects of the unprovenanced Cave 1 hodayot, especially as they pertain to our understanding of the literary collection known popularly as the first group of Community Hymns (= CH I), and offers a possible scenario to account for the material state of the hodayot at the time of its abandonment.