Concerning the Identity of Qumran

Qumran is "Papyron", near which Yehudah Aristobulus II joined battle with his brother Yohanan Hyrcanus II and Arettas III's Nabatean army in 65 BCE. The battle was fought along the ancient Darb-e-Rajeb road (="Road of Aravah?") from Jerusalem to Moab, at its exit onto the plains of Jericho. The Qumran cemetery contains mainly the fallen of this battle, uniformly buried there in an organized one-day military action. The Battle of Papyron opened the gates for the Roman occupation of Judaea and Palaestina.
Cyperus papyrus does not grow at all in the Jordan Valley, south of the Hulah and Tbghah. Therefore the place name derives from the papyrus industry established there, possibly by Alexander Yancus. For that purpose, the extensive and expensive water system was built: the external leg to carry the water from Hyrcaniah Vale, and the internal leg - not for storing water, as commonly held, for drinking and ritual bathing ("Miqvehs"), but as wet storage (siloes) for the papyrus bundles brought from the Hulah marshes. The main water reservoir (after the Zippory model?) has probably not yet been found.
The revival of Qumran (biblical Secacah?) after its destruction by the Chaldeans (586 BCE) started about 150 BCE, with the Hellenistic square tower (phase Ia- Bacchides' 'Tafon'?). The redoubt was extended to the structure around the inner court (phase Ib) by Shimeon or Yohannan Hyrcanous I - as a base against the Nabatean threat. As its military importance diminished, after the conquest of Moab, it was abandoned (?) and came back to use as a papyrus factory - to answer the Hasmonean kingdom's growing demands for paper, for bureaucratic, commercial and literary uses, as well as for good packing. Then, the second extension of disorganized shacks (Phase II) was added by the western wing. Paper production was probably based on the hard labour of prisoners and slaves, Qumran serving as a penal colony (?).
In the two great Jewish risings against the Romans, the rebels took hold of the place. The Roman army besieged it, conquered and demolished it.
Qumran is Papyron, is Tafon - and by its Hebrew name: Secaca of the Copper Scroll (?) - and in my humble opinion unrelated to the scrolls, hidden and found at the caves along 40 kms of the western escarpment.