Controversy Swirls Around Dead Sea Scrolls

Scroll Writers Had Priestly Knowledge

The scrolls contain ample evidence of their real authorship, according to her theory. She says they were written by the Sadducees, a group of Jewish priests descended from the famous high priest Zadok. Zadok anointed Solomon as king, according to Jewish legend.

"The scrolls are clearly written by people with detailed priestly knowledge," she said. "They make no effort to hide their identity. The word 'priest' is mentioned on almost every page and there are numerous references to themselves as being the sons of Zadok. It is unreasonable to ignore this and attribute the scrolls to someone who didn't exist."

Elior says the Sadducees deposited their library of sacred writings in the cave at Qumran when they were expelled from Jerusalem after a conflict with another group of priests in the Jewish temple.

Perhaps because of the Essenes' linkage to early Christian life in the Holy Land, anything that upsets the conventional wisdom provokes bitter debate and Elior's theory has already sparked some pointed comment from close to home.

"Almost 70 scholars accept the statement that one of the Essenes' groups lived in Qumran and some say we're all morons and only they understand," said Hanan Eshel, an archaeology professor at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv.

The debate over who wrote the famous scrolls even reached the streets of New York recently with the arrest of Raphael Golb, the son of Norman Golb, a Jewish history professor and expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls at the University of Chicago.

Norman Golb has also questioned the Essenes' authorship of the scrolls and his son is accused of using online aliases to harass his father's academic critics.

Published initially in Hebrew only, Elior's work will likely further inflame the argument. She vehemently denies she is trying to add fuel to the fire and claims her theory is based on nothing more than common sense.