Archaeometry article on sealed Qumran jar

A SEALED JAR excavated at Qumran in 2004 is the subject of a forthcoming article in Archaeometry, which is prepublished here. Abstract:

ON THE AGE AND CONTENT OF JAR-35—A SEALED AND INTACT STORAGE JAR FOUND ON THE SOUTHERN PLATEAU OF QUMRAN*

1. K. L. RASMUSSEN1,
2. J. GUNNEWEG2,
3. J. VAN DER PLICHT3,
4. I. KRALJ CIGIĆ4,
5. A. D. BOND1,
6. B. SVENSMARK5,
7. M. BALLA6,
8. M. STRLIC7,
9. G. DOUDNA8

An intact and sealed storage jar known as Jar-35 was found in 2004, south of the Qumran settlement. A previous study identified tartrate in the deposit of the jar, indicating the possible past presence of wine (Buti et al. 2006). However, we cannot confirm this finding. Using liquid and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection, no trace of tartaric acid or salts thereof could be detected in our samples. We show that the major component of the deposit is gypsum. No other organic compounds were identified with the methods that we have applied. Both radiocarbon dating of charcoal in the deposit and thermoluminescence dating of the ceramic jar show that it dates to the main period of habitation at Qumran (c. 100 bc to ad 70).

A personal or institutional subscription is required to access the full article, but this piece in Unreported Heritage News summarizes it.

I haven't specifically noted this jar at PaleoJudaica, but it is mentioned in an online report on the 2004 excavation season by Randall Price, which I linked to here.