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FROM A. BEN-TOR, BACK TO MASADA (2009)

ESSENE STRUCTURE? Building XIII at Masada has an elongated hall with a side-room. The similarity of this building to structures at Qumran—most often identified with an Essene community—has led us to think that there was also an Essene settlement at Masada. This theory gained support with the discovery of sectarian manuscripts and of a mikveh, a Jewish ritual bath, outside Building XIII.