ARCHAEOLOGIST HOLDS UP GLASS JAR AT ESSENES EIN GEDI DIG, 1998-01-26 (photo)

Kim Bowes from Big Moose, New York, a doctoral student in early Christian archaeology at Princeton University, holds up a small glass jar she just discovered January 26 at an archaeological dig on the rocky desert mountains above the Dead Sea (seen below). An archaeologist from Jerusalem's Hebrew University says he has discovered the first known village of the 1st century Jewish splinter sect , the Essenes, located 200 meters above Ein Gedi (below). The Essenes, commonly believed to be the authors of the Dead Sea scrolls, are known for their strict Sabbath observance, esoteric lifestyle and maintenance of ritual purity. The glass jar was thought to hold perfume. ISRAEL ESSENES