The origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls has been called into question again as two archaeologists (Yizhak Magen and Yuval Peleg) propose that the Qumran settlement was actually the site of a pottery factory. They present their case in the latest issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. Up until the 1990's, the "Essene hypothesis" was the almost universally accepted interpretation of the ancient scrolls. It proposed that a community of the religious Essene sect, based in a hypothetical monastery in Qumran, had copied the scrolls before hiding them in caves for safekeeping.

If the Dead Sea Scrolls have any link with Qumran, claim archaeologists Magen and Peleg , it may only be so if the jars containing the scroll fragments were made there.

Someone should probably update Wikipedia on this.