Solomon H. Steckoll was a South African[1] journalist with an interest in ancient Jewish matters. He carried out excavations in the
Qumran cemetery and later wrote books about the
Jerusalem temple and the gates of
Jerusalem.
In 1966 Steckoll obtained permission from the Jordanian Antiquities Department to investigate the Qumran cemetery, opening two of the tombs and recovering two male skeletons.[2] In 1967 he opened a further eight tombs, recovering five male and three female skeletons.
During his investigations Steckoll also found an inkwell at
Qumran.
When Israel took control of the West Bank, Steckoll lost rights to excavate in the cemetery.
Roland de Vaux explains it somewhat bitterly, "The authorities of the Israeli occupation have forbidden this Sherlock Holmes of archaeology to continue his researches at Qumran."[3]
Books by Steckoll
The gates of Jerusalem (New York: Praeger, 1968; London: Allen & Unwin, 1968)
The Temple Mount: an illustrated history of Mount Moriah in Jerusalem (London, Tom Stacey Ltd, 1972)
The Alderney Death Camp (London: Granada Publishing Limited 1982)
ISBN0-583-13478-5
References
de Vaux, Roland, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973). English translation from the French.
Steckoll, Solomon H., "Marginal Notes on Qumran", Revue de Qumran 7 (1969) 33–40.
Steckoll, Solomon H., "Preliminary Excavation Report in the Qumran Cemetery", Revue de Qumran 6 (1968) 323–344.
Haas, N., and Nathan, H., "Anthropological Survey on the Human Skeletal Remains from Qumran", Revue de Qumran 6 (1968) 345–352.