"In May 1992, a team of volunteers led by Texas Pastor Vendyl Jones was digging at the base of a limestone cliff near Qumran when they uncovered what may be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in modern history. Beneath it lay a hollowed recess packed with a reddish-brown organic powder, sealed away for two thousand years. Jones believed the aromatic dust was Ketoret, the sacred incense burned twice daily on the golden altar inside the Jerusalem Temple. What followed was a story of scientific discovery, bureaucratic complications, private custody, tragic murder, and a mystery that, more than three decades later, is the subject of a new sourcebook from Project Qumran."
"The sourcebook, The Ketoret: A Source-Based Historical Account of the Qumran Incense Discovery, assembles the full documentary record of that find, including laboratory analyses, eyewitness testimony, and chain-of-custody documentation. Tragically, the events appear to have culminated in the material being discarded as common debris. The project included efforts to uncover the truth about the material found at Qumran and is ongoing with more revelations in store. The book confronts, head-on, the controversies that have surrounded the discovery since the moment it was made".
The Incense That Stopped a Plague
"In the Temple service, the Ketoret was burned twice each day — morning and evening — on the golden Mizbeach HaKetoret, the incense altar, by a priest chosen by lottery in the inner sanctuary. The Talmud records that the fragrance could be detected as far as Jericho, roughly 25 kilometers away. The Sages taught that no priest who offered the Ketoret ever became poor, and that the demand for the privilege was so intense the Temple administration reformed the lottery to give every priest a single turn in a lifetime." FULL STORY at above link.