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Qumran or Khirbet Qumran, is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, just next to the Israeli Kibbutz of Kalia.

Qumran was probably constructed during or before the reign of John Hyrcanus, 134 - 104 B. C. After the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A. D., Titus and his X Fretensis destroyed it. Qumran is best known as the settlement nearest to the location of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves located in the sheer desert cliffs.

The site of the Qumran ruins (Khirbet Qumran) has been occupied for centuries. The remains of walls and pottery from Iron Age II (8th - 7th centuries B.C.) have been found here. Some think this place was the City of Salt described in the Bible as "Ir ha-Melah".