Easter approaches and so do stories about our Judeo-Christian roots. Time has a story on an Israeli scholar denying the Essenes existed (of course the other groups noted in Antquities 18 existed and were not legendary as she claims). There are numerous references to such a group and her "renegade sons of Zadok" are very much what the Essenes are described as being. What we may be dealing with here is a name that the group itself did not prefer and so it does not appear in the Scrolls. The reply by Charlesworth on the matter in Time is short and to the point. For the article see:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1885421,00.html?cnn=yes