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Besides agriculture and animal husbandry, members of the community
also engaged in crafts and industries. Hundreds of leather strips
and squares uncovered in caves near the site suggest that the sectarians
prepared their own parchment and the leather fastenings used to
bind the scrolls. A potter's workshop was also discovered, in which
simple vessels were made, similar to the ones found in the central
building and the adjacent caves. Evidence was also found of textile
and weaving industries, as well as salt and honey production. Presumably,
some of these products were used by the sectarians themselves, while
the remainder was sold in marketplaces. The sectarians adhered to
the principle of full communality of property and labor. The hoard
of silver coins found in the central building may include the capital
entrusted by the sect's new members to the community's "bursar"
at the completion of their first year of candidacy. An ostracon
recently unearthed near the central building is apparently a draft
of a deed of gift, dealing with the transfer of ownership of a new
member's property to the sect.
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