jars are much more common at Qumran and the nearby caves than other sites points to more than regional differences. The Qumran community obviously preferred cylindrical and ovoid jars over the usual bag-shaped jars, perhaps because of their unique concerns with purity. These jars therefore might have been used to store goods that had a high degree of purity, such as the pure food and drink of the sect as well as scrolls (and perhaps other goods). Various scrolls document the sect’s concern that no