Israel Visit 23 November 2005

A story. Renee and I had been wanting to visit friends in, and experience again the land of, Israel for several months. The last weekend in July we decided to make use of her Thanksgiving holiday to do so. I found relatively cheap tickets, and bought 2.

Within 48 hours, a man we had done business with in Cleveland, OH ca 15 years ago, Michael, left word from Ra'anana to say our name had come up in conversation that morning at Bar Ilan University, and that he needed to talk with us. In summary, he had remembered that we had done work on Low Input Sustainable Agriculture (LISA), and wanted us to consider joining a research and development project in the Negev. Many facts and relationships jelled quickly: their interest in a boutique wine from Biblical aged grapes matched our current production of grapes and wine; my long-time expertise in engineering of water management of crops matched their need for agricultural expertise to complement the archaeological expertise; the need for LISA in the Negev and other areas of the world matched our previous work; ancient grape plant material was available from an agronomist I had known years ago in cotton work; Michael's love of Israel and Torah matched ours; the fact that we had already bought tickets floored him. Michael says, "God put us together again for a purpose; we would be derelict in our duty to Him if we didn't find that purpose and walk in it."

So we agreed to spend a few days looking at their work and visiting with the family. This day, Wednesday 23 November, we drove from Jerusalem down below Beer Sheva to look at the ancient agricultural and archaeological sites.

In a wadi near the road South of Avdat, Moti showed us a community of farms, as evidenced by rock walls dividing up the valley, each with its own small house.
Local Bedouins have "recently" planted barley in some of the fields. Success in producing a crop comes about 1 year in 10.
Renee stands inside the farmhouse. Of course the walls don't stand today, but the foundation is obvious.
The local, probably community, threshing floor, of seriously compacted earth.
Beside the wadi, at the cistern, two Bedouin women tried their best to give Renee a ride. Cisterns are hard to hide, because the white chalky excavated material is obvious.
Cistern mouth
The ancients built many terraces, all over these hills, to funnel runoff water onto their fields. Note the lines of rock terraces on the hills in the distance.
The large wine press at Shivta, ca 30 km West of Avdat. Surrounding the press are several holding rooms for grapes.
Closeup of floor of wine press and juice vat below.
Juice flows from the floor through a channel of rock to the vat.
Cupboards built into wall of Shivta home.
Further West, at Nitzana, students at nearby school have planted several of the ancient, terraced fields.
Renee walks along the top of a terrace which serves at least 3 purposes: hold the water back so that it soaks into the ground, spread the water across the wadi so it doesn't erode, and allow the excess water to flow through a spillway to the next terraced field. Some recent maintenance has been done on the field terraces, but not on the diverting terraces on the hillsides, so probably not as much water is now made available for crops as was in ancient times. Restoration will help that situation.
The field is planted too heterogeneously to be useful for research purposes.