the upper tributary of Nahal Qumran, about one kilometer to the north of the Cave Monastery. The remains are arranged in three groups, each with its own water ...
ISRAEL - People and Land Eretz Israel Museum Yearbook Volume 7-8 (25-26) (1990-1993) New Series
Bar-Adon Book ~
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Dedicated to the memory of Pesach Bar-Adon
Editor Rechavam ZeeVy
Editorial Board Shmuel Avitsur, tan Ayalon, Menashe Har-El, Arie Kindler, Uza Zevulun
Editorial Director Gania Doron
Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv
18*
Israel-People and Land
508 C.E., and was still functioning in the 8th century. It is identified with the remains around Bir el-Qattar, some six kilometers northeast of the Mar Saha Monastery - the location of Sabas' Great Laura. It is a cliff coenobium, the remains of which occupy three levels. They include a wall, a tower, water cisterns, dwelling caves, a central service building, paths and stairways. Of special interest is the chapel, situated in the cave where Sabas was inclined to go into seclusion from time to time. This cave is the source of the name of the monastery:Belowthe~cavewas found a church with a mosaic floor. An unusual find is a molded Corinthian capital which remained attached to the face of the rock adjacent to the entrance tunnel of the Cave Chapel. The population of monks is estimated to have been between twenty and thirty.
The Laura of Jermias was founded in 53 1 C.E., and Sabas nominated the deacon Jermias as its head. It apparently ceased to exist even before the Persian conquest of Palestine in 614 C.E. Remnants of the laura are scattered along the cliffs of Wadi ez-Zaraniq - the upper tributary of Nahal Qumran, about one kilometer to the north of the Cave Monastery. The remains are arranged in three groups, each with its own water cisterns. The various components were connected by a graded path. The western group comprises Three-aeclusioncells~ t h e easteidgroup, seven, and the center of the laura comprised a church, a service building and a large water cistern. The remains of two lime kilns were also found nearby. The population of the laura was about 15 monks.
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Vetchseeds from-the Days of King David
Forty years ago, thousands of seeds of a rather rare pulse - bitter vetch - were uncovered in storage jars at Afula, Layer 111, and dated to the second half of the 1lth century or the first half of the 10th century B.C.E. The large quantity of these seeds in storage jars requires explanation, as this pulse is usually grown for livestock feed and its seedsare poisonous to humans. In the Mishnaic period, the rabbis report that bitter vetch was consumed by humans in times of famine in the first millennium B.C.E., and perhaps also later.
* Mordechai Kislev is a Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Can.
Therefore, they passed a decree that farmers were required to remove tithes from bitter vetch crops, a procedure only carried out on crops intended for human consumption. The date of the law was attributed to the time of King David. If the date of Layer I11 is contemporaneous with the time of David, the hitter vetch found in storage jars at Afula may he evidence of the famine reported in the Bible, Samuel I1 21:l: "Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites".
Tanners' Sumac in Ancient Times Zohar Amar* Tanners' Sumac (Rhus coriaria), also known by the name Sicilian Sumac, is one of the most important plants in the early agricultural culture of the Land of
* Zohar Amar is a lecturer and doctoral student in the Department of EretzIsrael Studiesnt BarIlanUniversity.In the past, hewasDirector of the Botanical-Ecological Garden at Abu Kabir.
Israel. From various historical sources, beginning with the Mishnaic period and up until the nineteenth century, we learn of its diverse uses as a comestible, in the dyeing industry, and especially in tanning leather, since this sumac contains a high concentration of the quality tannins required for processing skins' The importance of sumac in the reality of Eretz Israel is
