A hammer and nails dating back 1,400 years were unearthed during Sukkot by a family that took part in an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation at Usha in the Kiryat Ata forest.
The ancient items revealed new information about the site, which has been identified as the first place where the Sanhedrin established itself in the Galilee. It turns out that the Jewish residents manufactured iron tools there a millennia and a half ago.
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The "community archaeology" project, which is open to youth and volunteers, has turned out to be a major Jewish site that included mikvehs, oil presses, and wine presses.
Over the Sukkot holiday this month, some 8,500 people took part in IAA activities nationwide. A family from the Lower Galilee were the ones who unearthed the Byzantine-era tools.
Yair Amitzur and Eyad Bisharat, the archaeologists overseeing the Usha excavation for the IAA, said that the country's collection of archaeological finds included only about 20 ancient hammers, six of which date to the Byzantine era.
"Ancient texts say that there was extensive glassmaking activity at the [Usha] site, and indeed that is turning up in the field in the form of wine goblets and beautiful chunks of glass. Now we find out that the residents of Usha also manufactured iron tools. A hammer, nails, and other iron artifacts we found are proof of this," the archaeologists said.
The sophisticated olive oil press and wine presses indicate that the tool manufacturing notwithstanding, the residents of ancient Usha were mainly farmers who raised olives and grapes. Next to the presses, the excavation has unearthed two mikvehs carved out of stone. The mikvehs boast stairs and plastered sides and are estimated to date from the Roman-Byzantine period, or the second century CE.
The mikvehs were placed next to the presses so that the Jewish residents could purify themselves before making the olive oil and wine in accordance with Jewish law.
Much of the work at the excavation has been carried out by youth and volunteers as part of an IAA initiative to interest the Israeli public in its heritage. This past year, over 15,000 young people and families have taken part in IAA activities at Usha and helped uncover the site's exciting past.
"The Jewish community at Usha in the Roman and Byzantine eras is mentioned many times in Jewish texts as the place where the institution of the Sanhedrin was re-instated after the destruction of the Temple and after the failed Bar Kochba Revolt of 135 BCE," Amitzur explains.
"The Sanhedrin was the main Jewish leadership, and its president was Shimon Ben Gamliel the Second and his son, Rabbi Judah Hanassi, who lived in Usha. Here, in Usha, the Sanhedrin sages made rules that allowed the Jewish people to recover from the war against the Romans and rebuild their community life in the Galilee. Jewish sources mention the Sanhedrin council in Usha, including Rabbi Yitzhak Nafha, who apparently made his living as a glassmaker.
"The many wine goblets and pieces of raw glass found at the site demonstrate that the residents of Usha were skilled in glassblowing and created table ware and delicate lighting tools. In addition, the mikvehs excavated at the site show that the Sanhedrin sages carefully observed laws of purity and impurity," Amitzur explained.
