| Migdal Ha'Emeq |
| Migdal HaEmeq |
| “Adopt-a-Site” – preparation of an archaeological park |
| Orderer | The Ministry of Construction and Housing |
| Duration | December 2006 - July 2007 |
| Implemented by: |
Arch. Eran Hemo Head of Planning Branch
Arch. Yaara Shaltiel
Nirit Lorens-Koren Galilee Archaeological Center
Nimrod Getzov - Archaeological Guidance
|
The preparation of the archaeological park in Migdal HaEmeq within the framework of “Adopt-a-Site” is the product of cooperation between the Antiquities Authority (Northern Region, Galilee Archaeological Center and the Conservation Department), the Migdal HaEmeq municipality and the Ministry of Construction and Housing. The project was carried out with assistance from the Society for the Protection of Nature (the classroom activity) and the Jewish National Find (the work in the field). The Conservation Department of the Antiquities Authority was responsible for both the coordination and management of the project.
The “Adopt-a-Site” project by the Nofim School included engaging the pupils in the activity of preparing the park and in the future they will participate in its maintenance as well. This project is an example of fruitful cooperation between government bodies and the community, for the public’s benefit. The aim of the project is to bring the ancient heritage of the settlement closer to local community, to enrich some of the city’s open areas and to create an educational atmosphere outside of school within which history, archaeology, nature, landscape and heritage will be taught.
The archaeological park is located in a grove surrounded by residential neighborhoods and is delineated by the streets: HaNegev, Shaul Amur and HaArava. The park extends across a slope located between two ancient settlement sites: at the bottom of the slope is the site of Ein Hilo, which was occupied from the Intermediate Bronze Age until the period of the Kingdom of Israel (2200-1000 BCE); at the top of the slope is the site of el-Mujeidil, which was first settled in the Persian period (500 BCE) and continues to be inhabited today. The slope inside the park is representative of the surrounding’s ancient agricultural landscape in which the residents grew their food, processed their agricultural products and produced building materials.
The indigenous bedrock is soft chalk, which is especially suitable for quarrying, overlain with semi-hard nari. Noteworthy among the rock-hewn installations that were preserved at the site are: wine presses from the Bronze Age and the Byzantine period, masonry stone quarries, chalk quarries, burial complexes, cist tombs from the Roman period and family burial caves that range in date from the Hellenistic period (332 BCE) until the Byzantine period.
Inside the park some fifteen ancient ‘Ta’anach’ type wine presses were found that were used to produce must (similar wine presses were first discovered at Tel Ta’anach, hence the name). The wine presses consist of an inclined treading floor and a collecting vat linked by two perforations in which spiny burnet bushes were inserted for the purpose of filtering the must. On either side of the treading floor were hewn recesses that were meant for securing the stone piers. In the Byzantine wine presses one can clearly see the location of the wooden screw used for pressing the must.
The installations are in a stable state of preservation; in a number of places vegetation has taken root in the cracks and caused flaking in the layers of bedrock. The conservation and development measures included: cleaning and exposing the rock-hewn installations from the vegetation and accumulated alluvium; filling cracks to prevent vegetation from taking root; stabilizing mosaic remains; preparation of a path that leads between the remains and the activity centers on the site, creating explanatory signage at the entrances to the park and next to the remains.
The educational activities at the site included: gathering cyclamen bulbs from the route of the path under the guidance of the Maof Project coordinator of the Jewish National Fund; producing illustrated tiles by the pupils and incorporating them in the signage at the site; becoming familiar with the history of Migdal HaEmeq, methods of wine production and treading in the wine presses (both in the classroom and the field); exposing the wine presses and preserving them under the guidance of conservators; reconstructing grape treading in the wine press; keeping the site clean.
A proposal for Phase 2 of the site has already been prepared. This plan calls for further investment in the site and the treatment of the settlement remains at the top of the tell where there will be exhibitions and demonstrations of the agricultural installations that were located inside the settlement.
To view the figures, click on the figure caption
|
|
