The reserve soldiers do not cease to surprise: after the Byzantine oil candle, which they found in the envelope of the fighters of the 404th Battalion of the Fire Brigade, now it was the turn of the soldiers of the 143rd Division, who discovered a crater - a complete and large grinding vessel. The soldiers, one of whom routinely serves as an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, handed over the find to the State Treasures to be preserved.
Lt. Col. (res.) Yair Amitsur, commander of the civilian home front in the 143rd Division, and Maj. (res.) Eliashiv Bohbot, who serves as the division's second rabbi, discovered the basalt vessel, weighing more than 10 kg. "As part of the routine field patrols in the envelope area, a pile of soil caught our eye on the side of the road, from which a round block of basalt protruded," says Elyashiv. "We pulled the lump out and it turned out to be a large and quite heavy tool."
Archaeological finds discovered in the fighting zone in the south | Eilon Glick
Yair, who normally works as an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, immediately recognized that it was a crater - an ancient grinding tool. "Basalt is familiar to us from the north of the country or from other remote areas," Yair explains. "In light of this, it is clear that the tool we found was brought here from a distance, and was probably used in the past in the home of one of the residents of the area for grinding grain or other products – an operation done with the help of a heavy rod, called Ali. We were excited to suddenly receive greetings from the past and engage for a moment in good news. The tool reminds us that throughout the generations, the western Negev served as a significant settlement area, where a variety of cultures settled. Wars also took place here in the past, but in the end, the settlement always returned here and the area flourished again," says Yair.
"We, in the center of the division's home front, are entrusted – day and night – with the connection between the settlements and the army, and are busy helping to rehabilitate this region. We are certain that just like in ancient times, today too we will recover from the disaster that befell us and return to settle in the western Negev, and the settlement will prosper and flourish."
Craters of the type now found were commonly used for grinding and crushing dry products such as grains and lentils. Crushing tools, which enabled the preparation of flour, which was a popular commodity, were common in homes, while millstones were used in industrial areas to grind large quantities of flour."
This is important work, but I look forward to the days when I will be able to return to working in archaeology full-time," Yair smiles. Sarah Tal, archaeologist of the Western Negev District of the Israel Antiquities Authority, collected the find, which will be transferred to the State Treasures of the Israel Antiquities Authority: "The grinding tool was exceptionally well preserved. Such tools were used in a variety of periods from the biblical periods to the Mamluk period." Sarah gave the two a certificate of good citizenship.
Eli Escozido, Director General of the Israel Antiquities Authority: "The war introduces us to extraordinary situations on the archaeological front as well. The land of Israel – especially the envelope – is saturated with history and ancient artifacts, and the Israel Antiquities Authority cooperates with the IDF in order to preserve them even in a state of war. In this case, we were fortunate that an employee of ours, an archaeologist serving in the reserves, identified the ancient find and knew how to act, but I would like to mention that in the event of finding an ancient find, it is important to leave it in place and call the IAA inspectors to the site, so that the researchers will be able to extract as much information as possible from the find about the site where it was discovered."
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