This past Sukkot, about 8,500 people participated in archaeological excavations and activities hosted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). One family, from Tur’an in the Lower Galilee, made a rare and informative discovery while volunteering at the IAA’s excavation of ancient Usha. The family discovered an iron hammer-head and nails dating to the Byzantine period, about 1,400 years ago.
According to Yair Amitzur and Eyad Bisharat, directors of the excavation on behalf of the IAA, “About 20 iron hammers are registered in the Israel Antiquities Authority records, only six of them from the Byzantine period.” While the hammer’s discovery is rare and exciting, the unattractive lump of iron slag found nearby may be more exciting still. The slag indicates Usha’s Byzantine inhabitants were manufacturing iron tools themselves, rather than importing them.
“We already knew” says Amitzur, “that the Usha settlers extensively manufactured glass vessels, since we found many wine glasses and glass lamps together with glass lumps that were the raw material.” Amitzur also notes that ancient sources refer to a man who lived in Usha named Rabbi Yitzhak Nafha. The name ‘Nafha’ means ‘the blower,’ and suggests that the Rabbi probably worked as a glass manufacturer. While the glass industry at Usha has been known for some time, the discovery of the hammer, nails, and iron slag show that metallurgy was also practiced on site.
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