News of the Museum - January-February 1997

Restoration of the Agricultural Installations in the Museum Courtyard - These stone implements are part of installations used by ancient man for his agricultural needs. Two oil presses have been restored - a screw press for direct pressure, in use for several years - and now a beam press built with three stone weights. The two presses are in the Museum Courtyard which is also used for other activities and workshops.

Restored screw olive press. Photo: Noa Amir.

Base of screw olive press. Photo: Tomer Zelinger.
1996-1217
All rights reserved by courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority.

Restored lever and weights olive press. Photo: Noa Amir.

Single stone weight for lever and weights olive press. Photo: Tomer Zelinger.
1980-5276
All rights reserved by courtesy of Israel Antiquities Authority.

The installations will be activated in the coming olive harvest season in October-December 1997.

We intend to hold a Study Day on the subject of the uses of the olive in the past and at the present time, discussing the details of the installation restorations. The precise date and content will be announced. Those interested in taking part are invited to contact us.

The objects appearing in the Exhibition were lent us from the storerooms of the Antiquities Authorities in Jerusalem. The photographs were done by Yuval Seeton of the Israel Museum and by "Shekef", Tel Aviv. In preparing the Exhibition we were greatly helped by Uza Zebelun's book "Food Vessels in the Time of the Mishne and the Talmud" and we thank her for the help thus provided.

General view of the exhibition "From Cornelia's Pantry." Photo: Noa Amir.

Detail of the exhibition "From Cornelia's Pantry". Photo: Noa Amir.

The Opening of the Exhibition took place on the White Square in front of the Museum. The visitors adorned their heads with floral garlands, inspected the Exhibition and took part in the various Activities in the spirit of the Roman era, such as the preparation of jewellery and lapel pins, the weaving of mats from natural materials and baking bread.

More than 400 people took part in this happening, mainly from our own region but also tourists passing by.

Preparing Olive Oil, our annual project for the months of October-December, carried out the process of producing oil from the olives, using the restored ancient installations. The pupils involved ranged from kindergarten age to the fifth grade. In addition to picking the olives from trees in the neighbourhood and then processing the olive oil, the pupils also prepared oil lamps from clay, and soap from olive oil. They also visited the Museum and became acquainted with the clay vessels that were used by ancient man in connection with oil. A total of 4,100 pupils and adults who accompanied them, from both Arab and Jewish schools, took part in this project.

"To Learn About the Past as a Bridge to the Present" - A series of meetings over the school year between Jewish and Arab pupils. This year eight classes took part in the project in four groups, each pairing a Jewish and an Arab class of the same age. Three groups were pupils of the 4th grade and one group was of 6th graders - a total of 220 pupils in all. With their parents, teachers and school staff the project involved about 800 participants.

Before the beginning of the meetings a prparatory meeting was held for the staffs of each school, the pupils and their parents. The groups will meet eight times during the year, mainly within the confines of the Archaeology Museum, but will also go on a hike together and there will be reciprocal visits between the various schools. The concluding meeting, planned for an afternoon in June, will include parents and pupils.

To date three-quarters of the meetings for each group have already taken place. In January there will not be any meetings due to the winter vacation in the Arab sector and the Fast of Ramadan. The project's staff will utilize this time for meeting with the steering committees of each of the schools to summarize what has already been carried out and to prepare for meetings still to come. The meetings with the teachers create real contact and close relations between the participants and the ties developed are above and beyond those of simply working together, often developing into contacts between families. Some of the meetings are held in teachers'homes.

Meetings of the steering committee are accompanied by guides from the Unit for Democracy and Co-Existence of the Education Department, Nave Admon and Abd Faour. The financial support for the project comes from this source, from a fund which requests to be anonymous.The Abraham Fund granted us a donation of $5000 in the name of Mr. Stanley Weithorn. This sum enables us to hold the meetings for November and December in the Museum.

We thank all our contributors and are happy to have the opportunity to carry out this project which seems to us most vital for our region where Jews and Arabs live together in close proximity.

We will be happy to receive further contributions for widening our project.

MUSEUM VISITS - The Program for Recurrent Visits to the Museum of Schoolchildren in the Jezreel Valley Area.

This program has the encouragement, the support and the backing of the Education Department of the Jezreel Valley District Council, and was commenced two years ago with one chosen school; it was continued with three schools, and this year eight schools entered the project. The aim is to give school pupils a Museum Education, acquainting them with the Museums of the area and the cultural treasures of the district.

To the present date, according to reports about the program from the various museums and from teachers, parents and pupils, the results are favourable. This present schoolyear the Museum of Ein Dor alone has received over a thousand pupils.

To date we have had the following topics:

• October - Roman Roads in the Lower Galilee, Professor Yisrael Roth
• November - Yudfat: Can the Archaeological Artifact Explain Why the Inhabitants of Yudfat Rebelled Against the Romans? Motti Aviam
• December - Skytopolis, 1000 Years of Western Culture, Gabi Mazor

• January - From Nissa to Skytopolis - the Beginnings of Urbanization at Bet Shaan from the Hellenistic to the Roman Periods, Rachel Bar Natan
• February - The Beginnings of Christianity in Bet Shaan, Gabi Mazor
• March - Synagogues in the Area of Bet Shaan, Prof.Moshe Fisher
• April - Trading and Commerce in the Roman And Byzantine Town, Rachel Bar Natan