Agriculture in Iron Age Israel: The Evidence from Archaeology and the Bible

“Borowski has succeeded in synthesizing much valuable information in a manner that places the fruits of his technical research at the disposal of a wider audience. For this Borowski should be highly commended. He has given us another lens through which to view the biblical world” - Thomas V. Brisco This book deals with agriculture as practiced in ancient Israel from the settlement to the destruction of the First Temple. It describes crops and trees cultivated by the Israelite farmer and the methods and tools used in cultivation. The information is gathered from both literary and archaeological sources with the Old Testament supplying most of the literary information. The author attributes several innovations to the biblical peasant: large-scale terracing, runoff farming (i.e. irrigation), restoration of soil fertility, and the invention of the beam oil-press.