Come see the archaeological treasures of the Mirsham Farmhouse, buried for 2,600 years
A little to the north of Beersheba lies a First Temple-era site whose artifacts have only recently begun to be excavated
In 1949, following Israel’s War of Independence, several delegations met to determine ceasefire lines. Heading the military delegation was chief of staff Yigael Yadin, an avid student (and later professor) of archeology who had set aside his studies to take part in the fighting.
During the negotiations, and although it meant diverging from the armistice lines being drawn between Jordan and Israel, Yadin insisted on creating a loop that would leave an important archeological site in Israeli hands: a once flourishing, First Temple-era Israelite city called Beit Mirsim. He was aware of the site — located 33 kilometers (20 miles) north of Beersheba, close to the boundary with the West Bank — because American archeologist William Foxwell Albright had conducted methodical excavations there in the 1930s. At the time, no one yet knew that the new boundaries would also include ruins of an extremely rare, First Temple site called Beit Hava Mirsham (Mirsham farmhouse).
For years countless artifacts were stolen from the remains of the ancient city and the rubble over the farmhouse, as there were no physical boundaries between Israel and nearby Arab villages. Many of the artifacts from the Mirsham farmhouse were priceless, which made the Israeli authorities, unable to stop the thefts no matter what methods they tried, hopeful that someday it would become possible to excavate the site. The robberies finally ceased, the security barrier was erected in 2006 between the villages and Israel. Security in the region, which had been shaky in the past, was vastly improved.
The Mirsham farmhouse is located between the Judean Hills and the Judean Plains within the tranquil Moran Forest, first planted in 1983 by Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF). Thus, when excavations were finally carried out at the farmhouse in 2017, they were conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in conjunction with KKL-JNF, which continues to develop and maintain the area.
We visited the partially preserved farmhouse last week with archeologist Saar Ganor, who headed the excavations. Fully aware of the historic value of a First Temple-era site and always intrigued by what is yet to be uncovered, Ganor was anxious to find out all he could about the way Judeans lived 2,600 years ago and to make the farmhouse accessible to the public.
There are picnic tables next to the partially preserved farmhouse, which boasts excellent Hebrew signs. Visitors enjoy fantastic weather (despite its southern location, it never gets too hot in the forest) and in winter and spring, the slopes are covered in carpets of red, pink and white anemones.
Measuring 13 by 14 meters (43 by 46 feet), the farmhouse almost certainly was inhabited by an extended family. It is typical of the four-room houses found only in the Holy Land from the time that the Israelites crossed into it, and which disappeared from the scene with the fall of the First Temple. Like Mirsham, four-room houses (which sometimes have more or less than four rooms depending on the family’s needs) are built of stone and generally feature a roof made of wood.
Archeologists conducting excavations at the farmhouse were puzzled by a large stone stuck so deeply into the ground that it couldn’t be moved. Ganor suggests that the rock was most likely a standing stone, a pillar erected to commemorate a religious experience, called a matzevah in Hebrew. In the same way, on his way to Haran and after he had a prophetic dream, Jacob set up his stone pillow as a pillar and doused it with oil. (Genesis 28:18).
Inside the house, in a corner near the entrance, several steps lead upstairs. Logical, since in biblical times people often slept on the second floor. Like Elisha the prophet, says Ganor, who was offered “a little chamber on the second story. . . with a bed and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick,” and one day he “turned into the upper chamber and lay there.” (2 Kings 4: 10-11).
But you don’t need the Bible to help you understand why one of the rooms in the house featured stone floors when the rest were only dirt and bedrock. The farm’s donkey, used for transportation, plowing the fields, and carrying produce up and down the hills, was the most important member of the household. Therefore, like any expensive car, it needed to be kept indoors and out of the hands of thieves. And, of course, it would have been much easier to clean donkey droppings from a stone floor than dirt.
In 701 BCE, the mighty Assyrian army stormed through Judea, leaving 46 desolated cities like Beit Mirsim, and a devastated countryside, in its wake.
Many experts believe that following the Assyrian campaign, Judea remained in ruins. Not so, notes Ganor, who maintains that Judea, at least, underwent a process of renewal as evidenced by the Mirsham farmhouse, built a few years after the Assyrian assault. Mirsham, he says, is only one of many.
After over a century of peace and quiet, it was Babylonia’s turn to attack. This time, in 586 BCE, not only was the First Temple demolished, but so was the Mirsham farmhouse. After that, the farmhouse wasted away until it was churned up by the archeologists’ spades after more than 2,600 years.
Despite the widespread thefts that had taken place at the site, archeologists found quite a few cooking pots, storage jars, bowls, candles and grindstones during their dig. They also discovered a horse figurine, similar to others used by Judeans at the end of the First Temple Period as ritual objects. Nearby there is a footbath — possibly a precursor of the ritual baths, or mikvehs, that became common in the Second Temple era — for purification. Apparently, notes Ganor, some ancient Judeans didn’t heed biblical warnings not to follow pagan practices. (Deut 12:31).
That’s why Ganor feels that the farmhouse was most likely constructed during the 55-year Judean reign of King Menashe (697-643 BCE). For although the Bible has nothing good to say about that particular king, and repeatedly notes that he “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” by reinstating pagan worship (2 Kings: 21), his years on the throne were marked by calm and prosperity.
The Mirsham farmhouse is laid out in typical four-room fashion, with three of the rooms oblong and a fourth, perpendicular room which in Mirsham is divided in two: the standing stone is in one portion and a silo for storing grain in the second. Visitors walk through the farmhouse, viewing the stairs, the Standing Stone, the silo, a trough for the donkeys and columns which would have supported the second story.
In order to build the farmhouse its menfolk would have needed a quarry, and while exploring the periphery, the excavation team found one just up the well-cleared slope from the house. Just a bit further up the hill, there is a vat in which ancient farmers would have pressed their grapes, bringing to mind the passage in Isaiah 5: 1-2 “. . . My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. . . and also carved out a wine vat.”
Aside from various grains that they would have grown in the fields, the farmers who inhabited Mirsham would have based their livelihood on the production of wine, a staple that served a quadruple purpose. Clean water would only have been available when it rained in winter, but wine, stored in vats, could be drunk all year long. It could also be used to dilute stagnant water, and possibly even combat germs. Besides, the sugar in the wine would have given farmers the energy to put in a day’s work, and since they were situated on a main road, they would have made a healthy profit by selling wine throughout the country. Also on the slopes are two large water cisterns, fed by rainwater that slid easily down the hill.
Goats and sheep would have grazed in the fields but needed protection from both the ravages of nature and the hands of greedy thieves. That is why, not far from the farmhouse, there are overhangs in a cave that created excellent shelters. A water hole was carved into the rocks nearby.
While this may all seem like ancient history, there is a twist to the story. Ganor relates that he watched, one day, as a modern-day shepherd from his nearby farm brought his herd to the slopes of Mirsham and urged them into the age-old shelters. Just like his ancestors who resided here very long ago, the farmer raises sheep. He also, like other small farmers in Israel, produces cheeses that provide him with an excellent livelihood.
Aviva Bar-Am is the author of seven English-language guides to Israel.
Shmuel Bar-Am is a licensed tour guide who provides private, customized tours in Israel for individuals, families and small groups
If you like, please contact us for directions to the forest and the farmhouse. israeltravels@gmail.com.
