Zev Radovan

A different clock governed everyday life in ancient Israel. The society was agrarian—virtually everyone was a farmer—so people naturally regulated their daily lives by the rising and setting of the sun. Likewise the yearly calendar was defined by seasonal activities related to farming and herding. This small limestone tablet, found in 1908 at Gezer and called the Gezer Calendar, associates the months of the year with activities like sowing, pruning and harvesting, and gives us a glimpse into a way of life very different from ours—a life strongly tied to the earth and its natural rhythms.