Numerous pieces of wood have been discovered at sites dating to the Roman period in the Land of Israel. Only those items that can be identified as objects or pieces of wood belonging to furniture and elements on which there is evidence of their having been worked mechanically are included in this paper. A total of 532 items are included in this work. All of the objects were discovered at sites in the Negev and Judean Desert, where the preservation conditions of the wood were more favorable than those elsewhere in the country. The quantity of objects discovered, their broad variety, and also the almost identical distribution of the different types in most of the sites indicates that this assemblage, even if it is incomplete, characterizes the use of wood in the home, at work and in all aspects of life in the Roman period. It is reasonable to assume that an identical assemblage was also used at sites in the center of the country and it is only because of the unfavorable conditions there that they were not preserved.
The diverse assemblage of artifacts was divided into twenty four groups according to their shape and their use. The amount of table ware (bowls) and storage vessels (carinated containers and cylindrical containers), combs and spindle weights is striking and made it possible for us to conduct a typological and chronological discussion. The conclusions that were drawn from examining the objects indicate the existence of an interrelationship between the raw materials and inspiration the craftsmen drew from them. For example – the imitation in wood of terra sigilatta type pottery and the transfer of technology from one material to another such as the turning of stone vessels and polishing and finishing of glass vessels on a lathe that was copied from a wood lathe. In the technological part of the work I discuss the kind of wood and its sources that was used in the Roman period. I will also touch on the special innovations of the Roman period which constituted a technological breakthrough at the time and were used by traditional woodworkers until the industrial revolution and even afterwards.
Among these innovations the following are noteworthy:
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The appearance of the high anvil, the woodworker working from a standing position and the implications this change has
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The change in the structure of the tools indicating the direction of the work is being accomplished by means of pushing, e.g. the saw and the plane.
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The invention of new tools such as the plane and frame saw based on the principal of tension.
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The improvement in the performance of the lathe by means of improving the grasping fixtures and the drive system that turned the work.
This dissertation also includes a reconstructed workshop with the mechanical tools and installations that were in it. Other topics that were also studied are the art of woodworking, the principal geometric structures and the work techniques that were used, the order of operations and the manufacturing processes in all fields of woodworking.
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