THE GEZAR CALENDAR

The Gezer Calendar is a limestone tablet about 4inches (10cm) tall. It dates from the time of Solomon, in the mid-10th century BC. It describes the agricultural cycle month by month, giving the tasks to be performed at certain times of the year. 

August and September are times of harvest, October and November for planting. February is devoted to cultivation of flax, and March to the barley harvest, etc.

The Gezer Calendar

This is illustrated by a stone tablet from Gezer (see top of page, Ancient Farmer's Calendar) assumed to be part of a 10th century BCE schoolboy's exercise. It is not an official calendar. 

In seven lines, it lists the months and seasons as:

• 1: 2 months Olive Harvest (Sept/Oct or Oct/Nov), first the picking of the olives then the pressing for oil.
• 2: 2 months Sowing: The next two months (Nov./Dec or Dec/Jan) come, in Israel, after the first winter rains and, as a rule, after the ploughing, done at the end of October and early November. This was the grain-sowing season.
• 3: 2 months Late Planting: January to March was the time for sowing millet, sesame, lentils, chick peas, melons, cucumbers and so on.
• 4: 1 month Hoeing: This was especially the period for cutting the flax. This was done with a hoe as the plants must be cut close to the ground so that the full length of the stalk can be used, when dried and treated, to make thread and cloth.
• 5: 1 month Grain Harvest: Barley is harvested in April in the south and in May in the north. Wheat and spelt come later in May/June. The grain was cut by a sickle, made before the 10th century BC from flint chips set in a haft made of wood or bone. Later, a small curved wooden blade was affixed to a wooden handle. The grain was separated from the straw and husks by spreading the cut plants on a specially prepared threshing floor outside the village and then driving oxen round and round over it, pulling a threshing sledge which might be flat or on small rollers. The grain was then winnowed and sieved, and finally stored in large jars. Rooms full of such jars are not uncommon in excavations.
• 6: 1 month Festivals: Seven weeks from the beginning of the grain harvest (Dt. 16:9) or at about the time it was completed, a pilgrimage was made to the sanctuary bearing an offering of "first fruits" for the festival of Pentecost (Shavuoth).  In later usage, the Hebrew terms for "early harvest" or "first fruits" have acquired the wider meaning of "choice" fruits or produce.
• 7: 2 months Vine Tending: During the hot summer months of June/July or July/August, after the grain harvest, vines were pruned and the vineyards weeded and cleaned in preparation for the grape harvest.
• 8: 1 month Summer Fruits: The last month of the agricultural calendar (August/Sept.) was devoted to harvesting summer fruit, especially grapes, figs and pomegranates.

According to the oldest liturgical calendars, (Ex. 23:14-17; 34:18-23), the first month, Nisan, during which the feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, began in the spring, approximately March-April in modern terms.