Sattaf, in the Jerusalem Mountains on the eastern side of Mount Eitan that descends to Nahal Sorek, about ten kilometers west of Jerusalem, about a kilometer northwest of Moshav Even Sapir.
Settlement on the site began about 6,000 years ago in the Chalcolithic period. Step agriculture (terraces) began to develop 4,500 years ago, and from then until the present day (with short breaks) the site was inhabited.
"Ba'al" agriculture and irrigated agriculture -
"Ba'al" agriculture - is based on irrigation with natural precipitation only, directly. The origin of the name: the Canaanite rain god whose name is: "Ba'al", he is the Canaanite god of rains, storms, lightning and thunder. The ancient farmers believed that the rains, and hence the fields, depended on the Lord Baal answering their prayers.
Irrigated agriculture - based on irrigation by sending the water to the field. In traditional irrigated agriculture, they create storage ponds and transport routes for the water to the field. Modern irrigated agriculture uses diverse irrigation methods, such as sprinklers and drip irrigation.
Reconstruction of mountain agriculture -
In the 1980s, the National Fund for Israel began to rehabilitate and restore the system of agricultural terraces. As part of the project, two layer springs, the canals that came out of them, and the storage ponds were excavated and uncovered. The site preserves and restores traditional and ancient mountain agriculture that still exists in a few villages in the Judean Mountains. The irrigated agriculture in the place existed mainly from the waters of two strata springs, Ein Steph (Ein al-Balad) and Ein Bichura (Ein a-Sharqiya).
From the height level of the springs and down, irrigation agriculture has been restored, to which the water is sent from the storage pits of the springs through canals to the plots, for example: vegetables, eggplants.
From the height level of the springs and up, Baal agriculture was restored, where the spring water does not reach, for example: figs, vines, olives.
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