Moti (Mordechai) Haiman | Israel Antiquities Authority (original) (raw)

Papers by Moti (Mordechai) Haiman

FOREST, Journal of Forests and Open Lands Managements 23, pp. 24-30., 2022

This article was written following the last conference of the IALC and presents data from two res... more This article was written following the last conference of the IALC and presents data from two research projects focusing on a multidisciplinary environmental approach to archaeological sites.
One study examined a number of contemporary Bedouin animal pens in anticipation that this investigation would shed light on the rationale underlying the construction of the ancient pens. The study area was in the KKL-JNF forests near Modi'in leased to Bedouins from the desert area of Arad, ca. 100 km to the south during the months grass grow grows naturally. It was found that the main pen in the Bedouin grazing camps is divided into 6-8 smaller areas and is used for sheep, unlike goat pens, which were divided into no more than 2-3 smaller areas. This type of structure is well known from ancient sites in the Negev and Sinai deserts, named “enclosed structures”, which were already identified as sheep/goat pens in 19th century studies.
The numerous subdivisions of the sheep pens include the following areas: An area for ewes without lambs, an area for ewes with young lambs,
an area for males and ewes who do not go out to graze, (sick or just about to give birth), an area for older lambs who go out to graze, an area for young lambs who do not go out to graze, a feeding area for ewes, a milking area, a meeting area for ewes to suckle their lambs, and the like.
In addition, two more facts were discovered: one is that the sheep need three daily watering vs. two for goats, and the critical need of the sheep for
seasonal green grass in the early springtime without which they do not breed.
The second project, which included fieldwork at selected sites, focused on mapping agricultural systems and sites to a display a ground plan that encompasses all the components of the sites and the surroundings. It was found that during most of the periods the enclosed structures believed to be sheep pens, constitute only about 5% of all the pens, most of which were used for goat husbandry. The exception was a large group of Early Bronze buildings spread between the town of Arad and southern Sinai, in which almost all of the buildings were enclosed structures (95%). The Bedouin encampments layout supports the assumption that sheep husbandry was dominant in that settlement. The goal of this work is to integrate the data of the two projects focusing on the issue of sheep rearing in the desert.

heritage, 2022

The article presents two aspects of a project of high-resolution mapping of archaeological featur... more The article presents two aspects of a project of high-resolution mapping of archaeological features in the southern region of Israel, which was conducted intermittently between 2003 and 2016. One aspect is archaeological, with emphasis on the dense features underlying the area on the periphery of ancient settlements; the second aspect is the objective of integrating the data in multidisciplinary environmental studies. The main conclusion derived from the mapping project is that the existing data in the databases and publications, despite their richness, will not suffice and that there is a need to return to the field and supplement the features in accordance with the aims of the study. Sorting the collected features is a no less complex challenge, as is the relationship with the settlements in question. This challenge calls for expertise gained from cumulative experience gained in fieldwork, for the simple reason that the features date from different periods, and the potential correlation of certain features with a specific settlement is the test. This kind of upgrading with regard to the archaeological aspect in multidisciplinary environmental studies is critical because, in our view, the archaeological data lag behind the technological development of accompanying research, including research that has employed remote sensing as well as a variety of laboratory tests. It has been found that quite a few of these advanced studies use terms such as "site", which in many cases is no more than a point indicating the general location of feature distribution. The same applies to the use of dating as a preferred goal before investing the necessary effort in sorting the features. If this effort is not invested first, there is no way of conclusively determining what is being dated and how dating a specific object contributes to understanding the settlement distribution in a region.

The Holocee, 2021

Runoff harvesting agriculture was prevalent in ancient times across the southern Levant. In moder... more Runoff harvesting agriculture was prevalent in ancient times across the southern Levant. In modern Israel, remnants of this agricultural adaptation strategy are widespread mostly in the semi-arid and arid Negev. Extensive literature has thoroughly described the farming systems of this region. However, runoff agriculture in the dryer, hyper-arid regions of the Arava Valley and southern Negev (excluding the Uvda Valley), has scarcely been researched. A recent study revealed remnants of simple stone terraces in several wadis (ephemeral stream channels) throughout the central Arava Valley that have not yet been dated. The objective of this study was to use the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) method to date sediments trapped in the stone terraces. The results revealed dominance of terraces dated to the Ottoman period (1516-1917 CE). Few samples were dated to the earlier Late Islamic period (1099-1516 CE) or Byzantine period (324-638 CE), and to the later, modern period of the mid-20th century. Generally, these periods coincide with relatively moister regional climatic conditions, which prevailed in the 4th, 11th-12th, and late 19th centuries CE. Yet, our findings also concur with periods of effective governance by central administrations. Therefore, results of this study fit the concept that runoff agriculture practiced in peripheral areas in ancient to recent-past times was co-determined by climatic settings and geo-political conditions, which enabled human inhabitation in these regions.

Digital Archaeology New Research and Advanced Technologies, 2020

The study is conducted in a 4 km2 area west of Modi’in, Israel. Archaeological remains from Prehi... more The study is conducted in a 4 km2 area west of Modi’in, Israel. Archaeological remains from Prehistory through the Early Muslim period
were mapped with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from survey and excavation data (1964-2019). The data includes agricultural implements, installations in the study area (i.e. cisterns, winepresses and olive presses), agricultural terraces along the 1st and 2nd order stream tributaries, slope terraces, animal pens, farms and Byzantine monastic sites. Remote sensing methods were used to classify the land-cover from orthophotos to develop an agricultural potential map based on soil quality within the fields that contained agricultural installations. Then, the soil quality image was statistically compared through regression analysis with a predictive model of agricultural intensification based upon three stages from Prehistory through the Early Muslim period. The study found that extensification, the spatial spread of agriculture, had a probable non-linear relationship to a vertical pattern from Prehistory to the Early Muslim period - from stream beds to broad valleys to tributaries in the hills, and finally hill slopes. Given the current
data set, poor soil quality was correlated to agricultural extensification in a non-linear manner, although further examination of the process by which extensification occurs into more marginal land is necessary. The research demonstrated that GIS was helpful in combining multiple data sets from different sources into one geographic database and as a statistical tool for deconstructing general trends in landscape archaeology.

The Holocene, 2020

Between 2004 and 2008, a wealth of ancient agriculture-related finds was uncovered during a surve... more Between 2004 and 2008, a wealth of ancient agriculture-related finds was uncovered during a survey throughout the loess plains of the Beer Sheva
Valley region, in the arid northern Negev, Israel. The survey was conducted under the framework of an archeological study, aimed at assessing the
similarities and dissimilarities of the valley’s ancient agricultural systems to those of the Negev Highlands to the south and of the Judean Lowlands and
Southern Hebron Mountains to the north. Data collection from selected sites included detailed mapping of settlements and their hinterlands. Ancient
runoff farming systems, comprised of relatively uniform stone terraces transecting the wadis (ephemeral stream channels), and other agriculture-related
structures, such as tuleilat el anab (spatially patterned stone mounds erected on hillslopes), were revealed throughout the region. Other archeological
finds included a variety of structures, including livestock pens, square watchtowers, rock-cut water cisterns, and others. This study indicates that like
the agricultural systems in the neighboring southern and northern regions, the systematic terracing of wadis across the Beer Sheva Valley region was
affiliated with the monastic settlement system, which was centrally managed by the church in the service of the Byzantine Empire. The significance of
this settlement system stems from its highly capable central organization, aiming to achieve geo-political control of space. Despite peaking in the mid-6th
century CE, this system persisted throughout the Early Islamic period, until the mid-8th century CE. Results of this study contradict the conclusions of
previous studies, which negated the viability of ancient runoff farming across the loess plains of the Beer Sheva Valley region. Insights of this research
highlight the need for interdisciplinary studies when assessing the interactions between human populations and the natural environment in ancient times.

Ashkelon and Its Environs, Eitan Klein, Avraham (Avi) Sasson and Ayelet Levy-Reifer, Editors, Ashkelon Academic College , 2020

The paper presents the results of a mapping of Byzantine-period agricultural systems in the Besor... more The paper presents the results of a mapping of Byzantine-period agricultural
systems in the Besor area, as part of a project begun in 2003. This project
examined the components and distribution of desert runoff agriculture, which
had been found to be common even in sedentary land. Another mapping and
survey, in the central and northern Negev, pointed to a regular pattern of
monasteries surrounded by terraced wadis, field towers, tuleilat el-enab and
industrial wine presses. The mapping of ten sites in the Besor area produced
findings identical to those described above, with the addition of a standard
wine jars industry. Combining these findings with data from other studies
results in the following picture:
Scattered throughout the Gaza area are at least 100 ruins surrounded by
agricultural systems of the type described above, located up to 70 kilometers
from Gaza. The chronological conclusions are as follows:
1. The first wave of settlement was in the fifth century CE, in monasteries
surrounded by simple agricultural systems.
2. In the middle of the sixth century CE, a large-scale agricultural system
of terraced wadis based on runoff was established. The system collapsed at
the end of the sixth century.
3. Extensive agricultural settlement in the Negev, up to the Beersheba
Valley in the seventh and eighth centuries CE, has been documented. It was
the result of the sedentarization of desert nomads, unrelated to the monasteries,
which were dying out by then.

Equinox Publishing ISBN (eBook) 9781781797075, 2019

This paper discusses how an archaeological site is documented as a unit by spatial manipulation i... more This paper discusses how an archaeological site is documented as a unit by spatial manipulation in archaeological surveys in the Negev desert. An examination of various surveys reveals two general methods of data collection and analysis used for the Negev and Sinai deserts prior to the mid-1990s. The first was used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the surveys began applying pottery collection. Those early surveys intended to display sites in high resolution, focusing on the variety of on-site features and their morphological and functional parameters.
The second, influenced by the introduction of pottery acquisition in the first half of the 20th century, neglected the morphological aspect of the features. Hence, a “site” became a point representing the location where pottery had
been collected. The introduction of Global Positioning System (GPS) devices and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the mid-1990s provided new means that enabled a switch to documentation that encompasses every visible feature. This crucial change redefined the term “archaeological site” as a unit in spatial-archaeological enquiry.
However, whether or not modern technological means are used, the only relevant method for further studies is the neglected one of feature manipulation, practiced already more than a century ago. The paper also discusses the methodological foundations for the use of GPS/GIS in surveys as a basis for further interdisciplinary studies, early results of which were first presented in 2008.
https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/exploring-holy-land/

MINING FOR ANCIENT COPPER Essays in Memory of Beno Rothenberg, Editor: Erez Ben-Yosef, 2018

About 1500 EB IV sites have been surveyed in the Negev and Sinai Deserts. These sites can be divi... more About 1500 EB IV sites have been surveyed in the Negev and Sinai Deserts. These sites can be
divided into two groups. The first group is made up of about seven large sites, such as Be<er
Resisim, Mashabe Sade and >En Ziq, each containing up to 250 structures, located near water
sources and defined as permanent settlements. Excavations have demonstrated that copper
processing and trade constituted the main economic activity. This is based on the abundance
of copper ingots and an unusual amount of stone tools, which were probably used for copper
processing. At these sites no evidence has been found of subsistence activity, such as sickle blades
or animal pens. The second group consists of small, poorly built sites located far from water
sources, leading to the conclusion that they were temporary. The enormous number of animal
pens found at these sites indicates that pastoralism was their dominant economic activity. Sickle
blades found at several sites implies that the population was also engaged in seasonal agriculture.
In addition, rich findings of cairns, stone piles and stone lines—evidence of traditional desert
population burials and cult features—have also been found. The settlement rise in the deserts
of the southern Levant is a result of circumstances that enabled Asiatics to transport copper
to Egypt. The permanent settlements reflect copper-specialized groups transporting standard
ingots from the Faynan copper mines to Egypt. Following the establishment of those sites there
was a rise in semi-nomadic activity throughout the area south of the permanent sites. The
settlement pattern reflects a complex system consisting of copper specialists and semi-nomads.
However, the orchestrators of the system remain enigmatic. Based on the examination of several
cultural characteristics both at the permanent and the temporary sites, the possibility to locate
the system’s orchestrators in one of the Arabian Desert oases should not be excluded.

Excavations and Surveys in Israel 130, 2018

In August–September 2014, a salvage excavation was conducted in the center of the town of Modiʻin... more In August–September 2014, a salvage excavation was conducted in the center of the town of Modiʻin (Permit No. 7195;
map ref. 200401–10037/645291–6442) prior to development. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel
Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Modi‘in Economic Development Company Ltd., was directed by M. Haiman
(photography), with the assistance of D. Shahar and D. Masarwa (area supervision), Y. Amrani and E. Bachar
(administration), M. Kahan (surveying and drafting), O. Barzilai and P. Spivak (flint), as well as S. Leshem, B. Efrati and
S. Davidov.

The use of Geographic Information System (GIS)/Global Positioning System (GPS) in the digitized m... more The use of Geographic Information System (GIS)/Global Positioning System (GPS)
in the digitized mapping project provided a tool that enabled massive documentation
of all components comprising the sites. This transition of site display, from
points to scatter of features, poses two different direction challenges: one is the
integration of such a digitized map in multidisciplinary environmental studies, and
the other is the possibility of identifying political and cultural upheavals, for example,
identifying the special role of the Byzantine Church in the agricultural settlement,
due to an unusually large number of churches and monasteries directly
connected to the agricultural systems. Another discovery was the possible location
of the northern border of the Byzantine province of Palaestina Tertia, ca. 50 km
north of Be’er Sheva, based on the changes in the agricultural systems.

Ariel University Institute of Archaeology Monograph Series, Number 1. Ariel University Press, 2017

Mapping and GPS recording of the agricultural system of Tel Hebron and its surrounding slopes was... more Mapping and GPS recording of the agricultural system of Tel Hebron and its surrounding slopes was carried out in the context of the 2014 excavations of the tell, as far as the dense occupation of the area allowed.
The main body of the agricultural system was partly mapped as part of the previous excavations, primarily for the orientation of the excavation areas (Chadwick 1992). The present mapping was designed to examine the
agricultural elements characterizing the hill on which the tell is located, while relating to the subject of historic agricultural landscapes, as defined both in the past and on the basis of more up-to-date studies (Ron 1966; Haiman 2011, 2012; Gadot et al. 2015).

'Atiqot, 2016

While the 'Zippor Compound' findings were being prepared for publication (see 'Ad, this volume), ... more While the 'Zippor Compound' findings were being prepared for publication (see 'Ad, this volume), trial mapping was conducted at Horbat Tittora. The aim of the mapping was to provide a spatial view of the dozens of agricultural installations excavated, and to examine them as part of a nearby settlement and not merely as a collection of excavated installations. The GPS-assisted mapping was conducted over a 100 χ 600 m area that is part of the agricultural layout on the edge of Horbat Tittora. The area yielded a dense cluster of farming terraces, water cisterns, building remains, a scattering of building stones, and rock-hewn agricultural installations that become sparser the more distant they are from Horbat Tittora (Fig. 1). On the eastern side of Horbat Tittora, a small winepress (F13), farming terraces and a large number of water cisterns were documented. An industrial winepress with a mosaic floor (F97) and installations from the Late Byzantine period were also detected. To the west of Horbat Tittora, four burial caves were recorded (Fl, F4, F26, F181) near simple oil presses (bodeda), rock-hewn installations, and two small winepresses (F2, F183). A column fragment with a capital was recovered on the western side of Horbat Tittora, which may indicate that the site had a church, although no more evidence of this has yet emerged. In the event that remains of a church are to be found at the site, it would contribute to a better understanding of some of the features excavated in the 'Zippor Compound'. Khirbat Abu Fureij, located approximately 500 m north of Horbat Tittora, was also documented using GPS. Two burial caves (F34, F103) were mapped there, as were a simple oil press (bodeda; F101), a watchman's booth, numerous farming terraces and field walls. Caption to Illustration Fig. 1. GPS map of the Horbat Tittora and Khirbat Abu Fureij

ARAM 27, 1&2 , 2015

Since the British Survey of Western Palestine in 1869, more than 35,000 archaeological sites have... more Since the British Survey of Western Palestine in 1869, more than 35,000 archaeological sites have been documented in the State of Israel and the Palestine Authority. Twenty thousand of these sites are within the geographical region of the subject of this conference. Beginning in 2003, the current author has been engaged in landscape archaeological projects concerned with the rich finds of the arid zone agriculture from the sixth to eighth Centuries CE, constituting the dominant feature of the landscape to this very day (Haiman 2012b). The employed research method is based on the creation of a database from published survey maps of the Israel Antiquities Authority (see fig 1), and for selected sites, a return visit in order to map all of the elements comprising these sites at a higher resolution. The mapping is carried out using GPS in order to create the basis for GIS layers used for subsequent environmental research (Ackermann, Svorai, Haiman 2008). This method is especially applicable to the arid zone, which is characterized by excellent preservation of remains, just as it did it for the first surveyors, such as Palmer (1871) and Wooley and Lawrence (1915), before ceramics became the focus of surveys. An unexpected result of mapping the agricultural systems was the identification of a change in the archaeological remains, related to that agriculture north of the general Ashdod-Hebron line. This change of agricultural landscape raised the possibility that it represented the northern border of the Byzantine province of Palestina Tertia (see fig 5). This preservation of the northern border of the desert entities to the south (during a millennium of political upheavals, since it was established during the Persian Period), is a fascinating subject in itself. The goal of this paper is to present four distribution maps (the following chapters 1-4) that emerged from the initial analysis of the array of desert sites and assess their potential for contributing towards the understanding of the region's ethno-political History.

BAR Number: S2684:, 2014

(BAR digital collection) The Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel initiated an arch... more (BAR digital collection) The Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel initiated an archaeological salvage project in portions of the central and southern Negev (Israel). As a participant in the Negev Emergency Survey, Mordechai Haiman's field crew surveyed, from 1979-1989, 450 kilometers in the western Negev Highlands, and identified 1,500 sites. He also directed excavations at 33 sites. Funded by a grant from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications, this fieldwork was reanalyzed for publication. The contents of this final report touch upon various aspects of Haiman's excavations and surveys including methodologies, lithic material, pottery, fauna remains, petrographic analysis and more.
https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/7m01bn57d

Excavations and Surveys in Israel 126, 2014

In March 2013, a salvage excavation was conducted at the Horbat Pundaq (Permit No. A- 6746; map r... more In March 2013, a salvage excavation was conducted at the Horbat Pundaq (Permit No. A-
6746; map ref. 197963–8359/660629–832) prior to drilling for oil. The excavation,
undertaken of behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and financed by the Givot Olam Oil
Exploration Company, was directed by M. Haiman (field photography), with the assistance
of Y. Amrani (administration), L. Drezner (area supervision) and M. Kunin and A. Hajian
(surveying and drafting).

RADIOCARBON, 2012

Traditional archaeological approaches in the central Negev Desert used to employ excavation techn... more Traditional archaeological approaches in the central Negev Desert used to employ excavation techniques in post-prehistoric periods in which stratigraphy is based on architecture, while material culture forms the basis for dating assessment and chronology. Such an approach was understandable, as it focused on the most visible remains of past human habitation. However, the detailed habitation record is in the soil rather than in the walls. Moreover, ceramics and stone tools in desert cultures often have limited time resolution in terms of absolute chronology. The rural desert site of Horvat Haluqim in the central Negev yielded 2 habitation periods with the traditional methodology: (1) Roman period, 2nd-3rd centuries CE; (2) Iron Age IIA, 10th century BCE. We have conducted at Horvat Haluqim initial excavations in small building remains that were never excavated before. Our excavation methodology focuses on detailed examination of the archaeological soil in building structures, coupled with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating for chronology, and micromorphology of undisturbed soil samples to study stratigraphy and soil contents at the microscopic scale. Here, we report preliminary results, concentrating on the 14 C dates. These suggest a much longer habitation history at the site during the Iron Age. The 14 C dates obtained so far from these building remains cover Iron Age I, II, III, and the Persian period. The oldest calibrated date (charred C 4 plants) in a rectangular building structure (L100) is 1129-971 BCE (60.5%, highest relative probability). The youngest calibrated date in a round building structure (L700) is 540-411 BCE (57.9%, highest relative probability). This excavation methodology provides additional "eyes" to look at past human habitation in the Negev Desert, seeing more periods and more detail than was possible with traditional schemes and ceramic dating.

Excavations and Surveys in Israel, 2012

During August–October 2010, a salvage excavation was conducted within the Ras et-Tawil antiquitie... more During August–October 2010, a salvage excavation was conducted within the Ras et-Tawil antiquities site, near to Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in Jerusalem (Permit No. A-5842; map ref. 223160–778/637832–8140). The excavation, on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, was directed by M. Haiman (field photography), with the assistance of Y. Mizrahi (administration), A. Hajian (surveying) and P. Gendelman (pottery reading).

The region had been surveyed in the past by A. Kloner (2001. Survey of
Jerusalem – The Northeastern Sector, Site 49, Map 102) and winepresses,
installations and potsherds dating to Iron Age II, and the Roman and Byzantine periods were documented.

Journal of Arid Environments, 2012

Despite the arid desert condition of the southern periphery of Israel, the entire area has an abu... more Despite the arid desert condition of the southern periphery of Israel, the entire area has an abundance of
remnants from ancient agriculture of which a massive system of terraced wadis constitutes the main
component. The goal of this paper is to date the agriculture terraces based on the high-resolution data
collected during the 1980’s in the frame of the Negev emergency survey (conducted by the Israel
Antiquities Authority) and later studies.
Analysis of the distribution areas of the terraced wadis shows a constant correlation only with
farmhouses of the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. Excavations conducted in hundreds of sites
yielded finds of the 6e8th centuries CE only. It was found that the distribution areas of the desert
agriculture spanned both the Northern Negev, located within the range of dry farming of the sedentary
land, and the extreme desert of the Sinai Peninsula. The correlation of the terraces and settlements with
the boundaries of the Byzantine desert province Palestina Tertia, raises the possibility that the enormous
effort needed to pave the desert with water management facilities reflects an imperial initiative. It is
assumed that the agriculture practiced in all other periods was a simple, spontaneous agriculture of the
kind that is practiced in the desert by present-day Bedouin, and constitutes only a secondary element of
their economy.

Excavations and Surveys in Israel 123, 2011

During December 2005, a salvage excavation was conducted at the Khirbat Namus antiquities site, s... more During December 2005, a salvage excavation was conducted at the Khirbat Namus antiquities site, southwest of Qibbuz Nahal Oz (Khirbat el-Hakhura; Permit No. A-4650; map ref. 15060/59775), prior to widening the road. The excavation, undertaken on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Ministry of Defense, was directe by M. Haiman (field photography), with the assistance of O. Feder (area supervision), A. Hajian (surveying) and I. Dudin (drawing of finds).