Bar-Oz, G., Galili, R., Hildebrandt, B., Shamir, O., Shamir-Shafir, N., Lokshin, D. G., Erickson-Gini, T., Fuks, D. and Avni, G. 2024. Treasures in the Trash Mounds of Nahal Omer, an Early Islamic Village in the Wadi Arabah. Carmel 1. https://carmel.haifa.ac.il/pdfviewer-2024-3/ (original) (raw)

Excavation of organic material from the trash mounds of Nahal 'Omer, an Early Islamic village located along trade routes in the hyper-arid environment of Wadi Arabah in the Negev Desert of southern Israel, revealed a diverse economy based on both local agriculture and long-distance trade. The extraordinary character of the middens is defined by the dense accumulation of exceptionally preserved organic remains, including numerous textiles (cotton, linen, wool, and silk), an abundance of locally sourced date palm products, and other everyday items. Combined with archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analyses, the finds illuminate both the subsistence economy of the village and its far-reaching trade connections. The diversity of locally produced items and imported finds lays new ground for tracing trans-regional interconnectedness and complex transportation networks, as well as technological exchanges between different economic and cultural spheres along the Early Islamic trade routes.