Ancient to recent-past runoff harvesting agriculture in the hyper-arid Arava Valley: OSL dating and insights (original) (raw)
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Journal of Arid Environments, 2019
The rise and fall of desert agriculture in the southern Levant has been debated among scholars for the last 200 years, in the chronological, the socio-political and the environmental context. Based on c. 31 OSL ages of sediments from agricultural terraces in various sites in the Negev Highlands, the main phase of ancient desert agriculture was dated to between the 3 rd-4th centuries CE and the 10 th-11th centuries CE (Avni et al., 2013). Within this longue durée process of agricultural activities, no significant environmental or climatic change was observed coinciding with the Byzantine-Islamic transition in the 7th century CE. Our research, which focused on the natural processes that influenced the rise and fall of the Negev desert agriculture, found that the agricultural installations were sustainable for at least 700 years and parts of these agricultural constructions are still in use today. This long period of usage is a clear indication of their robust design and their good adaptation to the desert environment, despite possible short-term climatic fluctuations. However, continuous flooding, gulling, soil erosion and siltation required constant maintenance of agricultural systems by the local farmers. In addition, the political and economic changes that followed the Byzantine-Islamic transition triggered a gradual decrease in the economic value of the products of desert agriculture, followed by a disruption of the social-political balance between local farmers and herders. These made the desert runoff agriculture less viable, leading to its final demise after the 10th century CE. Therefore, a direct link between the rise and fall of desert runoff agriculture and the claimed climatic changes in the southern Levant seems unlikely.
Geoarchaeololgy, 2018
The Holocene, 2020
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.
Ancient agricultural systems based on runoff harvesting techniques are abundant in the Negev Highlands. The current study examined traditional classification and investigated the distribution of ancient agricultural systems around the Roman-Byzantine "Negev Towns" Avdat and Shivta, and across the terrain located between these sites and Makhtesh Ramon in the south. It led to an elaboration of the traditional classification of runoff agricultural systems in the Negev desert of southern Israel. We found that the key factors for building these types of agricultural systems were the geological and geomor-phological characteristics of the specific site locations and the geographic distance from nearby towns and roads. Depending on these factors, a multitude of types of agricultural systems were constructed in accordance with the physical characteristics of the local desert environment. This clearly indicates the continuation of the current desert climate throughout historical times. Furthermore, the large diversity of agriculture installations indicates that they were constructed by local farmers and not by an external plan imposed by the central government.
Journal of Arid Environments, 2017
Archaeological surveys of the Negev Highlands show that the settlement history of this arid environment oscillated widely over time. This observation is almost entirely based on scant sherd assemblages from surveys, with only a few chronometric ages from one or two archaeological features at a given site. The reasons for the scarcity of chronometric ages include insufficient attention to radiocarbon dating in past research, low amounts of datable organic material for radiocarbon dating and issues related to low rate of site accumulation, and incomplete preservation of activity remains. In order to overcome these problems, we present here the results of a detailed chronometric radiocarbon and optically stimulated lumines-cence (OSL) dating study exploring the development of Negev archaeological sites in the third millennium BCE. The study included micromorphological analyses to aid identification of sedimentological and post-depositional processes at the studied sites. At Nahal Boqer 66, one of many small Negev third millennium BCE sites, seven radiocarbon ages were determined from archaeological contexts that suggest repeated discontinuous activity throughout the Early Bronze (EB) and early part of the Intermediate Bronze Age (IBA) (c. 3300-2350 BCE). At Ein Ziq- one of a few large sites in the region- seven samples were dated; they show a very short period of activity in the beginning of the IBA (c. 2450-2200 BCE). OSL age determinations at this site provided evidence for the rapidity of site burial by sediment accumulation. Also, OSL ages from secure depositional contexts verified- via micromorphology- are in agreement with those obtained by radiocarbon dating. Taken together, the results provide new systematic evidence for the timing of EB-IBA activity in the arid Negev Highlands.