Bedouin sheep pens in Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund forests near Modi'in as a basis for the study of ancient pens in the Negev and Sinai (Hebrew with English summary) (original) (raw)

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

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.