A ‘marginal’ region with many options: the diversity of Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age socio-economic activities in the hinterland of Jawa

Abstract

In the course of the last four years, surveys in the eastern hinterland of Jawa in the Northern Badia of Jordan have revealed abundant traces of Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age socio-economic activities. These range from the exploitation of large flint mines with associated export-oriented cortical flake production, through abundant indications of ancient pastoralism, to evidence for irrigation agriculture. Additionally, settlements inhabited all year-round have been identified far to the east of Jawa. The hypothetical link of these activities with the site of Jawa is discussed and the possible affiliation of this desert culture to a supra-regional desert culture connecting the Northern Badia in Jordan with the Sinai is considered.

Mapping past human land use using archaeological data: A new classification for global land use synthesis and data harmonization

“…This includes sites like Tell al-Hibr [ 169 ], with faunal evidence for a potential mixed subsistence strategy of herding and hunting as in earlier periods. Additional sites like Tulul al-Ghusayn, Khirbet Abu al-Husayn, and Khirbet al-Ja’bariya may have been inhabited year-round [ 174 , 175 ], the latter of which have radiocarbon dates that overlap the 6 kya time slice [ 176 ]. Müller-Neuhof [ 175 ] has identified, via systematic survey, evidence for continued seasonal pastoral use, along with flint mining, of the harra through this period.…”

“…Additional sites like Tulul al-Ghusayn, Khirbet Abu al-Husayn, and Khirbet al-Ja’bariya may have been inhabited year-round [ 174 , 175 ], the latter of which have radiocarbon dates that overlap the 6 kya time slice [ 176 ]. Müller-Neuhof [ 175 ] has identified, via systematic survey, evidence for continued seasonal pastoral use, along with flint mining, of the harra through this period. While there is good evidence for terrace agriculture in eastern Jordan, at Jawa and other sites, as early as the middle to late fourth millennium BCE [ 174 ], this was likely not possible earlier because of the increased aridity in the region.…”

The Application of Freely-Available Satellite Imagery for Informing and Complementing Archaeological Fieldwork in the “Black Desert” of North-Eastern Jordan

“…9000 BC at Dhuweila [14]). Human presence in the Harra is subsequently attested to for all periods up to and including the Early Bronze Age (early 3rd millennium BC), but is particularly well-represented between the 7th and 4th millennium BC [9,10,15,16]. This data does not necessarily indicate permanent occupation, but it speaks against any prolonged period of abandonment.…”

“…Since then, a handful of surveys and limited excavations have slowly brought to light, necessarily in a keyhole fashion, evidence for widespread prehistoric occupation of the area (see Figure 2). While there is as yet no consensus on whether the majority of structures represent settlements of permanent occupation, e.g., Reference [9], or seasonal camps, e.g., Reference [10], evidence based on lithic material and, more recently, Optically-Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) [11] and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) [12,13] dating indicates a long-term occupation chronology lasting from at least the Epipalaeolithic (Late Natufian) period onwards (ca. 12,650 cal BC at Shubayqa [13]; ca.…”

Ancient agriculture in Southeast Arabia: A three thousand year record of runoff farming from central Oman (Rustaq)

“…Some of the oldest traces of runoff farming date from the Neolithic, and numerous systems have been identified and studied mainly in the Southern Levant (Israel: Evenari et al, 1971;Bruins et al, 1986;Ashkenazi et al, 2012;Jordan: Kirkbride 1966;Helms, 1981 ;Levy and Alon, 1983;Gilbertson, 1986;Barker et al, 1999;Meister et al, 2017 ;Lucke et al, 2019a), Yemen (Brunner and Haefner, 1986;Ghaleb, 1990;Wilkinson 1999Wilkinson , 2005Wilkinson , 2006Harrower, 2009), as well as a North America (Nabhan, 1983;Doolittle, 2000;Sullivan, 2000;Sandor et al, 2007). Some of these systems have functioned for centuries and have allowed for the development and survival of semi-permanent settlements and regional exchanges of fruit trees, cereals and fodder crops (Beckers et al, 2013;Müller-Neuhof, 2014;Ashkenazi et al, 2015).…”