First chronometric results for ‘works of the old men’: late prehistoric ‘wheels’ near Wisad Pools, Black Desert, Jordan

Rollefson, Gary O.; Athanassas, Constantin; Rowan, Yorke M.; Wasse, Alexander

doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.93

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…However, for certain features, the higher quality satellite imagery actually allowed for the discerning of discrete site types that have previously been grouped together. Most notably, it became clear that the sites known as "wheels" or "jellyfish" [6,28] require a typological seriation, something that has been recognised before by Rollefson et al [16]. In the WHS area, two distinct forms could be morphologically defined by remote sensing data, which during the course of the later fieldwork were found to have impacts on their frequency and material remains.…”

Section: Site Locations and Their Relationships To Natural Featuresmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…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.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Smith

Chambrade

2018

Geosciences

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Recent developments in the availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery through platforms like GoogleEarth (Google, Santa Clara County, CA, USA) and Bing Maps (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) have greatly opened up the possibilities of their use by researchers. This paper focusses on the exclusive use of free remote sensing data by the Western Harra Survey (WHS), an archaeological project investigating the arid “Black Desert” of north-eastern Jordan, a largely impenetrable landscape densely strewn with basalt blocks. The systematic analysis of such data by conducting a holistic satellite survey prior to the commencement of fieldwork allowed for the precise planning of ground surveys, with advanced knowledge of which sites were vehicle-accessible and how to efficiently visit a stratified sample of different site types. By subsequently correlating the obtained ground data with this analysis, it was possible to create a typological seriation of the site forms known as “wheels”, determine that at least two-thirds of sites are within 500 m of valleys or mudflats (highlighting these features’ roles as access routes and resource clusters) and identify numerous anthropogenic paths cleared through the basalt for site access and long-distance travel. These results offer new insights into this underrepresented region and allow for supra-regional comparisons with better investigated areas by a method that is rapid and cost-effective.

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Section: Site Locations and Their Relationships To Natural Featuresmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Smith

Chambrade

2018

Geosciences

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“…Subsequent limited excavations of a few structures at each site date to the Late Neolithic, although a Late Bronze II or Iron Age tomb was built atop one Neolithic structure (Rowan et al, 2015b). The preliminary results of these surveys and excavations are presented in detail elsewhere (Athanassas et al, 2015;Rollefson, 2013;Rollefson et al, 2016;Rollefson, Rowan, & Wasse, 2011, 2014Rowan et al, 2015aRowan et al, , 2015bWasse, Rowan, & Rollefson, 2012). This evidence indicates a very different occupation in the Black Desert that runs counter to earlier narratives of occasional, short-term hunter-herder use of the region.…”

Section: Research In the Black Desertmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inscribed landscapes in the Black Desert: Petroglyphs and kites at Wisad Pools, Jordan

Hill

Rowan

Wasse

et al. 2020

Arab Archaeol Epigr

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Petroglyphs are well known in the Negev, eastern and southern Jordan, and the Arabian Peninsula. Intensive documentation of hundreds of petroglyphs at the site of Wisad Pools in the Black Desert of eastern Jordan records animals, humans, hunting traps and geometric designs, connecting people and places to the larger landscape. These were recorded at the landscape scale with drones and photogrammetry, and the local scale through the construction of a database combined with GPS recording and terrestrial photogrammetry. Petroglyphs of animals and hunting traps are significant because the site is located within a landscape that includes enormous and enigmatic hunting traps (desert kites). Mapping these depictions highlights typological distribution, association of types, and relation to landscape features as well as the topography of the basalt boulders on which they were pecked. The depictions of animals and hunting traps provide clues about the use of desert kites, the social role of hunting, communal gatherings, and feasting in the region.

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“…BC, substantial numbers of pastoralists were seemingly occupying large, virtual village sites in the steppe for considerable amounts of time on a seasonal basis (Rollefson 2016;Rollefson et al 2014;Rowan et al 2017). A shift from meat production to dairying is thought to have allowed for greater efficiency in using the steppe regions for animal raising (Rollefson et al 2014;Vigne and Helmer 2007) while hunting continued to be important (Rollefson et al 2016). Moving between a sedentary village base and seasonal pasture in the steppe would have required the development of transhumance, or tethered pastoralism, whereby movement Miller et al The origins of nomadic pastoralism in the eastern Jordanian steppe: a combined stable isotope and chipped stone assessment was beyond the agricultural zone and/or several days walk from the village.…”

Section: Identifying Pastoral Practices In the Neolithic Steppe Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The origins of nomadic pastoralism in the eastern Jordanian steppe: a combined stable isotope and chipped stone assessment

Miller

Baird

Pearson

et al. 2018

Levant

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The circumstances in which domestic animals were first introduced to the arid regions of the Southern Levant and the origins of nomadic pastoralism, have been the subject of considerable debate. Nomadic pastoralism was a novel herd management practice with implications for the economic, social and cultural development of Neolithic communities inhabiting steppe and early village environs. Combining faunal stable isotope and chipped stone analysis from the Eastern Jordanian Neolithic steppic sites of Wadi Jilat 13 and 25, and 'Ain Ghazal in the Mediterranean agricultural zone of the Levantine Corridor, we provide a unique picture of the groups exploiting the arid areas.

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First chronometric results for ‘works of the old men’: late prehistoric ‘wheels’ near Wisad Pools, Black Desert, Jordan

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

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

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

Inscribed landscapes in the Black Desert: Petroglyphs and kites at Wisad Pools, Jordan

The origins of nomadic pastoralism in the eastern Jordanian steppe: a combined stable isotope and chipped stone assessment

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