Iron Age Agriculture − A Critical Rejoinder to “Settlement Oscillations in the Negev Highlands Revisited: the Impact of Microarchaeological Methods”

Abstract

Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein (2015) further developed their theory, based on microarchaeology, that there was no agriculture in the Negev Highlands during the Iron Age. We critically evaluate their article in this rejoinder and propose that their conclusion is an example of overinterpretation from a small amount of indirect data. Based on phytoliths in two courtyards and a few rooms, i.e. structures not related to farming, they construed the absence of agriculture during the Iron Age in an area of 2000 km2. We present new radiocarbon, macroarchaeological, and microarchaeological data of Horvat Haluqim, showing that agriculture in the Negev Highlands based on runoff/floodwater capture and related terrace wall construction did not begin with the Roman–Byzantine period. Terrace agriculture in the Negev is older and includes also the Iron Age.

Iron Age Agriculture in the Negev Highlands? Methodological and Factual Comments on Bruins and van der Plicht 2017a (Radiocarbon Vol. 59, Nr. 1)

“…We took care to collect control sediments outside the studied sites—a basic scientific requirement not practiced by Bruins and van der Plicht. Contra the assertion of Bruins and van der Plicht (2017a:14), that concerning the Negev Desert, “hardly anything is known about phytolith transport by dust, in both quantitative and qualitative terms,” we showed that phytolith concentrations in the region’s wind-blown sediments (local loess) are negligible.…”

“…Based on the results, and contrary to past theories, we concluded that the inhabitants did not conduct dry farming (Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein 2008, 2015; Shahack-Gross et al 2014). In a rejoinder published in this journal, Bruins and van der Plicht (2017a) criticize our work, and based on their work in a terraced plot near Horvat Haluqim located close to the sites where we worked, argue that terrace agriculture in the region did take place during the Iron Age and even earlier.…”

“…Bruins and van der Plicht (2017a) argue that: Our reconstruction of the subsistence economy of the Atar Haroa and Nahal Boqer sites is based on sediments “interpreted as dung” and on phytolith assemblages which are “problematic.” This is a critique on our methodology and ability to understand archaeological materials, their taphonomy and formation processes. We conducted our research in rooms and courtyards in settlement sites, hence we cannot determine the chronology of terrace agriculture. We extrapolate our results from two sites to an area of 2000 km 2 . …”

Dating of Iron Age Agriculture in the Negev Highlands: A Response to Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein

“…We have presented in our rejoinder (Bruins and van der Plicht 2017a) various reasons why we disagree with them. We also reported new evidence for Iron-Age agriculture in the region with a series of newly published radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates from within the stratigraphy of an ancient agricultural terraced wadi field at Horvat Haluqim.…”

“…However, the prominent Terrace Wall 12 in the Eastern Wadi of Horvat Haluqim shows a totally different, rather chaotic architecture, reflecting its more ancient and complex origin well before the Roman period, as shown by the radiocarbon dates of the Late Bronze and Iron Age (Bruins and van der Plicht 2017a). Sometimes ancient terrace walls may become buried by sedimentation, disappearing from view and after gaps in habitation new settlers may build new terrace walls on aggraded soil surfaces.…”