Milestones for a tentative chronological framework for the late prehistoric colonization of the basalt desert (north-eastern Jordan)

Müller-Neuhof, Bernd; Abu-Azizeh, Wael

doi:10.1080/00758914.2016.1253979

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Similar constructions at Tulul al-Ghusayn in the northeastern badia date to the mid-fourth millennium cal BCE, providing a possible date for these on M4 (Ref. [60] and Figure 4). Also concentrated on the top of M4 are the enigmatic enclosures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

Hill

Rowan

2022

Remote Sensing

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This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well as modern alterations to the landscape including road construction and looting pits. We documented thousands of previously unrecorded and largely unknown prehistoric structures, providing an improved understanding of major shifts in the prehistoric use of this landscape.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 76%

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

Hill

Rowan

2022

Remote Sensing

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“…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.…”

Section: Implementation Of the Classification In A Geospatial Databasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2021

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In the 12,000 years preceding the Industrial Revolution, human activities led to significant changes in land cover, plant and animal distributions, surface hydrology, and biochemical cycles. Earth system models suggest that this anthropogenic land cover change influenced regional and global climate. However, the representation of past land use in earth system models is currently oversimplified. As a result, there are large uncertainties in the current understanding of the past and current state of the earth system. In order to improve representation of the variety and scale of impacts that past land use had on the earth system, a global effort is underway to aggregate and synthesize archaeological and historical evidence of land use systems. Here we present a simple, hierarchical classification of land use systems designed to be used with archaeological and historical data at a global scale and a schema of codes that identify land use practices common to a range of systems, both implemented in a geospatial database. The classification scheme and database resulted from an extensive process of consultation with researchers worldwide. Our scheme is designed to deliver consistent, empirically robust data for the improvement of land use models, while simultaneously allowing for a comparative, detailed mapping of land use relevant to the needs of historical scholars. To illustrate the benefits of the classification scheme and methods for mapping historical land use, we apply it to Mesopotamia and Arabia at 6 kya (c. 4000 BCE). The scheme will be used to describe land use by the Past Global Changes (PAGES) LandCover6k working group, an international project comprised of archaeologists, historians, geographers, paleoecologists, and modelers. Beyond this, the scheme has a wide utility for creating a common language between research and policy communities, linking archaeologists with climate modelers, biodiversity conservation workers and initiatives.

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“…While some were in prime lowland locations, a number were located in superficially less‐desirable settings. Activity at the walled settlement at Jawa in the arid basalt harra of eastern Jordan was maintained for several centuries starting around the mid‐6th millennium BP (Müller‐Neuhof & Abu‐Azizeh, 2016; Müller‐Neuhof et al, 2015), with occupation sustained by the capture of seasonal run‐off, sediment traps, and agricultural terracing, all of which speak to favorable levels of precipitation in the area at this time (Meister et al, 2017; Müller‐Neuhof, 2014). The early fifth millennium BP witnessed the appearance of walled sites in locations close to the steppe edge in both southern Israel and Jordan (Wilkinson et al, 2014).…”

Section: Regional Trajectoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change and early urbanism in Southwest Asia: A review

Lawrence

Gibbons

Gruchy

2021

WIREs Climate Change

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During the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age (c. 6500-4000 BP), the Fertile Crescent in Southwest Asia saw the earliest development of cities anywhere in the world. Climate and environmental factors are generally considered to be significant in these changes because in pre-industrial societies they directly relate to food production and security. The emergence of cities also coincides with a decoupling of settlement and climate trends, suggesting urbanism may have enhanced the adaptive capacity of societies to withstand changing climatic conditions. Urban forms followed a variety of different trajectories, with a much more sporadic and episodic history in the dry farming plains of the North and West of the study region compared to the stable build-up in the irrigated South. Although models dealing with urban growth have emphasized the differential access to agrarian resources as a key driver in promoting hierarchical social systems, climate has rarely been explicitly discussed. In contrast, so-called "collapse" events brought about by extreme, but short-lived, climate changes such as droughts have been blamed for declines in urban and rural populations, social complexity, political systems, and entire empires. However, the extent to which these "collapses" are visible in the archeological record, let alone how far they can be attributed to climate changes, is a matter of intense debate. The archeological and historical record, the variegated environmental conditions, and the deep time perspective on complexity available, make the Fertile Crescent an ideal laboratory for assessing causal links between urban formations and climate fluctuations.

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Milestones for a tentative chronological framework for the late prehistoric colonization of the basalt desert (north-eastern Jordan)

Cited by 13 publications

References 8 publications

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

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

Climate change and early urbanism in Southwest Asia: A review

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