The Botanical Remains from Masada: Identification of the Plant Species and the Possible Origin of the Remnants

Modeling the demands for wood by the inhabitants of Masada and for the Roman siege

“…In contrast to the siege rampart, the wood remains from Herod the Great's palace and associated structures at Masada were mainly composed of timber and worked wooden objects that were brought to the site from other countries or from the humid parts of Israel. Juniperus phoenicea (Phoenician juniper) dominated the finds (Liphschitz and Lev-Yadun, 1989). Unfortunately, the charcoal remains from the siege camps were not studied yet.…”

“…We have good direct and indirect reasons to assume that tree roots were not used on a regular basis by the inhabitants of Masada since: (1) they are not represented in the about 1600 wood samples recovered from the excavations at the site (Liphschitz et al, 1981;Liphschitz and Lev-Yadun, 1989); (2) the temperatures that prevail in the Dead Sea region for most of the year make such hard labor improbable; (3) if tree roots were used for firewood, regeneration of trees would have been impossible and it is unlikely that past people were unaware of this fact; (4) tree roots were not excavated and burned regularly by local traditional societies (e.g., Avitsur, 1976) as can be seen in temperate regions.…”

“…The total number of Acacia and Tamarix trees (2500) in the 50 km 2 of the lowland, according to the current density, could have provided a maximum of 1250 ton of wood, or the equivalent of wood consumption of 50 people for about 42 years. From the botanical finds at Masada (Liphschitz and Lev-Yadun, 1989), it is clear that some desert shrubs (which can regenerate quicker than trees after cutting) were also used for firewood. Shrubs are still used regularly for firewood in the deserts of the Near East (Thalen, 1979;Bailey and Danin, 1981) because they are much more common and easier to handle than trees.…”

“…Masada provides a special opportunity to study how human activity at an ancient site could have influenced desert vegetation since we have historical documentation (Flavius Josephus, 1960, 7: 8-9), extensive excavations at the site (Yadin, 1966), as well as detailed botanical (Liphschitz et al, 1981;Liphschitz and Lev-Yadun, 1989) and archaeological publications (e.g., Cotton and Geiger, 1989;Meshorer, 1989;Yadin and Naveh, 1989;Netzer, 1991a;Aviram et al, 1994Aviram et al, , 1999Aviram et al, , 2007Foerster, 1995;Bar-Nathan, 2006). Moreover, the archaeological and environmental situation has not been seriously impacted by post-Roman period activities at the site, such as brief sojourns by Bedouins (Yadin, 1966).…”

“…He, as well as other authors who have studied the palaeoecology of Masada (Liphschitz et al, 1981;Liphschitz and Lev-Yadun, 1989;Yakir et al, 1994) all assumed that when the Roman siege started the environs of Masada had not been damaged by previous human activity. Indeed, based on the isotopic signature of wood from the Roman siege rampart, Yakir et al (1994) proposed that at this time the region experienced a more humid climate, based on the assumption that the wood was local.…”