The Late Roman Landscape of the Northern Levant: A view from Tell Qarqur and the lower Orontes River Valley

Abstract

Summary This paper presents a review and synthesis of archaeological surveys in western Syria and southern Turkey, alongside finds from recent excavations at Tell Qarqur, Syria, revealing regional patterns of late Roman settlement and land use in the lower Orontes River Valley. Survey data show that the late Roman period witnessed a peak in settlement density, with the extension of occupation into previously unoccupied areas and widespread agricultural intensification. Excavations of a typical lowland site at Tell Qarqur reveal an opulent building complex, possibly a church, with a columned hall, elaborate mosaic floor and frescoed interior. Analysis explores the process of agricultural intensification during the late Roman period, the relationship between lowland settlements and the better‐known Dead Cities of the limestone massif to the east, and the ultimate abandonment of the settlement system following the seventh century AD.

Soil erosion in relation to land-use changes in the sediments of Amik Lake near Antioch antique city during the last 4 kyr

“…Our record of the beginning of the late Bronze Age (~2500 BC) reveals continuous lacustrine or marshy environments with short or seasonal emersion. This interpretation is still compatible with previous insights based on a core and settlements in the central and southern part of the lake (Casana, 2014; Wilkinson, 2000). Tell sites AS 180 and AS181 were small farms around the late 3rd-century BC (Casana, 2014; Eger, 2008), so the lake was inferred to be very small or inexistent at that time.…”

Plagues, climate change, and the end of an empire: A response to Kyle Harper's The Fate of Rome (3): Disease, agency, and collapse

“…195–221) and Giorgi (). While Casana () is cited with approval (p. 269, n53), Casana's observations (214) on the difficulties with ceramic dating especially as it affects the Dead Cities are not discussed.…”

“…195-221) andGiorgi (2007). WhileCasana (2014) is cited with approval (p. 269, n53), Casana's observations(214)on the difficulties with ceramic dating especially as it affects the Dead Cities are not discussed. 6 Harper (p. 213) cites McCormick (2003, p. 1), "The diffusion of the rat across Europe looks increasingly like an integral part of the Roman conquest" but ignores McCormick's warning on the same page that despite its deadliness, Yersinia pestis does not spread as easily as historians have imagined.…”

Regional power and local ecologies: Accumulated population trends and human impacts in the northern Fertile Crescent

“…However, their specific manifestation varied according to the opportunities offered by each sub-region. For example: established agricultural zones such as the Homs marls and Amuq basin witnessed a modification and intensification of settlement (above), what had hitherto been lightly settled upland or 'suboptimal' zones such as the Homs basalts and the Jebel Aqra underwent a very substantial increase in settlement (Casana 2008(Casana , 2014Philip and Bradbury 2010), while the remarkable expansion of settlement into the arid regions east of Homs and Hama was underpinned by the construction of extensive hydrological management systems (Geyer 2009;Braemer et al 2010). This is, in effect, a process of niche construction in light of local affordances and technical capabilities.…”

“…This reflects a broader pattern in the Orontes Valley during this phase (see Wilkinson et al 2014, Lawrence andWilkinson 2015 for discussion). By the Classical period both surveys cover the hinterland of major urban centres (Homs/Emessa for the SHR and Antioch for the AVRP), and received significant landscape investment in the form of large scale irrigation and drainage projects as documented above for Homs and by Casana (2014) for the Lower Orontes Valley. The absence of the sorts of pulsating growth seen in urban centres helps to explain the broad stability of settlement in the two exemplar surveys, whilst the extraordinary expansion of occupied area during the later periods is indicative of a spread of small settlements out of the valley floors.…”