‘Un-Central’ Landscapes of NE-Africa and W-Asia—Landscape Archaeology as a Tool for Socio-Economic History in Arid Landscapes

Abstract

Arid regions in the Old World Dry Belt are assumed to be marginal regions, not only in ecological terms, but also economically and socially. Such views in geography, archaeology, and sociology are—despite the real limits of living in arid landscapes—partly influenced by derivates of Central Place Theory as developed for European medieval city-based economies. For other historical time periods and regions, this narrative inhibited socio-economic research with data-based and non-biased approaches. This paper aims, in two arid Graeco-Roman landscapes, to show how far approaches from landscape archaeology and social network analysis combined with the “small world phenomenon” can help to overcome a dichotomic view on core places and their areas, and understand settlement patterns and economic practices in a nuanced way. With Hauran in Southern Syria and Marmarica in NW-Egypt, I revise the concept of marginality, and look for qualitatively and spatially defined relationships between settlements, for both resource management and social organization. This ‘un-central’ perspective on arid landscapes provides insights on how arid regions functioned economically and socially due to a particular spatial concept and connection with their (scarce) resources, mainly water.

Central Place Theory Reloaded and Revised: Political Economy and Landscape Dynamics in the Longue Durée

“…Christy Constantakopoulou [102] offers in this volume a fascinating view of the concept of marginality in the archaic and classical landscapes of Greece, where hunting in uncultivated un-central landscapes, the eschatia, comprised a widespread practice and a rite of passage for the young (amongst the elites), while the hunting ground itself, on the edge of cultivated land, not only allowed access to the market (where game was sold) but also underpinned the complex interplay between humans, animals, economic practices, elite ideologies and the natural environment. It is also in this context that Anna-Katharina Rieger [103] in the present volume examines two arid, un-central and supposedly marginal regions in Greco-Roman Syria and Egypt to understand settlement patterns and economic practices, successfully providing a showcase of resource management (i.e., water) and social organisation. On the other hand, Louise Steel [104] in this volume examines how water shaped people's interaction with the landscape in Bronze Age Cyprus and moves away from 'traditional' approaches to landscape archaeology by emphasising the agency of water and how this shaped people's movement through their landscape.…”

The Role of Aerial Prospection for Monitoring and Preserving Cultural Heritage in Northeastern Africa

“…Therefore, Marmarica is a region located between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the expansion of the Libyan Desert domains to the south. To the west, it is bounded by Cyrenaica, while to the east, it extends as far as the Qattara Depression (Figure 1) [7][8][9][10]. Marmarica comprises a diverse range of biogeographical units that are generally characterised by semi-arid and arid conditions, although these vary from north to south.…”

Building an Integrated Database of North-Eastern African Archaeological and Heritage Sites for Mapping Complex Social Landscapes

“…In this sense, several aspects regarding the long-term human occupation of Marmarica need to be addressed. Evidence for water harvesting and management of historical agropastoral production ranging from the second millennium BC onwards can be used to trace the historical human activity in the region [6,9,10,12,13,14,15]. To this end, our recording has not only been focused on historical settlements and burial places but also on productive areas and watering places (cisterns).…”

“…Although Marmarica is not a well-defined geographical entity, its limits can be set at the Libyan Sea (Mediterranean Sea), to the North; the margins of the Libyan desert, to the South, and the borders with Cyrenaica (Jebel Akhdar, the "Green Mountain"), to the West. In its Eastern part the boundaries are much less clear, so we used the limits of the Qattara depression to define the study area [9,10] (Figure 1). From a bioclimatic point of view, Marmarica is mainly characterized by its semi-arid and arid conditions.…”

“…Nevertheless, its frontier character and environmental conditions might contribute to defining Marmarica as "marginal". Notwithstanding, Rieger [9] has pointed out the "importance and value of studying marginal habitats, spaces, and socio-economic practices", especially when some approaches "have been proven to be too simplistic and static". This is precisely the case of Marmarica, an archaeological understudied region, mainly seen through textual and iconographic sources produced by the neighbouring groups.…”