Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-b6zl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-08T09:17:58.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Palaeoenvironments of the southern Levant 5,000 BP to present: linking the geological and archaeological records

from Part II - The palaeoenvironmental record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2011

By
Claire Rambeau  and
Stuart Black
Edited by
Steven Mithen  and
Emily Black
Claire Rambeau
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Stuart Black
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Steven Mithen
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Emily Black
Affiliation:
University of Reading
Get access

Summary

ABSTRACT

In this chapter we review climatic and environmental changes during the middle to late Holocene in the southern Levant, and their potential impact on human communities. The Holocene is characterised in the eastern Mediterranean region by a trend towards aridity. Several climatic fluctuations are superimposed on this general trend, but contradictory palaeoenvironmental evidence often renders these variations difficult to characterise and date accurately. Nevertheless, the cultural changes at the end of the Early Bronze Age and the Byzantine period appear to be clearly related to a shift towards aridity. Relatively wetter conditions seem to prevail during the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, and during the Hellenistic to Byzantine period. The first of these humid periods may be related to a decline in settlements in the Israeli coastal plain during the Early Bronze Age, caused by increased flooding and the spread of diseases in a marshy environment. The second is associated with thriving agriculture. Arid conditions are prevalent during the Early Islamic period to modern times. More contradictory information characterises the Middle Bronze to Iron Age, but arid conditions are likely to have been dominant at the end of the Middle Bronze Age as well as during the first half of the Iron Age. Phases of climate instability occurred at c. 5,200–5,000 BP and c. 1,000 BP, the latter being coeval with the demise of the Decapolis society.

Type
Chapter
Information
Water, Life and Civilisation
Climate, Environment and Society in the Jordan Valley
 , pp. 94 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abboud, I. A. (2000) Palaeoenvironment, palaeoclimate, and palaeohydrology of Burqu' Basin, Al-Badia, NE Jordan. Unpublished PhD thesis: Baghdad University.Google Scholar
Amit, R., Enzel, Y. and Sharon, D. (2006) Permanent Quaternary hyperaridity in the Negev, Israel, resulting from regional tectonics blocking Mediterranean frontal systems. Geology 34: 509–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amit, R., Lekach, J., Ayalon, A., Porat, N. and Grodek, T. (2007) New insight into pedogenic processes in extremely arid environments and their paleoclimatic implications – the Negev Desert, Israel. Quaternary International 162: 61–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arz, H. W., Lamy, F. and Patzold, J. (2006) A pronounced dry event recorded around 4.2 ka in brine sediments from the northern Red Sea. Quaternary Research 66: 432–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Avni, Y., Porat, N., Plakht, J. and Avni, G. (2006) Geomorphic changes leading to natural desertification versus anthropogenic land conservation in an arid environment, the Negev Highlands, Israel. Geomorphology 82: 177–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Adon, P. (1989) Excavations in the Judean Desert. In Antiquities, ed. Zusman, A. and Straws, D.. Jerusalem: The Antiquities Authorities pp. 3–14.Google Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M. and Ayalon, A. (2004) Speleothems as palaeoclimate indicators, a case study from Soreq Cave located in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, Israel. In Past Climate Variability through Europe and Africa, ed. Battarbee, R. W., Gasse, F. and Strickley, C. E.. Dordrecht: Springer pp. 363–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A. and Kaufman, A. (1998) Middle to Late Holocene (6,500 yr. period) paleoclimate in the eastern Mediterranean region from stable isotopic composition of speleothems from Soreq Cave, Israel. In Water, Environment and Society in Times of Climatic Change, ed. Issar, A. and Brown, N.. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers pp. 203–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Kaufman, A. and Wasserburg, G. J. (1999) The Eastern Mediterranean paleoclimate as a reflection of regional events: Soreq cave, Israel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 166: 85–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A., Gilmour, M., Matthews, A. and Hawkesworth, C. J. (2003) Sea-land oxygen isotopic relationships from planktonic foraminifera and speleothems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and their implication for paleorainfall during interglacial intervals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 67: 3181–3199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baruch, U. (1986) The late Holocene vegetational history of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel. Paleorient 12: 37–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baruch, U. (1990) Palynological evidence of human impact on the vegetation as recorded in late Holocene lake sediments in Israel. In Man's Role in the Shaping of the Eastern Mediterranean Landscape, ed. Bottema, S., Enjes-Nieborg, G. and Zeist, W.. Rotterdam: Balkema.Google Scholar
Baruch, U. and Bottema, S. (1991) Palynological evidence for climatic changes in the Levant ca. 17,000–9,000 BP. In The Natufian Culture in the Levant, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. and Valla, F. R.. Ann Arbor: International Monographs in Prehistory pp. 11–20.Google Scholar
Baruch, U. and Bottema, S. (1999) A new pollen diagram from Lake Hula. Vegetational, climatic, and anthropogenic implications. In Ancient Lakes: Their Cultural and Biological Diversity, ed. Kawanabe, H., Coulter, G. W. and Roosevelt, A. C.. Ghent: Kinobi Productions pp. 75–86.Google Scholar
Bookman, R., Enzel, Y., Agnon, A. and Stein, M. (2004) Late Holocene lake levels of the Dead Sea. Geological Society of America Bulletin 116: 555–571.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cappers, R. T. J., Bottema, S. and Woldring, H. (1998) Problems in correlating pollen diagrams of the Near East: a preliminary report. In The Origins of Agriculture and Crop Domestication, ed. Damania, A. B., Valkoun, J., Willcox, G. and Qualset, C. O.. Aleppo, Syria: ICARDA pp. 160–169.Google Scholar
Cordova, C. E. (2008) Floodplain degradation and settlement history in Wadi al-Wala and Wadi ash-Shallalah, Jordan. Geomorphology 101: 443–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordova, C. E., Foley, C., Nowell, A. and Bisson, M. (2005) Landforms, sediments, soil development, and prehistoric site settings on the Madaba-Dhiban Plateau, Jordan. Geoarchaeology – an International Journal 20: 29–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, H. M., deMenocal, P. B., Hemming, S.et al. (2000) Climate change and the collapse of the Akkadian empire: evidence from the deep sea. Geology 28: 379–382.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, C. P. (2005) Quaternary paleoenvironments and potential for human exploitation of Jordan Plateau desert interior. Geoarchaeology – an International Journal 20: 379–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
deMenocal, P. B. (2001) Cultural responses to climate change during the late Holocene. Science 292: 667–673.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dubowski, Y., Erez, J. and Stiller, M. (2003) Isotopic paleolimnology of Lake Kinneret. Limnology and Oceanography 48: 68–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enzel, Y., Bookman, R., Sharon, D.et al. (2003) Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall. Quaternary Research 60: 263–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enzel, Y., Arnit, R., Dayan, U.et al. (2008) The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts. Global and Planetary Change 60: 165–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,EXACT (Executive Action Team Middle East Water Data Banks Project) (1998). Overview of Middle East Water Resources – Water resources of Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli interest http://water.usgs.gov/exact/overview/index.htm.
Faust, A. and Ashkenazy, Y. (2007) Excess in precipitation as a cause for settlement decline along the Israeli coastal plain during the third millennium BC. Quaternary Research 68: 37–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, A. (1997) The Holocene history of the Dead Sea levels. In The Dead Sea, the Lake and its Setting, ed. Niemi, T. M., Ben-Avraham, Z. and Gat, Y.. Oxford: Oxford University Press pp. 237–248.Google Scholar
Frumkin, A. and Elitzur, Y. (2002) Historic dead sea level fluctuations calibrated with geological and archaeological evidence. Quaternary Research 57: 334–342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, A., Magaritz, M., Carmi, I. and Zak, I. (1991) The Holocene climatic record of the salt caves of Mount Sedom. The Holocene 1: 191–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, A., Carmi, I., Zak, I. and Magaritz, M. (1994) Middle Holocene environmental change determined from the salt caves of Mount Sedom, Israel. In Late Quaternary Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean, ed. Bar-Yosef, O. and Kra, R. S.. Tucson: University of Arizona Press pp. 315–322.Google Scholar
Frumkin, A., Carmi, I., Gopher, A.et al. (1999a) A Holocene millennial-scale climatic cycle from a speleothem in Nahal Qanah Cave, Israel. The Holocene 9: 677–682.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, A., Ford, D. C. and Schwarcz, H. P. (1999b) Continental oxygen isotopic record of the last 170,000 years in Jerusalem. Quaternary Research 51: 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, A., Kadan, G., Enzel, Y. and Eyal, Y. (2001) Radiocarbon chronology of the Holocene Dead Sea: attempting a regional correlation. Radiocarbon 43: 1179–1189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frumkin, A., Karkanas, P., Bar-Matthews, M.et al. (2009) Gravitational deformations and fillings of aging caves: the example of Qesem karst system, Israel. Geomorphology 106: 154–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G. A. (1990) Rainfall in the Negev Desert during the middle Holocene, based on 13C of organic matter in land snail shells. Quaternary Research 34: 186–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G. A. (1991) Holocene trends in 18O in land snail shells from the Negev Desert and their implications for changes in rainfall source areas. Quaternary Research 35: 417–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodfriend, G. A. (1999) Terrestrial stable isotope records of Late Quaternary paleoclimates in the eastern Mediterranean region. Quaternary Science Reviews 18: 501–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grattan, J. P., Gilbertson, D. D. and Hunt, C. O. (2007) The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 83–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenbaum, N., Schick, A. P. and Baker, V. R. (2000) The palaeoflood record of a hyperarid catchment, Nahal Zin, Negev Desert, Israel. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 25: 951–971.3.0.CO;2-8>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gvirtzman, G. and Wieder, M. (2001) Climate of the last 53,000 years in the eastern Mediterranean, based on soil-sequence stratigraphy in the coastal plain of Israel. Quaternary Science Reviews 20: 1827–1849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hazan, N., Stein, M., Agnon, A.et al. (2005) The late quaternary limnological history of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel. Quaternary Research 63: 60–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heim, C., Nowaczyk, N. R., Negendank, J. F. W., Leroy, S. A. G. and BenAvraham, Z. (1997) Near East desertification: evidence from the Dead Sea. Naturwissenschaften 84: 398–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hourani, F. and Courty, M.-A. (1997) L'évolution climatique de 10 500 à 5500 B.P. dans la vallée du Jourdain. Paleorient 23: 95–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, C. O., Elrishi, H. A., Gilbertson, D. D.et al. (2004) Early-Holocene environments in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan. The Holocene 14: 921–930.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, C. O., Gilbertson, D. D. and El-Rishi, H. A. (2007) An 8000-year history of landscape, climate, and copper exploitation in the Middle East: the Wadi Faynan and the Wadi Dana National Reserve in southern Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 1306–1338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issar, A. (1968) Geology of the central coastal plain of Israel. Israel Journal of Earth Sciences 17: 16–29.Google Scholar
Issar, A. S. (1990) Water Shall Flow from the Rock: Hydrogeology and Climate in the Lands of the Bible. Heidelberg: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issar, A. S. (2003) Climate Changes during the Holocene and their Impact on Hydrological Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issar, A. S. and Yakir, D. (1997) Isotopes from wood buried in the Roman siege ramp of Masada: the Roman period colder climate. Biblical Archaeologists 60: 101–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issar, A. S. and Zohar, M. (2004) Climate Change – Environment and Civilization in the Middle East. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Issar, A. S., Tsoar, H. and Levin, D. (1989) Climate changes in Israel during historical times and their impact on hydrological pedological and socio-economic systems. In Paleoclimatology and Paleometeorology, ed. Leinen, M. and Sarthein, M.. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishing pp. 525–542.Google Scholar
Kadan, G. (1997) Evidence for Dead Sea lake-level fluctuations and recent tectonism from the Holocene fan-delta of Nahal Darga. Unpublished MSc thesis: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Klein, C. (1986) Fluctuations of the level of the Dead Sea and climatic fluctuations in Israel during historical times. Unpublished PhD thesis: Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Klinger, Y., Avouac, J. P., Bourles, D. and Tisnerat, N. (2003) Alluvial deposition and lake-level fluctuations forced by Late Quaternary climate change: the Dead Sea case example. Sedimentary Geology 162: 119–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lisker, S., Porat, R., Davidovich, U.et al. (2007) Late Quaternary environmental and human events at En Gedi, reflected by the geology and archaeology of the Moringa Cave (Dead Sea area, Israel). Quaternary Research 68: 203–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucke, B., Schmidt, M., al-Saad, Z., Bens, O. and Huttl, R. F. (2005) The abandonment of the Decapolis region in Northern Jordan – forced by environmental change?Quaternary International 135: 65–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marco, S., Hartal, M., Hazan, N., Lev, L. and Stein, M. (2003) Archaeology, history, and geology of the A.D. 749 earthquake, Dead Sea transform. Geology 31: 665–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLaren, S. J., Gilbertson, D. D., Grattan, J. P.et al. (2004) Quaternary palaeogeomorphologic evolution of the Wadi Faynan area, southern Jordan. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 205: 131–154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migowski, C., Agnon, A., Bookman, R., Negendank, J. F. W. and Stein, M. (2004) Recurrence pattern of Holocene earthquakes along the Dead Sea transform revealed by varve-counting and radiocarbon dating of lacustrine sediments. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 222: 301–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Migowski, C., Stein, M., Prasad, S., Negendank, J. F. W. and Agnon, A. (2006) Holocene climate variability and cultural evolution in the Near East from the Dead Sea sedimentary record. Quaternary Research 66: 421–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neev, D. (1964) The Dead Sea. Geological Survey of Israel Report Q/2/64.
Neev, D. and Emery, K. O. (1995) The Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho. New York:Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Neumann, F. H., Kagan, E. J., Schwab, M. J. and Stein, M. (2007) Palynology, sedimentology and palaeoecology of the late Holocene Dead Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 1476–1498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollinger, U., Ehrlich, A. and Serruya, S. (1986) The planktonic diatoms of Lake Kinneret (Israel) during the last 5000 years—their contribution to the algal biomass. In Proceedings of the 8th International Diatom Symposium, ed. Richard, M.. Koenigstein: Koeltz pp. 459–470.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. (1986) Environmental change and settlement at Tel Lachish, Israel. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 263: 55–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, A. (2007) Civilizing Climate: Social Responses to Climate Change in the Ancient Near East. Plymouth: AltaMira Press.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. M. (1995) The social response to environmental change in Early Bronze Age Canaan. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 14: 26–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, S. A., Savinetsky, A. B., Plakht, Y.et al. (2005) Dung in the desert: preliminary results of the Negev Holocene Ecology Project. Current Anthropology 46: 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rubin, R. (1996) Urbanization and settlement in the Negev Desert in the Byzantine Period. In The Mosaic of Israeli Geography, ed. Gradus, Y. and Lipshitz, G.. Beersheva: Ben Gurion Press pp. 373–401.Google Scholar
Schilman, B., Almogi-Labin, A., Bar-Matthews, M.et al. (2001a) Long- and short-term carbon fluctuations in the Eastern Mediterranean during the late Holocene. Geology 29: 1099–1102.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilman, B., Bar-Matthews, M., Almogi-Labin, A. and Luz, B. (2001b) Global climate instability reflected by Eastern Mediterranean marine records during the late Holocene. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 176: 157–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schilman, B., Almogi-Labin, A., Bar-Matthews, M. and Luz, B. (2003) Late Holocene productivity and hydrographic variability in the eastern Mediterranean inferred from benthic foraminiferal stable isotopes. Paleoceanography 18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwab, M. J., Neumann, F., Litt, T., Negendank, J. F. W. and Stein, M. (2004) Holocene palaeoecology of the Golan Heights (Near East): investigation of lacustrine sediments from Birkat Ram crater lake. Quaternary Science Reviews 23: 1723–1731.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shaked, Y., Marco, S., Lazar, B.et al. (2002) Late Holocene shorelines at the Gulf of Aqaba: migrating shorelines under conditions of tectonic and sea level stability. EGU Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series 2: 105–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsoar, H. (1995) Desertification in Northern Sinai in the eighteenth century. Climatic Change 29: 429–438.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsoar, H. and Goodfriend, G. A. (1994) Chronology and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of Holocene aeolian sands at the inland edge of the Sinai-Negev erg. The Holocene 4: 244–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaks, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Ayalon, A.et al. (2003) Paleoclimate reconstruction based on the timing of speleothem growth and oxygen and carbon isotope composition in a cave located in the rain shadow in Israel. Quaternary Research 59: 182–193.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yakir, D., Issar, A., Gat, J.et al. (1994) 13C and 18O of wood from the Roman siege rampart in Masada, Israel (AD 70–73): evidence for a less arid climate of the region. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 58: 3535–3539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×