Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:12:09.807Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fourth-millennium-BC ‘leopard traps’ from the Negev Desert (Israel)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Naomi Porat ,
Uzi Avner ,
Assaf Holzer ,
Rahamim Shemtov  and
Liora Kolska Horwitz
Naomi Porat
Affiliation:
1Geological Survey of Israel, 30 Malkhe Israel Street, Jerusalem 95501, Israel (Email: [email protected])
Uzi Avner
Affiliation:
2Arava Institute and the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, POB 3304, Eilat 88133, Israel
Assaf Holzer
Affiliation:
3Desert Studies Center, Kibbutz Samar, Hevel Eilot 88815, Israel
Rahamim Shemtov
Affiliation:
2Arava Institute and the Dead Sea and Arava Science Center, POB 3304, Eilat 88133, Israel
Liora Kolska Horwitz
Affiliation:
4National Natural History Collections, Faculty of Life Science, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Stone-built installations known as ‘leopard traps’ are found throughout the deserts of the Middle East. They have generally been considered to be recent in date, and to have been built by Bedouin or other local communities to trap carnivores that threatened their flocks. But how much older might they be? Survey in the hyper-arid ‘Uvda Valley of the southern Negev Desert in Israel discovered 23 ‘leopard traps’, 19 of them clustered in a relatively small area. This study describes the architecture and function of these structures and presents the first optically stimulated luminescence ages for two of them. These results demonstrate that the traps are ancient and were already in use before the late fourth millennium BC, not long after the adoption of herding by the desert dwellers.

Keywords

IsraelNegev Desert‘Uvda Valleyleopard trapsArabian leopardOSL
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 87 , Issue 337 , September 2013 , pp. 714 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2013

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

Aitken, M.J. 1998. An introduction to optical dating. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Al Jumaily, M., Mallon, D.P., Nasher, A.K. & Thowabeh, N.. 2006. Status report on Arabian leopard in Yemen. Cat News, special issue 1: 20-25.Google Scholar
Avery, G. 1975. Discussion on the age and use of tidal fish-traps (Visvywers). The South African Archaeological Bulletin 30 (119/120): 105-13.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1989. Survey in the southern Arava. Excavations and Surveys in Israel 7/8: 75—174.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1990. Ancient agricultural settlement and religion in the 'Uvda Valley in southern Israel. The Biblical Archaeologist 53: 125—141.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1998. Settlement, agriculture and paleoclimate in 'Uvda Valley, southern Negev desert, sixth — third millennia BC, in Issar, A. & Brown, N. (ed.) Water, environment and society in times of climate change: 147—202. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 2002. Studies in the material and spiritual culture of the Negev and Sinai population, during the 6th — 3rd millennia BC. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 2006. Settlement pattern in the Araba Valley and the adjacent desert areas, a view from the Eilat region, in Bienkowski, P. & Galor, K. (ed.) Crossing the Rift: resources, settlement patterns and interaction in the Wadi Arabah: 51—74. London: Council for British Research in the Levant; Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Avner, U., Anderson, P., Mai, B., Chabot, J., & Cummings, L.. 2003. Ancient threshing floors, threshing tools and plant remains in 'Uvda Valley, southern Negev Desert, Israel, a preliminary report, in Anderson, P., Cummings, L., Schippers, T. & Simonel, B. (ed.) Le traitment des récoltes: un regard sur la diversité du Neolithique de au présent: 455—475. Antibes: APDCA.Google Scholar
Avner, U., Shalmon, B., Hadas, G., Porat, N. & Horwitz, L.K. 2011. Carnivore traps in the Negev and Judaean deserts (Israel): function, location and chronology, in Brugal, J.P., Gardeisen, A. & Zucker, A. (ed.) Prédateurs dans tous leurs états. Évolution, biodiversité, interactions, mythes, symboles: 253—268. Antibes: APDCA.Google Scholar
Baker, P.J., Harris, S., Robertson, C.P.J., Saunders, G. & White, P.C.L. 2001. Differences in the capture rate of cage-trapped red foxes Vulpes vulpes and an evaluation of rabies control measures in Britain. Journal of Applied Ecology 38: 823—835.Google Scholar
Barth, E. 1982. Ancient methods for trapping wild reindeer in south Norway, in Hultkrantz, A. & Vorren, Ø (ed.) The hunters: their culture and way of life, Vol. XVIII: 21—45. Tromso: Tromso Museum Skrifter & Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Brass, L. & Britton, G.. 2004. An archaeological survey of northern Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. Arabian EpigraphyandArchaeology 15: 149—196.Google Scholar
Brinkhuizen, D.. & Clason, A.T.. 1983. Some notes on recent and pre- and protohistoric fishing gear from northwestern Europe. Paleohistoria 25: 7—53.Google Scholar
Campana, D.V. & Crabtree, P.J.. 1990. Communal hunting in the Natufian of the southern Levant: the social and economic implications. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 3: 223—243.Google Scholar
Christensen, K. 1997. Wood from fish weirs — forestry in the Stone Age, in Pedersen, L., Fischer, A. & Aaby, B. (ed.) The Danish Storebalt since the Ice Age — man, sea and forest: 151—156. Copenhagen: A/S Storebælt Fixed Link.Google Scholar
Feathers, J. 2012. Luminescence dating of anthropogenic rock structures in the northern Rockies and adjacent High Plains, North America: a progress report. Quaternary Geochronology 10: 399—405.Google Scholar
Frank, L., Simpson, D. & Woodroffe, R.. 2003. An effective method for capturing African lions. Wildlife Society Bulletin 31: 309—314.Google Scholar
Galbraith, R.F., Roberts, R.G., Laslett, G.M., Yoshida, H. & Olley, J.M. 1999. Optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz from Jinmium rockshelter, northern Australia. Part I: experimental design and statistical models. Archaeometry 41: 339—364.Google Scholar
Godwin, L. 1988. Around the traps: a reappraisal of stone fishing weirs in northern New South Wales. Archaeology of Oceania 23: 49—59.Google Scholar
Hadas, G. 2011. Hunting traps around the oasis of 'Ein Gedi, Judean Desert, Israel. Israel Exploration Journal 61: 2—11.Google Scholar
Holzer, A., Avner, U., Porat, N. & Horwitz, L.K.. 2010. Desert kites in the Negev and northeast Sinai: their function, chronology and ecology. Journal of Arid Environments 74: 806—817.Google Scholar
Horwitz, L.K., Tchernov, E. & Mienis, H.K.. 2001. Archaeozoology and archaeomalacology of site 917 in the 'Uvda Valley. 'Atiqot 42: 121—127.Google Scholar
Johnston, R.B. & Cassavoy, K.A.. 1978. The fishweirs at Atherley Narrows, Ontario. American Antiquity 43: 697—709.Google Scholar
Jordhøy, P. 2008. Ancient wild reindeer pitfall trapping systems as indicators for former migration patterns and habitat use in the Dovre region, southern Norway. Rangifer 28: 79—87.Google Scholar
Judas, J., Paillat, P., Khoja, A. & Boug, A. 2006. Status of the Arabian leopard in Saudi Arabia. Cat News, special issue 1: 11—19.Google Scholar
Kvavadze, E., Bar-Yosef, O., Belfer-Cohen, A., Boaretto, E., Jakeli, N., Matskevich, Z. & Meshveliani, T. 2009. 30,000-year-old wild flax fibers. Science 325: 1359.Google Scholar
Leopard Traps. n.d. Available at: http://www.yemenileopard.org/gallery/leopard-traps.html (accessed 4 April 2013).Google Scholar
Levi, S. 1976. Sinai leopards: a tale of extinction. Teva Va'aretz 19: 8—14 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Lupo, K.D. & Schmitt, D.N.. 2002. Upper Paleolithic net-hunting, small prey exploitation and women's work effort: a view from the ethnographic and ethno-archaeological record of the Congo Basin. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 9: 147—179.Google Scholar
Mallon, D. 2007. Assessment ofthe situation ofthe Arabian leopard and initiation of a capacity-building programme in the Republic ofYemen (PSF 2007/3). Report prepared for the Sir Peter Scott Fund.Google Scholar
Mallon, D., Jumaily, M. Al, Budd, K., Edmonds, J. A., Fattebert, J. & Nasher, A.K.. 2008. Leopard traps in Arabia. Wildlife Middle East News 3(1): 7. Available at: http://www.wmenews.com/newsletters/WME_V3I1_E_P7.pdf (accessed 4 April 2013).Google Scholar
Mcniven, I.J., Crouch, J., Richards, T., Dolby, N., Jacobsen, G. & Mirring, G.. 2012. Dating Aboriginal stone-walled fishtraps at Lake Condah, southeast Australia. Journal ofArchaeological Science 39: 268—286.Google Scholar
Mendelssohn, H. & Yom-Tov, Y.. 1999. Fauna Palaestina: mammalia of Israel. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Science and Humanities.Google Scholar
Milo, R.G. 1998. Evidence for hominid predation at Klasies River Mouth, South Africa, and its implications for the behaviour of early modern humans. Journal ofArchaeological Science 25:99—133.Google Scholar
Mowat, G., Slough, B.G. & Rivard, R.. 1994. A comparison of three live capturing devices for lynx: capture efficiency and injuries. Wildlife Society Bulletin 22: 644—650.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S. & Wintle, A.G.. 2000. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32: 57—73.Google Scholar
Nadel, D., Bar-Oz, G., Avner, U., Boaretto, E. & Malkinson, D.. 2010. Walls, ramps and pits: the construction of the Samar Desert kites, southern Negev, Israel. Antiquity 84: 976—992.Google Scholar
Outram, Z., Batt, C.M., Rhodes, E.J. & Dockrill, S.J.. 2010. The integration of chronological and archaeological information to date building construction: an example from Shetland, Scotland, UK. Journal of Archaeological Science 37: 2821—2830.Google Scholar
Palmer, E.H. 1871. The desert of the Exodus: journeys on foot in the wilderness of the forty years' wanderings. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell & Co.Google Scholar
Porat, N. 2007. Analytical procedures in the luminescence dating laboratory (TR-GSI/2/2007). Report prepared for the Geological Survey of Israel, Jerusalem (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Porat, N., Rosen, S.A, Avni, Y. & Boaretto, E.. 2006. Dating the Ramat Saharonim Late Neolithic desert cult site. Journal of Archaeological Sciences 33: 1341—1355.Google Scholar
Pringle, T. 1835. Narrative of a residence in South Africa. London: Doppler.Google Scholar
Qarqaz, M. & Baker, M. Abu. 2006. The leopard in Jordan. Cat News, special issue 1: 9—10.Google Scholar
Rosen, S.A., Savinetsky, A.B., Plakht, Y., Kissleva, N.K., Khassanov, B.F., Pereladov, A.M. & Haiman, M.. 2005. Dung in the desert: preliminary results of the Negev Holocene Ecology Project. Current Anthropology 46: 317—327.Google Scholar
Sato, H. 2012. Late Pleistocene trap-pit hunting in the Japanese archipelago. Quaternary International 248: 43—55.Google Scholar
Soffer, O. 2004. Recovering perishable technologies through use wear on tools: preliminary evidence for Upper Paleolithic weaving and net making. Current Anthropology 45: 407—413.Google Scholar
Soffer, O., Adovasio, J.M. & Hyland, D.C.. 2000. The ‘Venus’ figurines: textiles, basketry, gender, and status in the Upper Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 41: 511—537.Google Scholar
Stanton, D. 2010. Trip summary: Yemeni Leopard Recovery Program visit to Wada'a, Amran. Wednesday, February 20 — Friday, February 22, 2008. Report prepared for the Foundation for the Protection of the Arabian Leopard in Yemen, Sana'a. Available at: http://www.yemenileopard.org/files/cms/First_Visit_to_Wada_Feb._20_-_22_2008.pdf (accessed 4 April 2013).Google Scholar
Strandberg, C.H. & Tomlinson, R.. 1969. Photoarchaeological analysis of Potomac River fish traps. American Antiquity 34: 212—219.Google Scholar
Wadley, L. 2010. Were snares and traps used in the Middle Stone Age and does it matter? A review and a case study from Sibudu, South Africa. Journal of Human Evolution 58: 179—192.Google Scholar
Walton, J. 1989. Old Cape farmsteads. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau.Google Scholar