Chalcolithic Agricultural Life at Grar, Northern Negev, Israel: Dry Farmed Cereals and Dung-Fueled Hearths

Abstract

Résumé: Il est généralement admis qu’au Chalcolithique (4700-3800 avant J.-C.) dans le Nord-Néguev, les champs sont situés dans des plaines inondables et que s’y pratique une irrigation par eaux de ruissellement. Nous présentons ici une étude menée à Grar, site chalcolithique se trouvant sur le plateau de loess des rives du Nahal Grar, pour laquelle ont été examinés quantitativement des assemblages phytolithiques de deux aires de fouille distinctes. Les sédiments sont composés d’importantes quantités de phytolithes, vestiges de toute la matière végétale qui s’est progressivement accumulée sur le site. Ces assemblages phytolithiques sont principalement constitués de phytolithes d’herbe, même si la présence de phytolithes dendriformes prouve que les céréales domestiquées, le blé et/ ou l’orge, en font aussi partie. Le ratio des phytolithes issus de tiges et/ ou de feuilles de céréales et d’autres herbes sur ceux issus d’infl orescences est élevé comparativement aux ratios mentionnés dans les études des sites néolithiques et de l’âge de Fer, ce qui montre que la paille de céréales a connu diverses utilisations sur ce site. Le nombre de cellules longues dans les squelettes siliceux des phytolithes issus d’infl orescences seules indique que les céréales étaient issues de cultures sèches. Ainsi, ont été retrouvés in situ trois foyers successifs, avec du fumier pour combustible. D’une manière générale, cette étude montre qu’au Chalcolithique, il existe différentes pratiques agricoles, dont la culture sèche et l’irrigation par ruissellement. En outre, l’utilisation de fumier comme combustible représente probablement l’une des rares preuves de l’utilisation de produits secondaires à cette période dans le Levant Sud.

Settlement patterns, social complexity and agricultural strategies during the Chalcolithic period in the Northern Negev, Israel

“…Our results support previous suggestions that during the Chalcolithic period agricultural practice in the Southern Levant included both high water availability conditions (Rosen and Weiner, 1994), which was accomplished not by building diversion walls and dams, but by placing the fields in floodplain areas (Hillel, 1994), and close to riverbank topographical features other than floodplains (Katz et al, 2007) that are less flat or level, but offer a greater amount of flow accumulation.…”

“…Furthermore, by providing another perspective for evaluating the issues of water management and wadi resource exploitation of the Northern Negev Chalcolithic sites, our results support previous suggestions of dry farming (Katz et al, 2007), and flood-irrigation agricultural practice (Rosen and Weiner, 1994). We therefore conclude that the exploitation of the resources of wadi environments, such as soils, water and vegetation, was enhanced by the use of natural runoff sink areas rather than by the construction of irrigation systems such as dams or diversion walls along the wadis.…”

“…Rosen and Weiner (1994), in their phytolith study, show that cereals from sites of Shiqmim and Gilat were grown under conditions of high water availability, accomplished by placing the fields in floodplains. Katz et al (2007), however, concluded, based on phytolith samples from the site of Grar, that crops had been dry farmed, implying that features of the landscape other than flood plains were used as fields during the Chalcolithic in the Southern Levant. Levy (1981) reconstructs a two-tiered hierarchical chiefdom society by using spatial analyses such as nearest neighbor analysis, cluster analysis, and Thiessen polygons to study the settlement distribution patterns.…”

Rapid phytolith extraction for analysis of phytolith concentrations and assemblages during an excavation: an application at Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel

“…30% (Katz et al, 2007;Shahack-Gross et al, 2003). Here we showed that comparable precision can be achieved in a very short time, even when some of the most challenging samples are counted, namely those that contain other archaeologically irrelevant biogenic opaline fossils, and many unidentifiable fragments of opal.…”

Ancient desert agriculture in the Negev and climate-zone boundary changes during average, wet and drought years

“…The agricultural remains are less conspicuous in the loesscovered rolling plains of the northern Negev, but more evidence is appearing (Katz and Gilead, 2007;Levy andAlon, 1983, 1987;Winter-Livneh et al, 2010). West of Beer Sheva, at the site of Shiqmim (Fig.…”