Dating of Iron Age Agriculture in the Negev Highlands: A Response to Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In this response to the reply by Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein (2017), we present additional data of our research at Horvat Haluqim. This includes phytolith percentages and multicellular phytolith stomata in a thin section of a layer in Terraced Field 12, dated by radiocarbon ( 14 C) to the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age. We also show thin-section evidence of aggrading sediment laminations in this terraced field. A new 14 C date is given of the Early Islamic Period in Terraced Field 7, as differences in terrace wall architecture are highlighted. We revisit the interpretation by Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein in relation to herd management. Our 14 C dates attest that terrace agriculture based on runoff/floodwater irrigation occurred in the Negev Highlands during several periods, including the Iron Age.

Iron Age Agriculture in the Negev Highlands? Methodological and Factual Comments on Bruins and van der Plicht 2017a (Radiocarbon Vol. 59, Nr. 1)

“…Bruins and van der Plicht support the former, arguing that sediment accumulation behind terraces captures datable materials that define terrace use-life. This might have been acceptable had the authors showed that they date a laminated rather than homogenous fill [which they fail to show even via micromorphology (Bruins and van der Plicht 2017a; but see Bruins and van der Plicht 2017b and our addendum below)]. Therefore, the seeming development in age along the dated profile of sediments presented by Bruins and van der Plicht (2017a: Table 1), cannot be evaluated from a sedimentological point of view.…”

“…In their response to this letter, Bruins and van der Plicht (2017b) address some of the concerns raised above. We thank them for presenting additional data and for the stimulating discussion.…”

“…Bruins and van der Plicht state that “the total agricultural area in the Negev Highlands during the Iron Age must have been smaller than the 4000 hectares mapped by Kedar (1967)” and that Iron Age herds “were even more dependent on natural vegetation as compared to the people who lived in the region during the Byzantine period, or the Bedouin in recent times…” (Bruins and van der Plicht 2017b: 1234). The comparison to Bedouin activity is telling; had evidence for this assertion been presented, it would describe opportunistic rather than subsistence-based cultivation.…”

“…The phytolith data provided by Bruins and van der Plicht (2017b) is partial. First, only one sediment sample was studied from the supposed Iron Age dated level in the thick accumulation of the terrace fill.…”

“…Taken together the data show that the phytoliths in this sample derive from dung; the overall characteristics of this sample are similar to dung samples which we studied at Atar Haroa and Nahal Boqer (Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein 2008; Shahack-Gross et al 2014). Furthermore, the presence of grass phytoliths from the fetucoid family (Bruins and van der Plicht 2017b: 1236) does not indicate wheat or barley. Proving the existence of wheat or barley requires specific advanced phytolith analysis.…”