Excess in precipitation as a cause for settlement decline along the Israeli coastal plain during the third millennium BC

Abstract

Although the relations between climate and settlement are not straightforward, there is a general agreement that arid conditions are less favorable for human settlement in the semiarid Near East than humid conditions. Here we show that humid conditions resulted in the abandonment of settlements along the Israeli coastal plain. We first present archaeological evidence for a drastic decline in settlement along the Israeli coast during most of the third millennium BC (Early Bronze Age II–III). Then, based on archaeological and climatic evidence, we link this decline to an environmental change occurring at that time. We propose that increased precipitation intensified the already existing drainage problems and resulted in flooding, which led to the transformation of arable land into marshes and to the spread of diseases, gradually causing settlement decline and abandonment.

Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Southern Levant: synthesis, challenges, recent developments and perspectives

“…BP), respectively, probably relate to a shift towards more arid conditions. It seems that increased precipitation during the EB Age II-III triggered a decline in settlements in the Israeli coastal plain, related to flooding and illnesses linked to expanding marshy environments (Faust & Ashkenazy 2007). The relatively humid conditions that prevail during the Hellenistic to Byzantine period led to a time of thriving agriculture, marked by an increase in anthropogenic indicators in the pollen sequences (e.g.…”

Rainfall, spring discharge and past human occupancy in the Eastern Mediterranean

“…Synchronous past climate and cultural changes are observed in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East [e.g., Bookman et al (2006); Bookman et al (2004); Enzel et al (2003); Faust and Ashkenazy (2007); Issar and Zohar (2007); Migowski et al (2006); Neumann et al (2010) and elsewhere]. These temporal associations use paleoclimatic indicators of reduced and increased rainfall that can directly affect this Mediterranean environment (with the emphasis on the dry climates).…”

“…Migowski et al (2006) documented the presence of two major wet phases (~10-8.6 and~5.6-3.5 kyr BP) during the Holocene; these phases are also characterized by the enlargement of smaller settlements, suggesting a parallelism between climate and Near East settlement development. Faust and Ashkenazy (2007) proposed that increased precipitation during the third millennium BC was the cause for small settlement decline along the Israeli coastal plain. Pollen analyses show that agricultural intensity, manifested in the frequency of olive vs. drought-resistant pine pollen, varied in phase with Dead Sea levels (Neumann et al 2010).…”

Modeling the demands for wood by the inhabitants of Masada and for the Roman siege

“…Thus, if the wood was not local, its isotopic signature does not reflect climate change, but rather a different, more humid origin. Since palaeoclimatic reconstructions for the late Holocene period in the Near East, based on palynology (e.g., Neumann et al, 2007), Dead Sea water levels (e.g., Migowski et al, 2006), oxygen isotope records from speleothems (e.g., Bar-Matthews et al, 1997), geological erosion and sedimentation (e.g., Migowski et al, 2006) have offered contradictory and unequivocal results (e.g., Staubwasser and Weiss, 2006;Faust and Ashkenazy, 2007), in order to evaluate the origin of wood at Masada we have adopted an alternative approach based on human and plant ecology.…”