Crossing the Rift:

hosted by the Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Wednesday November 19, 2003

Katharina Galor (Brown University), Presiding
Piotr Bienkowski (Manchester Museum), Organizer

Program

Session 1
8:30 – 10:15am

Piotr Bienkowski (Manchester Museum), "The Wadi Arabah: Barrier or Interface?" (15 min.)

Hendrik J. Bruins (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), "Desert Environment and Geoarchaeology of the Wadi Arabah" (15 min.)

Burton MacDonald (St Francis Xavier University), "Water Resources and associated Archaeological Sites and Routes in the Southern Ghawrs and north-east Arabah, Jordan" (15 min.)

Tina Niemi (University of Missouri-Kansas City), "Geological and Archaeological Evidence for Historical Ground-rupturing Earthquakes along Wadi Arabah, southern Dead Sea Transform, Jordan" (15 min.)

Eveline van der Steen (W. F. Albright Institute), "The Wadi Arabah: Nineteenth-century and Earlier Sources" (15 min.)

Clinton Bailey (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), "Transitions in Hostility and Friendship between Bedouin that met in Wadi Arabah: A Study in Inter-tribal Relations" (15 min.)

Discussion and Questions (15 min.)

Session 2
10:45am – 12:15pm

Moti Haiman (Israel Antiquities Authority), "The Archaeological Surveys of the Arabah Reconsidered: History, Data, Metadata and Settlement Patterns" (15 min.)

Uzi Avner (Aravah Institute for Environmental Studies), "Settlement Patterns in the Negev and Sinai deserts" (15 min.)

Klaus Schmidt (German Archaeological Institute, Berlin), "The Chalcolithic Culture of the Aqaba Region" (15 min.)

Russell B. Adams (McMaster University), "Evidence for Copper-trading Networks across the Wadi Arabah during the Early Bronze Age" (15 min.)

Yuval Yekutieli (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev), "The Dynamics of an Early Bronze Age II Ascent from the Northern Arabah towards the Arad valley" (15 min.)

Discussion and Questions (15 min.)

Session 3
1:30 – 3:00pm

Andreas Hauptmann (Deutsches Bergbau-Museum), "Archaeometallurgy in the Wadi Arabah: Strategy, Design and the Importance of Modern Research" (15 min.)

Thomas E. Levy (University of California, San Diego) and Russell B. Adams (McMaster University), "The Wadi Arabah and the Gateway to Faynan: a Deep-time Study of early Copper Ore Procurement, Metallurgy and Social Change in the Jabal Hamrat Fidan, Jordan (Neolithic-Iron Age)" (15 min.)

John Bartlett (Trinity College, Dublin), "The Wadi Arabah in the Hebrew Scriptures" (15 min.)

Michael Jasmin (CNRS, Paris), "The Emergence and First Development of the Arabian Trade across the Wadi Arabah" (15 min.)

Mary-Louise Mussell (University of Ottawa), "Tell el-Kheleifeh: Crossroad at the Sea" (15 min.)

Discussion and Questions (15 min.)

Session 4
3:30 – 5:00am

Tali Erickson-Gini (Israel Antiquities Authority), "'Down to the Sea' - Nabataean Colonization in the Negev Highlands" (15 min.)

Benjamin Dolinka (University of Liverpool), "The Rujm Taba Archaeological Project: Results of the 2001 Survey and Reconnaissance" (15 min.)

Orit Shamir (Israel Antiquities Authority), "Textiles, Basketry and Cordage found along the Spice Route joining Petra and Gaza from the Nabataean period" (15 min.)

Yigal Yisrael (Israel Antiquities Authority), "En Hazeva excavations 1987-1995" (15 min.)

Ze'ev Meshel (Tel Aviv University), "Gold mines in the Arabah according to Eusebius" (15 min.)

Discussion and Questions (15 min.)

Session 5
5:30 – 7:00pm

Ben Isaac (Tel Aviv University), "The Wadi Arabah in the Classical Period: Greek and Latin Sources" (15 min.)

Andrew Smith (University of Maryland), "Communication, Trade and Transport in the South and Central Wadi Arabah" (15 min.)

S. Thomas Parker (North Carolina State University), "Roman Aila and the Wadi Arabah: an Economic Relationship" (15 min.)

Yizhar Hirschfeld (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), "Jews, Pagans and Christians in the Southern Half of the Dead Sea" (15 min.)

Donald Whitcomb (Oriental Institute), "Aqaba and the Wadi Arabah during the Islamic period" (15 min.)

Discussion and Questions (15 min.)

Session I

Piotr Bienkowski, Manchester Museum: The Wadi Arabah: Barrier or Interface?

      This paper provides the framework for the Wadi Arabah sessions, which aim to establish the key historical role of the Wadi Arabah as a dynamic interface between southern Jordan and the Negev of southern Israel.
      The Wadi Arabah, running between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, and separating the Negev from southern Jordan, marks the line of the modern political border between Israel and Jordan. For the early first millennium BC it is usually regarded as the border between the kingdoms of Judah and Edom. However, recent research shows that in most periods southern Jordan and the Negev were part of the same socio-economic system, implying that the Wadi Arabah was a bridge between them.
      The paper discusses the constraints on archaeological research in the Arabah, and presents a GIS of the entire wadi, comprising 1000 published and unpublished sites in the wadi itself, and 5000 in its hinterland. This will be used as a framework for the sessions, which bring together scholars working on both sides of the Wadi Arabah, whose aim is:
      1.To achieve a comprehensive overview of how the Wadi Arabah was formed and how it developed geologically and environmentally.
      2. To determine its resources in terms of routes, minerals and water.
      3. To establish the settlement patterns from the Palaeolithic to Ottoman periods.
      4. To investigate how the Wadi Arabah was used throughout history, including ethnographic data, and to map its role clearly as a bridge between southern Jordan and the Negev.

Hendrik J. Bruins, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: Desert Environment and Geoarchaeology of the Wadi Arabah

The Wadi Arabah region and surrounding area is fascinating in terms of people-environment relationships through time. The climate of the Rift Valley is hyper-arid. The elevated mountainous area to the east in Jordan receives more precipitation, being arid to semi-arid adjacent to the northern part of the Wadi Arabah. The adjacent hilly area to the west in Israel is less elevated and drier in comparison to Jordan. Aeolian dust influx is an important aspect of the environment in relation to soil formation. Springs and groundwater constitute the most important water resources in the hyper-arid Rift Valley. Away and up from the Rift Valley, both in the west (Negev) and east (Edom), rainwater harvesting is important, both for agriculture and drinking water (cisterns). The vegetation and wildlife resources reflect the climatic conditions. In terms of land-use the entire area is suited for extensive pastoralism. Agriculture is restricted to availability of springs and groundwater or a landscape suited to rainwater harvesting. A few sub-regions will be highlighted in relation to their geoarchaeological or historical significance. The Biqat Uvda region in the southern Negev is unique in the sense that it has a hyper-arid climate and yet a long record of rainwater-harvesting agriculture dating to the Neolithic period. The Moa area in the central Wadi Arabah was a station on the spice route from Petra to the Mediterranean Sea. New results from an excavation in an agricultural terrace will be presented in relation to Nabataean history and earthquakes. Finally, a geoarchaeological evaluation of the Petra area will be given.

Burton MacDonald, St. Francis Xavier University: Water resources and associated archaeological sites and routes in the Southern Ghawrs and north-east Arabah, Jordan

The most critical resource of the Southern Ghawrs and north-east Arabah, Jordan, is water. The water supply determines the abundance and distribution of other resources such as plants and animals available for hunting-gathering cultures, the crops that can be grown by farmers, and the animals that can be reared by both farmers and pastoralists. The primary source of water is rainfall. Secondary sources are springs, wells, flowing streams, and moisture stored in the soil. All of the secondary sources are dependent ultimately on rainfall, which generally falls in the Highlands at the eastern rim of the Wadi Arabah-Jordan Depressionto the east of the Wadi Arabah-Dead Sea-Jordan Depression. There are many water sources between Wadi al-Hasa in the Southern Ghawrs, in the south-eastern Dead Sea Valley, and Wadi Fidan in the north-east Arabah (a distance of c. 45 km.). These water resources would have been used in antiquity by those who lived and travelled in the Arabah as well as by those who depended on the wadi's other resources. The archaeological sites located near these water sources support this. In addition, routes - going north to south and east to west - joined these water sources. In summary, the paper will detail the springs, wells, and flowing streams in both the Southern Ghawrs and north-east Arabah. Moreover, it will describe the archaeological sites associated with each water source. Finally, the paper will describe the routes that linked many of these water sources and sites.

Tina Niemi, University of Missouri-Kansas City: Geological and archaeological evidence for historical ground-rupturing earthquakes along Wadi Arabah, southern Dead Sea Transform, Jordan

Archaeological sites that are built over active faults are unique because of their potential to yield the precise date and magnitude of individual historical earthquakes. The objective of the Wadi Araba Earthquake Project is to use detailed archaeological excavation and mapping to date ground-rupturing earthquakes (M>6) along the southern Dead Sea Transform faults in Jordan. At the Qasr Tilah site located south of the Dead Sea, repairs to the north-west corner of a Late Byzantine-Umayyad birkeh suggest that seismic subsidence occurred during construction of the structure possibly in the 659/660 AD earthquake. Our recent excavations indicate that the last earthquake clearly cuts through sedimentary layers that are near to the surface indicating a very recent age of faulting (1456-59 or 1588 AD?). Two faulting events cut sedimentary layers younger than the tumble debris from the birkeh and aqueduct collapse. Additional radiocarbon analyses will enable us to date these earthquakes. Our paleoearthquake data from trenches excavated across the active faults in Aqaba indicate repeat motion on the faults with the latest scarp forming around 1045-1278 AD (probably in the earthquakes of 1212 or 1068). Recent excavations of a Byzantine mudbrick church by Parker indicate that the building collapsed in the earthquake of 363 AD. Subsequent inhabitants repaired wall join separations and fissures in the standing walls. These fissures were later faulted to the surface of the cultural debris and sediments dated to the seventh-eighth century. These data indicate primary tectonic faulting in Aqaba in the fourth and eleventh-thirteenth centuries.

Eveline van der Steen, Albright Institute, Jerusalem: The Wadi Arabah: nineteenth-century and earlier sources

The Wadi Arabah, the big trench between the mountainous area of Edom to the east and the Negev and Sinai deserts to the west, has always been a bridge as well as a barrier. The various tribes that inhabited these regions have profited from this double function of the wadi in establishing their territories, in their interaction with each other, both in a positive and in a negative sense. Many tribes had separate territories on both sides of the wadi, such as the Huwaytat and the Wuheidat. These territories had different functions in the economic and political organization of the tribes, as is demonstrated by the accounts of numerous travellers in the region. The most important of these are Burckhardt and Seetzen at the beginning of the nineteenth century AD, and Musil at the end of the same century. However, their accounts not only reflect the situation in the nineteenth century, but may be projected onto earlier periods as well, maybe even going back as far as the Iron Age and perhaps earlier.

Clinton Bailey, Truman Institute for Peace, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Transitions in hostility and friendship between bedouin that met in Wadi Arabah: a study in inter-tribal relations

The Wadi Arabah has traditionally been a border between bedouin tribes to the east and west (with the exception of tribes of the Sa'idiyyin and Aheiwat confederations). This paper, based on several traditions of friendship and hostility between the tribes on opposite sides of this divide, will explore the nature of tribal relations among bedouin. Alliances, debts of gratitude, invasion, camel raiding, vengeance, and the validity of bedouin law between tribes of different areas, will be the topics observed. The events range from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries, and the tribes of reference include the 'Azazma, Tiyaha, Tarabin, Aheiwat, and Wuheidat tribes of the Negev and Sinai deserts and the Sa'idiyyin, Majali, Huwaytat, Bani 'Atiya, Bani 'Ugba and 'Umran tribes to the east.

Session 2

Moti Haiman, Israel Antiquities Authority: The archaeological surveys of the Arabah reconsidered: history, data, metadata and settlement patterns

     The Israeli side of the Wadi Arabah was explored as part of the many surveys conducted in the Negev since the beginning of modern research, over 100 years ago. About 15,000 sites are known today in the Negev, 1,500 of them in the Arabah. Most of the sites were published only in preliminary reports, in a large variety of publications. Despite the preliminary state of publication, most of the information is accessible. In order to initiate a research program on a considerable scale, there is an inevitable necessity to create a homogenous list of sites from all these publications. This is a challenging project which may anticipate the following obstacles:
     1. The problem of gathering published information, including receiving permission to access unpublished data
     2. The problem of bridging the terminological gap between the various surveyors
     3. To bear in mind that there will be unsolved chronological problems due to the existence of unfamiliar cultures in the southern Levant.
Despite the problems concerning the state of publications, one may observe that the Arabah is not only a specific geographical unit, but is also characterized by types of sites and settlement patterns different from those of the Negev Highlands.

Uzi Avner, Aravah Institute for Environmental Studies: Settlement patterns in the Negev and Sinai deserts

Following the surveys of Glueck in the Negev during the 1930s, a pattern of settlement of the desert was established by scholars, characterized by periods of settlement, interrupted by periods of no archaeological remains. Desert sites were commonly described as seasonal and temporary, while the population was believed to take no part in the cultural processes of the ancient Near East. A closer look, however, reveals a different picture. A list of C14 dates from the Negev, Sinai and southern Jordan demonstrates a complete sequence of settlement during the last 10,000 years, and series of C14 dates from some sites represent a life-span of hundreds of years and even more. Studies in the desert's material culture present some surprises. In the Uvda Valley, for example, a large agricultural settlement system developed, beginning in the sixth millennium BC, which left behind rich agricultural remains, among them the two earliest known stone plough tips, the largest and oldest concentration of threshing floors in the Near East (fourth-third millennia BC), well-prepared cultivated fields covering 1200 hectares, and water installations. Another example is the development of copper mining and smelting, in which the desert population was deeply involved from the early beginning of metallurgy. Studies in the spiritual culture show that the desert population was highly active and creative in the field of religion and philosophy, and even had the power to influence the peoples of the sown lands. It seems, therefore, that the desert's remains and its role in history should be re-evaluated.

Klaus Schmidt, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin: The Chalcolithic culture of the Aqaba region

Two small settlement mounds in the Aqaba region are radiocarbon dated to the transitional period from the late Chalcolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Tall Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan is located on the northern edge of the modern town of Aqaba in the middle of the Wadi al-Yitim fan, close to the contemporary site of Tall al-Magass. Both sites are the oldest known prehistoric settlements in the direct vicinity of Aqaba. Since 1998 archaeological research at Magass and Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan has been conducted by a joint German-Jordanian team. The 2002 and 2003 excavations had been concentrated on Tall Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan. The exposed structural remains consist of mudbrick architecture and stonewalls. Large parts of the buildings were destroyed by an earthquake and a fire, the rooms filled with debris from upper stories, including complete wooden roof-beams and numerous artefacts. On three mudbrick walls hand impressions and decoration made of lines of finger impressions had been found, depicting ibexes and a human. According to preliminary studies on pottery, lithics and other artefact groups the Aqaba sites seem to be quite different from the known late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze I cultures of the southern Levant. Copper ore and slag, crucibles with traces of copper slag as well as clay moulds indicate involvement in copper production. Ingots, axes, chisels, awls and small copper rings have been found. A fragment of a so-called 'Libyan vase' from Hujayrat al-Ghuzlan, as well as other groups of artefacts, are a hint of intensive trade with Egypt.

Russell B. Adams, McMaster University: Evidence for copper-trading networks across the Wadi Arabah during the Early Bronze Age

Prior to the development of research in the Faynan region of southern Jordan, the primary sources of copper during the Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant were considered to be those of Timna in the western Arabah and Sinai. As a result of this assumption, there has been a tendency to interpret the archaeological sites and trading networks of the Early Bronze Age in the southern half of the Levant on this basis. New data from excavations and surveys, as well as analytical studies of materials from the Faynan region, have established that the most likely source of copper during the later Early Bronze Age was southern Jordan. In particular, data from sites such as Barqa el-Hetiye and Khirbat Hamra Ifdan allow for the development of a new model for understanding the production and flow of copper during this period. This data from the Faynan region, taken together with new evidence from research in the northern Negev, provides a new understanding of the complex trading relationships and the distribution of copper from Faynan across the Arabah to western Palestine and Egypt. This paper outlines the evidence for this trade in copper across the Arabah and provides new insights into the role of many of the sites in the region.

Yuval Yekutieli, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: The dynamics of an Early Bronze Age II ascent from the northern Arabah towards the Arad valley

A survey carried out near the south-western end of the Dead Sea revealed traces of an ascent used during the Early Bronze Age II (3000-2650 BC). This ascent was a part of a route that connected the valley of Arad with the northern Arabah, and regions further beyond. The remains along the road included waste discarded by the people who used the road, and a few 'stations' along the trail. A landscape archaeology-oriented analysis of these localities and finds enables suggestions about the dynamics of that road: namely possible modes of behavior of the people who used and maintained it. In addition the paper will discuss the ascent's diachronic relation to nearby ascents, and synchronic relation to the ancient regional settlement foci and resource fields.

Session 3

Andreas Hauptmann, Deutsches Bergbau-Museum: Archaeometallurgy in the Wadi Arabah: strategy, design and the importance of modern research

The Wadi Arabah sedimentary copper ore and mining district was exploited over a period of nearly 10,000 years from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic up to the twentieth century AD. An extraordinary number of ancient remains of mining and smelting and metal-related settlements remained untouched by modern activities. They offer(-ed) a unique possibility to investigate the history of smelting metallurgy and its impact on the cultural environment of the southern Levant, especially at Faynan and Timna. The combined research of archaeologists, mining engineers and other physical scientists elucidated important new aspects of the metallurgical chaine opératoire (ore deposit, mining > smelting > processing > trading). Excavations of settlements brought to light the earliest evidence of a domestic mode of production of copper in the fifth/fourth millennium BC. The first peak of copper production is dated to the mid second millennium BC, and 'industrial' mass production took place from the Late Bronze to the late Iron Age. There are no parallels in archaeometallurgy to the Early Bronze Age mining and copper metallurgy of Faynan. More than 50 mines and a dozen smelting sites were discovered. The excavation of the largest metal factory in the Near East at Khirbat Hamra Ifdan provided new insight into the craftsmanship of metal processing from raw copper to the final object. Provenance studies revealed the southern Negev to be a metallurgical province of copper from the Wadi Arabah with considerable impact from abroad.

Thomas E. Levy, University of California - San Diego and Russell B. Adams, McMaster University: The Wadi Arabah and the gateway to Faynan: a deep-time study of early copper ore procurement, metallurgy and social change in the Jabal Hamrat Fidan, Jordan (Neolithic-Iron Age)

From 1997 to 2002, the Phase I excavations in the Jabal Hamrat Fidan (JHF), located on the edge of the Wadi Arabah and the entrance to the Faynan district in southern Jordan, focused on a deep-time study of the role of early ore procurement and metallurgy in social evolution. The project explored this aspect of early technology from the beginnings of sedentism and early village life in the PPNB up to the emergence of the first historical 'statelets' during the Iron Age. The research was accomplished through interdisciplinary studies based on data collected during a series of comprehensive pedestrian archaeological field surveys and large-scale excavations at key sites representing periods from the PPNB, Late Neolithic-Chalcolithic, Early Bronze I, Early Bronze III-IV, and Iron Age. The surveys and excavations were carried out along the main drainage systems in the JHF which include the Wadi Fidan, Wadi al-Guwayb, and Wadi al-Jariya. The use of a wide range of digital technologies in the JHF for recording the survey and excavation data provide a comprehensive data set for testing models of social change. This paper summarizes the results of the Phase I JHF study that has attempted a unified approach to the study of technology and society through 'deep-time', a period of more than seven millennia. This was achieved through the implementation of models of craft specialization and production that systematically explore the changing role of early metallurgy in social change during many of the most formative periods in the Levantine archaeological record.

John Bartlett, Dublin: The Wadi Arabah in the Hebrew Scriptures

This paper will review critically references to the Wadi Arabah in the Hebrew Scriptures. Particular attention will be paid to the extent of the biblical authors' knowledge of its geographical and topographical features and historical events evidenced in connection with this region.

Michael Jasmin, CNRS, Paris: The emergence and first development of the Arabian trade across the Wadi Arabah

     The paper will deal with the emergence and development of the Arabian incense trade road in the final part of its route along the Wadi Arabah to the north Negev coastal plain. In order to date the emergence of the incense trade, one has to understand the economic and political context of southern Levantine society at the end of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age I-II. There are three distinct chronological hypotheses, each of them involving a different historical context, suggesting the thirteenth, eleventh or ninth century BC for the emergence of the incense trade road. Some other specific problems will receive particular attention:
      1. The still unsolved problem of the date of the domestication of the camel in the southern Levant. Isotopic analysis of camel bones gives data about the camel's diet, the ecological zones it went through, and its domestication.
      2. The possible historical relationship between the copper and incense trade roads, as both used the Wadi Arabah along the north-south axis.

Mary-Louise Mussell, University of Ottawa: Tell el-Kheleifeh: Crossroad at the sea

The position of Tell el-Kheleifeh, at the southern end of the Wadi Arabah, seems on the surface to be ideal. It should command traffic coming southward and provide an offloading point for sea trade. Rather it is open to violent wind and sand storms, which would halt all outdoor work. Wind and sand sweeps down the Wadi Arabah blinding workers, while Aqaba, only 3 km. away, is almost sand-free. These conditions render moot any advantage gained from Tell el-Kheleifeh's position at the end of the Wadi Arabah. Why then place a settlement in such an inhospitable spot? This paper will explore possible reasons for establishing a community here in light of the architecture of the settlement.

Session 4

Tali Erickson-Gini, Israel Antiquities Authority: 'Down to the Sea' - Nabataean colonization in the Negev Highlands

From the early first millennium BC the Wadi Arabah and the Negev Highlands provided a land bridge for ancient traders transporting valuable goods from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean. In the Hellenistic period the Nabataeans began to fortify the main road, the 'Darb es-Sultan', that traversed the Negev, connecting Petra with Gaza and the Mediterranean coast. Nabataean settlements were established in two waves, in the late first century BC and in the mid first century AD. These settlements were located along major roads and by-roads and eventually developed into well established towns. Following the Roman annexation of Nabataea, which was apparently uneventful at a local level, close economic, cultural and religious ties were maintained with Petra as late as the mid fourth century AD. Pottery produced in Petra continued to dominate local ceramic assemblages as late as the fourth century until the 363 AD earthquake, and new evidence, dated to the late fourth century, has been discovered in Oboda that confirms the continued use of the Nabataean language and script, with a reference to the Nabataean national god, Dushara.

Benjamin Dolinka, University of Liverpool: The Rujm Taba Archaeological Project: results of the 2001 survey and reconnaissance

Rujm Taba is located in the south-central Wadi Arabah, 41.5 km. north-east of Aqaba and 4 km. south of the village of Rahma. The archaeological remains straddle the modern Dead Sea Highway, c. 1 km. north of where the Taba mudflats meet a large sand-dune field. The well-known landmark and important regional water source known as Ain Taba is situated 3.5 km. to the south of the site. Rujm Taba served as a way station along the Nabataean route that ran northward along the eastern escarpment of the Wadi Arabah from Aila (modern Aqaba) to the south-east coast of the Dead Sea. In August 2001, the Rujm Taba Archaeological Project (RTAP) surveyed Rujm Taba. The impetus for this project was the work of the Southeast Araba Archaeological Survey, directed by Andrew M. Smith II during the 1990s. Three main components of the site have been identified: a Nabataean caravanserai, a Nabataean village and an extensive necropolis. According to the RTAP surface ceramics, the village was likely founded during the mid first century BC, well before the construction of the caravanserai about 75 years later. Both the caravanserai and village flourished during the first century AD and experienced a period of major decline (and abandonment?) in the early second century AD. Rujm Taba therefore has the potential to provide excellent stratified deposits unspoiled by later occupation; however, the site is threatened by both natural and human destruction. RTAP intends to conduct a more detailed investigation of the site in the future.

Orit Shamir, Israel Antiquities Authority: Textiles, basketry and cordage found along the Spice Route joining Petra and Gaza from the Nabataean period

Most of the way stations such as Mo'a, Sha'ar Ramon and 'En Rahel on the spice routes joining Petra and Gaza yielded textiles, basketry and cordage. They display a remarkable variety of materials (wool, goat hair, camel hair, linen, date-palm) and techniques (tabby, extended tabby, twill), suggesting their diverse geographical origins (Middle East, Mesopotamia, Europe, Galilee or Jordan Valley). Some of the textiles are dyed or decorated with bands, stripes or tapestry in red, blue, green and/or other colors. They were used for clothing, bags or reused for other purposes. A great deal can be learned from the textiles, basketry and cordage about the population of the different sites: their social, economic and political situation. For example, textiles from Mo'a and Sha'ar Ramon demonstrate a greater variety of techniques such as twills and dyes compare to 'En Rahel, a fact which may be due to their location on the main road which was perhaps more heavily travelled by the caravans. Patched textiles are few, contra the Cave of Letters, where although the textiles were of excellent quality, they were heavily patched and repatched because of siege conditions. The spinning and weaving workmanship is of a high standard. In general, the uniformity of dyeing in the samples analysed is of a very high quality; this homogeneity is even visible on the microscopic level. All these features and the ability to obtain these clothes attest to the high economic status of these Nabataean tradesmen and merchants, 'sailors of the desert', living two thousand years ago.

Yigal Yisrael, Israel Antiquities Authority: 'En Hazeva excavations 1987-1995

The site of 'En Hazeva is located in the north-central Arabah on the track leading from the Wadi Arabah to the northern Negev Highlands by way of the Scorpions' Ascent. Extensive excavations were carried out in 1987-1995 directed by Y. Israel and R. Cohen, revealing occupation from the early first millennium BC, with eight occupational strata. In the earliest phase a five-room building was constructed. In the next phase, in the ninth or eighth century BC, a fortress was erected, subsequently enlarged. A complex of shrines was found immediately outside the glacis of the fortress in the moat. The fortress may have been destroyed in 743 BC. Pottery sherds dated to the seventh and sixth centuries BC have been found in unstratified contexts. The site was reoccupied by the Nabataeans in the late first century BC and was occupied without interruption by the Romans until the early third century AD. In the Diocletianic period a fort was erected on the ruins of the earlier structures and a military camp with bathhouse was built on the plain below the fort. The site was severely damaged in the 363 AD earthquake and subsequently reconstructed. It continued to be occupied throughout the fifth century and abandoned sometime in the early to middle sixth century. A second earthquake toppled the military camp in that period, probably after its abandonment. The bathhouse was used as a domestic dwelling in the Early Islamic period and an aqueduct and water channels were built across the remains of the camp to water nearby fields.

Ze'ev Meshel, Tel Aviv University: Gold mines in the Arabah according to Eusebius

Eusebius, fourth century AD, tells us, in his Onomasticon, that 'it is said that by the copper works at Pinon there were once gold mines' (Klosterman 114). Is there a reality behind it? Nelson Glueck discovered a huge cave called Umm el-Amed, located south-east of Wadi Faynan. He described it as a place which was long worked as a copper mine. Two more such caves were discovered recently at the eastern fringes of the Arabah. Why should the ancient miners cut the rock deep inside to collect small green crumbs when they had excellent quality copper ores in Faynan? We think that there may be a connection between the caves and the words of Eusebius.

Session 5

Ben Isaac, Tel Aviv University: The Wadi Arabah in the Classical period: Greek and Latin sources

There are elementary questions to be asked regarding the role of the Arabah in Roman provincial organization: to what extent was the Arabah important as a north-south route in the various periods of Roman rule and to what extent was it more of a valley to be crossed by east-west roads? How much evidence is there for a military presence from the first to the seventh centuries? What do we know about the existence of an organized Roman road-network used also by civilians? The literary and epigraphic sources for the Arabah in the Classical period are not numerous. However, in combination with archaeological studies it is possible at least to make a number of plausible suggestions. These will take into account current views on the shifting Roman attitudes towards a presence in desert areas and military policy elsewhere in the region.

Andrew Smith, University of Maryland: Communication, trade and transport in the south and central Wadi Arabah

There has long been a debate about the nature of human traffic in the Wadi Arabah, the section of the Syrian-African rift that extends c. 165 km. north from the Gulf of Aqaba to the escarpment overlooking the Dead Sea. The problem lies with our assessment of the interconnections between settlements in the north and those in the south. It has been argued, for instance, that while numerous cross-routes existed throughout the valley, no north-south routes were ever sustained for substantial periods. Such arguments fail to examine fully the broad range of settlement activity in the valley (inclusive of beduin populations) in relation to the types of routes that were developed and maintained in specific ecological contexts. Based on recent survey work, this paper reassesses the various networks of communication, trade, and transport in the Wadi Arabah in relation to settlement activity in the Nabataean, Roman, and Byzantine periods. It focuses on the placement and alignment of pathways, roadways, and highways that connected major and minor settlements to one another on both sides of the valley in terms of their ecological contexts. It also examines the nature of the settlements that supported these networks and assesses their function in both civilian and military capacities. I will elaborate on the interconnections between the various types of settlements in the Wadi Arabah, which range from nomadic camps to civic centers, and show how ecological factors determined both the nature of settlement activity and the types and placement of communication and exchange networks in the valley.

S. Thomas Parker, North Carolina State University: Roman Aila and the Wadi Arabah: an economic relationship

The city of Aila flourished from the late first century BC until well into the Islamic period. Located in a coastal oasis at the nexus of several land and sea routes and surrounded by deserts, Aila principally existed to service commercial traffic. The hyper-arid climate forced the city's inhabitants to import most commodities from some distance away. Because Aila was flanked on both west and east sides by mountains, the Wadi Arabah was the easiest and most natural route from Aila. Contrary to the views of some scholars, recent surveys have revealed significant traces of north-south roads running through the wadi, in addition to the long-known east-west routes that crossed the Arabah. Recent excavations of Aila have yielded much new evidence that suggests some kinds of specific goods that most likely reached Aila via Wadi Arabah as well as products that were shipped from Aila north via this same wadi. But there is also evidence that the Arabah was not only a major commercial route, but that it also was the source of the raw material for one of Aila's industries - copper mining. In short, Aila and the Wadi Arabah were intimately connected economically. The southern end of the Arabah was probably administered by Aila as a portion of its territorium, although the precise boundary is still unclear. But even farther north one may suggest the presence of Aila's economic influence.

Yizhar Hirschfeld, Hebrew University of Jerusalem: Jews, Pagans and Christians in the southern half of the Dead Sea

A large number of sites from the Byzantine and Roman periods, En Gedi, Zoar, En Boqeq, el-Mazraa, Khirbet Sekine, al-Haditha, and Khirbet Qazone were surveyed and excavated in the area to the south of the Dead Sea. Numerous epigraphic and literary sources enable us to place these material remains in a historical context. Among these sites we may include the remains from En Tamar. The spring of En Tamar (Ein el-Arus) is located at the south-western tip of the Dead Sea. On a small hill c. 180 m. south-west of the spring are the remains of a rectangular building (20x20 m.) previously surveyed by Beno Rothenberg. In a subsequent excavation led by Rudolph Cohen the site was dated from the first to third centuries and was interpreted as a 'khan' on the road to Zoar. A Byzantine chapel decorated with ten crosses and a burial cave were found near the building. Excavation of the burial cave conducted in May 2001 by myself revealed a rich collection of objects from the Late Roman period (second to fourth centuries AD). From these remains it appears that this once pagan burial cave was transformed into a Christian holy place sometime during the Byzantine period. The chapel of En Tamar is probably connected to the monastic movement in the area. The paper presents the settlement pattern of this region and the evidence we have for the co-habitation of Jews, Pagans, and Christians.

Donald Whitcomb, Oriental Institute, Univ. of Chicago: Aqaba and the Wadi Arabah during the Islamic period

The excavations of the Islamic Aqaba Project of the University of Chicago have resulted in an extensive understanding of this important port and its regional connections, especially with Palestine, Egypt and the Hijaz. The more immediate regional structures in the Wadi Arabah have been hampered until the recent study by Avner and Magness (BASOR 310 [1998]), which details the Islamic remains discovered behind Eilat. This paper will attempt to assemble information from the excavations in light of their findings to establish a more comprehensive picture of Aqaba and its socio-economic setting.