Benjamin Adam Saidel
Biographic Data
| ID | 3641338 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Benjamin Adam Saidel |
| GIVEN NAMES | Benjamin Adam |
| FAMILY NAME | Saidel |
| SIGNATURE | SAIDEL B A |
| AFFILIATIONS | East Carolina University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5645-615X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 31 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Agriculture as a Pathway for the Sedentarization of the Jubarat Bedouin in the Northern Negev, in Pre-State Israel
This study examines the self-sedentarization of the Jubarat Bedouin in pre-state Israel. They cultivated barley in the environs of Tell el-Hesi, in the northern Negev, from at least the late 19th century until 1948. The barley trade provided the Jubarat with economic incentives that encouraged settlement. This process was characterized by a decline in the size and number of Bedouin tent camps and a rise in stone and mudbrick structures. By the en…
Identifying Sub-Recent Bedouin Archaeological Sites in the Northern Negev, Israel
The Archaeology of the Bedouin
Desert Insurgency
Desert Insurgency is a well-written and lavishly illustrated volume that describes the surveys and excavations of the Great Arab Revolt Project (2006–2014; GARP), directed by Neil Faulkner and Nicholas J. Saunders. At the end of this project, the directors decided to publish separate volumes that would complement one another (Faulkner 2016: xv; Saunders 2020: 2). Faulkner published a study of the First World War in the Middle East, while Saunders…
An Architectural Survey of the “Mufti's House” in Qālūnyā/Motza
This is a report of an architectural survey of the “Mufti's House” in Motza/Qālūnyā, Israel. The data is primarily drawn from Saidel and Erickson-Gini's 2019 survey; some information is also drawn from Mashiah's fieldwork in 2010. Historical images demonstrate that this compound was standing by 1906 and that it remained in use throughout the Mandate period. This compound was built using traditional Palestinian construction methods such as those d…
From the Guest Editors
Scholars who conduct research on British Mandate Palestine have access to a variety of resources for this research, such as documents, ethnographies, films, oral histories, and photographs (Granqvist 1931; Mills 1932; Davis 2011; Matson [G. Eric and Edith] Photograph Collection1). Noticeably missing from this list is archaeology. Currently, there is not enough published archaeological data to contribute to this field of inquiry. In academia few a…
Archaeological Evidence for the Production of Black Gaza Ware Pottery at the Former Arab Village of Faluja, Israel
Black and/or Gray Gaza Ware pottery is often found in archaeological contexts in the southern Levant and is broadly dated to the Ottoman and/or British Mandate periods. This ware was primarily made in Gaza, Khan Yunis, and Faluja. In 2002 Yigal Israel conducted an archaeological reconnaissance of Faluja and found archaeological evidence for the manufacture of this ware. He returned to this site in 2009 and excavated a kiln that was used to fire B…
An Archaeological Survey of the Arab Village of Bureir
This report presents the results of an archaeological survey of Bureir, Israel—a village site of the Ottoman and British Mandate periods. Serious archaeological study of the 19th and 20th centuries c.e. in the Levant is still relatively new, and the intent of this survey was to provide archaeological data to use in tandem with the large amount of historical information available for this village. The survey materials yielded information about Bur…
Bedouin “Settlement” in the Tell el-Hesi Region in the Late Islamic to British Mandate Period
Combining historical sources with the survey data we document the Bedouin transition from pastoralism to an economy based more on agriculture than animal husbandry. The construction of structures, first baikas and later houses, is evidence for a presumed reduction in mobility. This shift towards an agricultural economy was in part facilitated by the Fellahin/villagers who were hired by the Bedouin to assist in the harvest. This shift and conseque…
Kütahya Ware Coffee Cups in Rural Cyprus and Greece
An alternative date for the Nahal Mitnan Cairn Field in the Western Negev Highlands
M. Haiman, Service des Antiquités d’Israël, a identifié des centaines de tumuli sur le plateau du Néguev occidental, Israël. Les prospections et fouilles qu’il a menées à Nahal Mitnan sur un champ de tumuli lui ont fourni des données pour identifier des occupations de l’âge du Bronze ancien au sein de ces tumuli. Il les a datés, et d’autres de même forme sur le plateau du Néguev, de l’âge du Bronze ancien ou du Bronze ancien II. Je soutiens que l…
A note on the excavation of an Ottoman and British Mandate period Bedouin campground at Nahal Be'erotayim West in the Negev desert, Israel
The preliminary results of excavations conducted at Nahal Be'erotayim West, an abandoned Bedouin campground in the Negev desert, Israel, indicate that multiple tents were pitched in this location in different periods and at different times of the year. The recovered artefacts and architecture provide a means to identify gender and seasonality in the archaeological record, respectively. Radiocarbon dates from an ash layer and two hearths offer evi…
A note on the dating of the clay smoking pipes collected in the course of two archaeological surveys conducted in Saudi Arabia
Several clay smoking pipes ( chibouks ) were recovered during the course of two archaeological surveys conducted during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Saudi Arabia. At the time these projects took place, no published clay tobacco pipe typologies existed, forcing the participants to assign a cursory date of ‘Ottoman period’ to the pipes. Since then, considerable archaeological research has been done on the Ottoman clay pipe. The following conce…
The Camera and the Pipe
The Ottoman and British Mandate village of Suba is located approximately 7 km to the west of Jerusalem, and it is constructed on top of, and within, the remains of Belmont Castle, a Crusader-period fortress. The clay tobacco pipes in the Suba assemblage range in date from the 17th to the early 20th century c.e. Within this assemblage, there is one type of smoking pipe, the red-slipped burnished pipe, with disc-base, that apparently is not found o…
The Camel and the Tent
Human Ecology in the Wadi al-Hasa
Israel's Ethnogenesis
Coffee, Gender, and Tobacco. Observations on the History of the Bedouin Tent
Anthropos , Seite 179 - 186
Smoking Out Ottoman Sites in Northern Sinai, Egypt
In this study clay tobacco pipes collected by the North Sinai Expedition are used to provide insights into settlement patterns and the structure of archaeological sites in the region. At many sites in northern Sinai, clay tobacco pipes are the only evidence of human activity. The absence of contemporary material culture and the recovery typically of one smoking pipe per site can be interpreted as evidence for ephemeral occupations. From this info…
A Historical and Economic Geography of Ottoman Greece
The Pillars of Hercules as Metaphors for Fertility and Health among Bedouin and Fellahin in the Southern Levant
Anthropos , Seite 220 - 224
Test Excavations at Rogem Be'erotayim in Western Negev
BENJAMIN SAIDEL, TALI ERICKSON-GINI, JACOB VARDI, STEVEN A. ROSEN, EDWARD MAHER, HASKEL GREENFIELD, בנג'מין סיידל, טלי אריקסון-גיני, יעקב ורדי, סטיב רוזן, אדוארד מהר, הסקל גרינפילד, החפירות ברוג'ם בארותיים במערב הנגב / Test Excavations at Rogem Be'erotayim in Western Negev, Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן, כרך ל"ו (תשס"ו, 2006), pp. 201-229
Four Days at Khalasa
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, C. Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence participated in a survey of the Wilderness of Zin sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). In this paper, we demonstrate that the contributions of Woolley and Lawrence's survey, as exemplified by their fieldwork at Khalasa, have been underestimated by archaeologists, when not entirely dismissed. Woolley and Lawrence's site plan of Khalasa is reevaluated …
On the Periphery of an Agricultural Hinterland in the Negev Highlands
Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel
The identification of pastoral nomads in archaeological contexts in the Near East is generally based on demonstrating how pastoral campsites differ from farms, towns, and villages. The recognition of mobile pastoralists at multi-period ephemeral sites is more difficult because the architectural remains from earlier periods do not provide insights into the socioeconomic organization of the people who reused these settlements in later periods. To a…
The Camel and the Tent
A note on the excavation of an Ottoman and British Mandate period Bedouin campground at Nahal Be'erotayim West in the Negev desert, Israel
The preliminary results of excavations conducted at Nahal Be'erotayim West, an abandoned Bedouin campground in the Negev desert, Israel, indicate that multiple tents were pitched in this location in different periods and at different times of the year. The recovered artefacts and architecture provide a means to identify gender and seasonality in the archaeological record, respectively. Radiocarbon dates from an ash layer and two hearths offer evi…
Matchlocks, Flintlocks, and Saltpetre
An alternative date for the Nahal Mitnan Cairn Field in the Western Negev Highlands
M. Haiman, Service des Antiquités d’Israël, a identifié des centaines de tumuli sur le plateau du Néguev occidental, Israël. Les prospections et fouilles qu’il a menées à Nahal Mitnan sur un champ de tumuli lui ont fourni des données pour identifier des occupations de l’âge du Bronze ancien au sein de ces tumuli. Il les a datés, et d’autres de même forme sur le plateau du Néguev, de l’âge du Bronze ancien ou du Bronze ancien II. Je soutiens que l…
Abandoned Tent Camps in Southern Jordan
Benjamin Saidel details the results of a recent survey in southern Jordan by the Bedouin Ethnoarchaeological Survey Project (BESP). The BESP, building on the work of Roger Cribb in Anatolia, surveyed 88 abandoned tent encampments. While the data presented here are preliminary, Saidel's study gives new insights into how pastoralists adapted to living in arid zones with varying terrains
Smoking Out Ottoman Sites in Northern Sinai, Egypt
In this study clay tobacco pipes collected by the North Sinai Expedition are used to provide insights into settlement patterns and the structure of archaeological sites in the region. At many sites in northern Sinai, clay tobacco pipes are the only evidence of human activity. The absence of contemporary material culture and the recovery typically of one smoking pipe per site can be interpreted as evidence for ephemeral occupations. From this info…
Four Days at Khalasa
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, C. Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence participated in a survey of the Wilderness of Zin sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). In this paper, we demonstrate that the contributions of Woolley and Lawrence's survey, as exemplified by their fieldwork at Khalasa, have been underestimated by archaeologists, when not entirely dismissed. Woolley and Lawrence's site plan of Khalasa is reevaluated …
On the Periphery of an Agricultural Hinterland in the Negev Highlands
The Archaeology of the Bedouin
A Historical and Economic Geography of Ottoman Greece
Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel
The identification of pastoral nomads in archaeological contexts in the Near East is generally based on demonstrating how pastoral campsites differ from farms, towns, and villages. The recognition of mobile pastoralists at multi-period ephemeral sites is more difficult because the architectural remains from earlier periods do not provide insights into the socioeconomic organization of the people who reused these settlements in later periods. To a…
Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel
Benjamin Adam Saidel, Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 29, No. 3/4 (Autumn, 2002 - Winter, 2004), pp. 437-445
Round House or Square? Architectural Form and Socio-Economic Organization in the PPNB
Anticipated mobility, agriculture and increased personal wealth initiated a change in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. This change is made manifest in the transition from curvilinear to rectilinear architecture by the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B. It is argued that the combined affect of anticipated mobility, agricultural intensification and craft specialization ultimately changed the mode of production and the social organization within PPNB agricultural v…
Matchlocks, Flintlocks, and Saltpetre
Abandoned Tent Camps in Southern Jordan
Benjamin Saidel details the results of a recent survey in southern Jordan by the Bedouin Ethnoarchaeological Survey Project (BESP). The BESP, building on the work of Roger Cribb in Anatolia, surveyed 88 abandoned tent encampments. While the data presented here are preliminary, Saidel's study gives new insights into how pastoralists adapted to living in arid zones with varying terrains
Pot luck? Variation and Function in The Ceramic Assemblages of Pre-Camel Pastoralists in the Negev Highlands, Israel
BENJAMIN ADAM SAIDEL, בנימין אדם סיידל, שונות ושימושים של מכלולים קרמיים של רועים נוודים מהר הנגב, ישראל / Pot luck? Variation and Function in the Ceramic Assemblages of Pre-Camel Pastoralists in the Negev Highlands, Israel, Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן, כרך ל"ב (תשס"ב, 2002), pp. 175-196
The Excavations at Rekhes Nafha 396 in the Negev Highlands, Israel
In order to provide more information on the socioeconomic organization of mobile pastoralists in the Early Bronze Age and Early Bronze Age IV/Middle Bronze Age I (EB IV/MB I) periods, excavations were conducted at the site of Rekhes Nafha 396 in the Negev Highlands, Israel. The fieldwork was carried out in 1993, 1994, and 1995. This project's methodological and theoretical approaches for excavating a pastoral habitation site are outlined at the b…
Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel
Benjamin Adam Saidel, Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 29, No. 3/4 (Autumn, 2002 - Winter, 2004), pp. 437-445
Vessel Functions in Agricultural and Pastoral Societies of Byzantine and Early Islamic Israel
The identification of pastoral nomads in archaeological contexts in the Near East is generally based on demonstrating how pastoral campsites differ from farms, towns, and villages. The recognition of mobile pastoralists at multi-period ephemeral sites is more difficult because the architectural remains from earlier periods do not provide insights into the socioeconomic organization of the people who reused these settlements in later periods. To a…
Four Days at Khalasa
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, C. Leonard Woolley and T. E. Lawrence participated in a survey of the Wilderness of Zin sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund (PEF). In this paper, we demonstrate that the contributions of Woolley and Lawrence's survey, as exemplified by their fieldwork at Khalasa, have been underestimated by archaeologists, when not entirely dismissed. Woolley and Lawrence's site plan of Khalasa is reevaluated …
On the Periphery of an Agricultural Hinterland in the Negev Highlands
Test Excavations at Rogem Be'erotayim in Western Negev
BENJAMIN SAIDEL, TALI ERICKSON-GINI, JACOB VARDI, STEVEN A. ROSEN, EDWARD MAHER, HASKEL GREENFIELD, בנג'מין סיידל, טלי אריקסון-גיני, יעקב ורדי, סטיב רוזן, אדוארד מהר, הסקל גרינפילד, החפירות ברוג'ם בארותיים במערב הנגב / Test Excavations at Rogem Be'erotayim in Western Negev, Mitekufat Haeven: Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society / מתקופת האבן, כרך ל"ו (תשס"ו, 2006), pp. 201-229
A Historical and Economic Geography of Ottoman Greece
The Pillars of Hercules as Metaphors for Fertility and Health among Bedouin and Fellahin in the Southern Levant
Anthropos , Seite 220 - 224
Smoking Out Ottoman Sites in Northern Sinai, Egypt
In this study clay tobacco pipes collected by the North Sinai Expedition are used to provide insights into settlement patterns and the structure of archaeological sites in the region. At many sites in northern Sinai, clay tobacco pipes are the only evidence of human activity. The absence of contemporary material culture and the recovery typically of one smoking pipe per site can be interpreted as evidence for ephemeral occupations. From this info…
Human Ecology in the Wadi al-Hasa
Israel's Ethnogenesis
Coffee, Gender, and Tobacco. Observations on the History of the Bedouin Tent
Anthropos , Seite 179 - 186
The Camel and the Tent
The Camera and the Pipe
The Ottoman and British Mandate village of Suba is located approximately 7 km to the west of Jerusalem, and it is constructed on top of, and within, the remains of Belmont Castle, a Crusader-period fortress. The clay tobacco pipes in the Suba assemblage range in date from the 17th to the early 20th century c.e. Within this assemblage, there is one type of smoking pipe, the red-slipped burnished pipe, with disc-base, that apparently is not found o…
A note on the dating of the clay smoking pipes collected in the course of two archaeological surveys conducted in Saudi Arabia
Several clay smoking pipes ( chibouks ) were recovered during the course of two archaeological surveys conducted during the late 1970s and early 1980s in Saudi Arabia. At the time these projects took place, no published clay tobacco pipe typologies existed, forcing the participants to assign a cursory date of ‘Ottoman period’ to the pipes. Since then, considerable archaeological research has been done on the Ottoman clay pipe. The following conce…
A note on the excavation of an Ottoman and British Mandate period Bedouin campground at Nahal Be'erotayim West in the Negev desert, Israel
The preliminary results of excavations conducted at Nahal Be'erotayim West, an abandoned Bedouin campground in the Negev desert, Israel, indicate that multiple tents were pitched in this location in different periods and at different times of the year. The recovered artefacts and architecture provide a means to identify gender and seasonality in the archaeological record, respectively. Radiocarbon dates from an ash layer and two hearths offer evi…
An alternative date for the Nahal Mitnan Cairn Field in the Western Negev Highlands
M. Haiman, Service des Antiquités d’Israël, a identifié des centaines de tumuli sur le plateau du Néguev occidental, Israël. Les prospections et fouilles qu’il a menées à Nahal Mitnan sur un champ de tumuli lui ont fourni des données pour identifier des occupations de l’âge du Bronze ancien au sein de ces tumuli. Il les a datés, et d’autres de même forme sur le plateau du Néguev, de l’âge du Bronze ancien ou du Bronze ancien II. Je soutiens que l…
Kütahya Ware Coffee Cups in Rural Cyprus and Greece
Bedouin “Settlement” in the Tell el-Hesi Region in the Late Islamic to British Mandate Period
Combining historical sources with the survey data we document the Bedouin transition from pastoralism to an economy based more on agriculture than animal husbandry. The construction of structures, first baikas and later houses, is evidence for a presumed reduction in mobility. This shift towards an agricultural economy was in part facilitated by the Fellahin/villagers who were hired by the Bedouin to assist in the harvest. This shift and conseque…
An Archaeological Survey of the Arab Village of Bureir
This report presents the results of an archaeological survey of Bureir, Israel—a village site of the Ottoman and British Mandate periods. Serious archaeological study of the 19th and 20th centuries c.e. in the Levant is still relatively new, and the intent of this survey was to provide archaeological data to use in tandem with the large amount of historical information available for this village. The survey materials yielded information about Bur…
An Architectural Survey of the “Mufti's House” in Qālūnyā/Motza
This is a report of an architectural survey of the “Mufti's House” in Motza/Qālūnyā, Israel. The data is primarily drawn from Saidel and Erickson-Gini's 2019 survey; some information is also drawn from Mashiah's fieldwork in 2010. Historical images demonstrate that this compound was standing by 1906 and that it remained in use throughout the Mandate period. This compound was built using traditional Palestinian construction methods such as those d…
Archaeology (28 works) · Geography (25 works) · History (25 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (24 works) · History (19 works) · Ancient history (18 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Archaeological Research and Protection (8 works)