Palaeoenvironments of the southern Levant 5,000 BP to present
Linking the geological and archaeological records
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23477367 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Claire Rambeau (0000-0003-4104-6753, University of Reading), Stuart Black (0000-0003-1396-4821, University of Reading) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Pages | 94-104 |
| Publication date | 2011-04-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Water, Life and Civilisation (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1017/cbo9780511975219.007 |
| OpenAlex | W177072255 |
| ISBN | 9780511975219 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 61 |
In this chapter we review climatic and environmental changes during the middle to late Holocene in the southern Levant, and their potential impact on human communities. The Holocene is characterised in the eastern Mediterranean region by a trend towards aridity. Several climatic fluctuations are superimposed on this general trend, but contradictory palaeoenvironmental evidence often renders these variations difficult to characterise and date accurately. Nevertheless, the cultural changes at the end of the Early Bronze Age and the Byzantine period appear to be clearly related to a shift towards aridity. Relatively wetter conditions seem to prevail during the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, and during the Hellenistic to Byzantine period. The first of these humid periods may be related to a decline in settlements in the Israeli coastal plain during the Early Bronze Age, caused by increased flooding and the spread of diseases in a marshy environment. The second is associated with thriving agriculture. Arid conditions are prevalent during the Early Islamic period to modern times. More contradictory information characterises the Middle Bronze to Iron Age, but arid conditions are likely to have been dominant at the end of the Middle Bronze Age as well as during the first half of the Iron Age. Phases of climate instability occurred at c . 5,200–5,000 BP and c . 1,000 BP, the latter being coeval with the demise of the Decapolis society.
Ancient history · Archaeology · Arid · Bronze Age · Byzantine architecture · Chalcolithic · Geography · Holocene · Human settlement · Iron Age · Period (music) · Southern Levant · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · History · Paleontology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Questioning Transjordan’s Historic Desertification
Climate, settlement patterns and olive horticulture in the southern Levant during the Early Bronze and Intermediate Bronze Ages ( c. 3600–1950 BC)
Millennial multi-proxy reconstruction of oasis dynamics in Jordan, by the Dead Sea
Lake Kinneret (Israel)
Masters of mudbrick
Climate and the Late Bronze Collapse
Identifying ancient water availability through phytolith analysis
Test Excavations at Wadi Zarqa Maʿin 1, a Natural Sinkhole Faunal Trap Site, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Blowing in the Wind
Tell el-Hesi
Horizontal Watermill Chronologies Based on 14 C Dating of Organics in Mortars
The Interaction of Climate Change and Agency in the Collapse of Civilizations ca. 2300–2000 BC
Rainfall in the Negev Desert during the Middle Holocene, Based on 13 C of Organic Matter in Land Snail Shells
Continental Oxygen Isotopic Record of the Last 170,000 Years in Jerusalem
The late Quaternary limnological history of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel
Holocene Trends in 18 O in Land Snail Shells from the Negev Desert and Their Implications for Changes in Rainfall Source Areas
Late Holocene climates of the Near East deduced from Dead Sea level variations and modern regional winter rainfall
Paleoclimate reconstruction based on the timing of speleothem growth and oxygen and carbon isotope composition in a cave located in the rain shadow in Israel
Historic Dead Sea Level Fluctuations Calibrated with Geological and Archaeological Evidence
Excess in precipitation as a cause for settlement decline along the Israeli coastal plain during the third millennium BC
A Pronounced Dry Event Recorded Around 4.2 ka in Brine Sediments from the Northern Red Sea
Late Quaternary environmental and human Events at En Gedi, reflected by the geology and archaeology of the Moringa Cave (Dead Sea area, Israel)
Late Holocene lake levels of the Dead Sea
The Eastern Mediterranean paleoclimate as a reflection of regional events
Sea–land oxygen isotopic relationships from planktonic foraminifera and speleothems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and their implication for paleorainfall during interglacial intervals
Holocene Climate Variability and Cultural Evolution in the Near East from the Dead Sea Sedimentary Record
The climatic and physiographic controls of the eastern Mediterranean over the late Pleistocene climates in the southern Levant and its neighboring deserts
Climate Change — Environment and Civilization in the Middle East
Environmental Change and Settlement at Tel Lachish, Israel
New insight into pedogenic processes in extremely arid environments and their paleoclimatic implications—the Negev Desert, Israel
The abandonment of the Decapolis region in Northern Jordan—forced by environmental change
Early-Holocene environments in the Wadi Faynan, Jordan
A Holocene millennial-scale climatic cycle from a speleothem in Nahal Qanah Cave, Israel
Man's role in the Shaping of the Eastern Mediterranean Landscape
The Holocene climatic record of the salt caves of Mount Sedom Israel
Chronology and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of Holocene aeolian sands at the inland edge of the Sinai-Negev erg
Quaternary paleoenvironments and potential for human exploitation of the Jordan plateau desert interior
Landforms, sediments, soil development, and prehistoric site settings on the Madaba‐Dhiban Plateau, Jordan
An 8000-year history of landscape, climate, and copper exploitation in the Middle East
The local and global dimensions of metalliferous pollution derived from a reconstruction of an eight thousand year record of copper smelting and mining at a desert-mountain frontier in southern Jordan
Radiocarbon Chronology of the Holocene Dead Sea
The Social Response to Environmental Change in Early Bronze Age Canaan
The Late Holocene Vegetational History of Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel
L'Evolution morpho-climatique de 10 500 à 5 500 BP dans la vallée du Jourdain
Dung in the Desert
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,86 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2024 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |