Elusa. From Nabataean Trading Post to Late Antique Desert Metropolis

位于半干旱的内盖夫沙漠北部边缘，是地中海东部最重要的古代葡萄酒种植区之一，从公元2/3世纪到公元6世纪，这里有许多村庄和农场，现在大部分地区无人居住。在公元前3 /2世纪，纳巴泰人已经建立了许多定居点，作为从阿拉伯通往地中海的“香路”沿线的商队站。在罗马吞并之后，纳巴泰人的长途贸易减少了，定居点变成了生产过剩的农业中心。这一过程是由于高度发达的水管理系统和降水较多的有利气候阶段（仍在讨论中）而成为可能的。直到8 /9世纪阿拉伯人征服之后，这些定居点才被遗弃。今天，它们属于联合国教科文组织世界遗产“香路”。这个聚落景观的行政、经济、宗教和文化中心是Elusa，距离地中海约50公里。它的面积为45公顷，人口约为8-1万人，是该地区唯一真正的城市。埃卢萨的地理位置便利，交通便利，全年都有地下水，还有广阔的农业腹地，有利于其发展。尽管如此，埃卢萨近1000年的定居历史显示出戏剧性的中断和深刻的转变过程，这主要是由三个因素决定的：不稳定的自然环境，不断变化的政治条件以及纳巴泰-阿拉伯文化和地中海文化之间的动态接触区。虽然我们对内盖夫的村庄和原始城市住区的了解相当广泛，但埃卢萨重要的城市中心长期以来几乎被忽视。2015年，申请人启动了一个研究项目，对这座城市及其周边地区进行了系统的调查。它已经在知识方面取得了相当大的进步，并有助于证明埃卢萨的巨大考古潜力。然而，一些关键的方面仍需要进一步澄清：其中包括城市的早期发展，神圣的地形和住房文化，以及废物管理和经济结构。这些问题将在本项目的最后阶段通过广泛的方法学方法加以探讨。其目的是使用多学科研究方法来全面了解城市，一方面包括其整体城市结构和发展，另一方面包括其社会、经济、宗教和文化环境及其变化。对Elusa的研究对研究古代世界边缘在生态和经济困难的条件下繁荣了许多世纪的非凡聚落景观做出了重要贡献。

On the semi-arid northern edge of the Negev desert, one of the most important ancient wine-growing regions of the Eastern Mediterranean with numerous villages and farms developed from 2/3 to the 6th century AD, in a landscape that is now largely uninhabited. Many of the settlements had already been founded by the Nabataeans in the 3rd/2nd century BC as caravan stations along the 'Incense Road' leading from Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea. After the Roman annexation, the Nabataean long-distance trade decreased and the settlements turned into surplus producing agricultural centres. This process was made possible by a highly developed water management system and - still under discussion - a favourable climatic phase with higher precipitation. The settlements were not abandoned until well after the Arab conquest in the 8th/9th century. Today they belong to the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Incense Road'.The administrative, economic, religious and cultural centre of this settlement landscape was Elusa, about 50 km from the Mediterranean Sea. With an area of 45 hectares and a population of about 8-10,000 people, it was the only genuine city in the region. Elusa's convenient location with excellent transport links, year-round groundwater and a large agricultural hinterland favoured its development. Nevertheless, Elusa's almost 1000-year settlement history shows dramatic breaks and profound transformation processes, which were essentially determined by three factors: a precarious natural environment, changing political conditions and the location in a dynamic contact zone between the Nabataean-Arab and Mediterranean cultures.While our knowledge of the villages and proto-urban settlements in the Negev is quite extensive, the important urban centre of Elusa has long been almost disregarded. A systematic investigation of the city and its surroundings was only begun with a research project started by the applicants in 2015. It has already led to a considerable advance in knowledge and has helped to demonstrate the enormous archaeological potential of Elusa. However, some crucial aspects still need to be further clarified: among them the early development of the city, the sacred topography and the housing culture, as well as the waste management and the economic structure. These questions will be pursued in the final phase of the project applied for here by means of a broad methodological approach. The aim is to use a multidisciplinary research approach to achieve a holistic understanding of the city, encompassing its overall urban structure and development on the one hand, and its social, economic, religious and cultural circumstances and the changes in these on the other. The study of Elusa makes an important contribution to the investigation of an extraordinary settlement landscape that prospered for many centuries under ecologically and economically difficult conditions on the edge of the ancient world.