Elusa. From Nabataean Trading Post to Late Antique Desert Metropolis

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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.