Holocene landscape change in the southern Levant in the context of dust deposition and land use

很少有人知道的景观发展的南部黎凡特在全新世，以及如何景观变化，人类活动和气候波动相互作用。以色列南部内盖夫黄土沉积物的研究主要记录了更新世期间的环境变化，约旦南部的黄土也被假定，但几乎没有被调查。尽管在内盖夫进行了径流梯田的实验工作，但在黎凡特南部古代农业梯田系统的目的和设计概念在很大程度上仍然是未知的。该项目通过一项比较研究来解决这些问题，该研究将沿着一个区域样带的不同地质考古档案联系起来。在Horvat Haluqim和Jabal Haroun遗址附近，对保存在不同考古结构（山顶遗址、水池和梯田）中的沉积物和沿沿着链状带的天然沉积物进行了流域尺度的系统比较，重点是铁器时代至拜占庭时期，这些时期都有很好的地质考古结构代表。此外，沉积物特性进行了比较，在不同的景观背景下，不同的位置区域灰尘轨迹，现代灰尘从特定的沙尘暴，晚更新世黄土。为了更好地了解过去的土地利用和梯田系统，全面调查选定的梯田系统进行研究场外物质文化分布的背景下梯田设计，地貌，沉积物特性和土壤发育。这些档案的比较将允许部分重建的沉积过程在选定的时间范围内的流域规模，并会导致更好的评估是否可以利用气候重建更新世沉积物的全新世变化建模。采用景观考古学的方法对选定的梯田系统进行全面调查，将使人们能够更好地了解所研究的梯田系统的建设时期、设计理念和目的。

Little is known about the landscape development of the southern Levant during the Holocene, and how landscape changes, human activity, and climate fluctuations interacted. The well-studied loess deposits of the Negev in southern Israel documented mainly environmental changes during the Pleistocene, and loess in southern Jordan has been postulated, but hardly been investigated. Despite the experimental work on runoff terraces in the Negev, the purposes and design concepts of ancient agricultural terrace systems in the southern Levant are still largely unknown. The project approaches these questions with a comparative study connecting different geoarchaeological archives along a regional transect. Systematic comparisons of sediments preserved in different archaeological structures (hilltop ruins, cisterns, and terraces) and natural sediments along catenas on catchment-scale areconducted near the sites of Horvat Haluqim and Jabal Haroun, focusing on the Iron Age till Byzantine period that are well-represented by geoarchaeological structures. In addition, sediment characteristics are compared in different landscape contexts and on divergent positions regarding regional dust trajectories, with modern dust from specific dust storms, and with late Pleistocene loess. In order to better understand past land use and terraces systems, comprehensive surveys of selected terrace systems are conducted by studying off-site material culture distribution in the context of terrace design, the geomorphology, sediment properties, and soil development. The comparison of these archives will allow for partial reconstructions of sedimentation processes on catchment scale during the selected time-frames, and will lead to better assessments whether climate reconstructions based on Pleistocene sediments can be utilized for modeling Holocene changes. The comprehensive survey of selected terrace systems using the approach of landscape archaeology will make it possible to better understand the construction periods, design concepts, and purposes of the studied terrace systems.