Drinking water storage strategies at Early Bronze Age Jawa (NE-Jordan):Experimental utilisation of archaeological, speleological and geophysical methods for the identification and exploration of natural cisterns

迄今为止，西南亚复杂水力系统的最早证据是在约旦东北部玄武岩沙漠中的几个青铜时代早期山丘堡垒遗址附近发现的。这些系统在雨季收集当地地表径流用于灌溉，并将水储存在露天水库中。虽然储存在开放式水库中的水可用于牲畜和家庭用水，但人类不能饮用。至于如何为hillfort居民提供饮用水的策略仍然没有得到解释，将在本项目中进行调查。利用熔岩洞穴作为天然蓄水池是一种可以考虑的储存饮用水的战略。在玄武岩沙漠的几个地点发现了这种熔岩洞穴，其中的水在雨季自然积聚，由于没有阳光，因此可以饮用，其中一些洞穴甚至在今天仍被当地的贝都因人用作供水。最近在青铜时代早期的爪哇山堡遗址进行的非法抢劫暴露了定居点表面以下的三个天然洞穴，并提供了直接在山堡遗址表面下存在熔岩洞穴的第一个可能证据。该项目的目的是通过对这些洞穴的考古洞穴学文献和考古水文调查来验证这一发现，探讨其可能用作饮用水蓄水池。此外，为了分别调整和进一步开发用于隐藏熔岩洞穴定位的地球物理方法，将在Jawa已确定洞穴周围地区的试验区试用几种地球物理方法。如果取得成功，成功的方法将应用于未来在Jawa剩余地区和约旦玄武岩沙漠中其他同期山丘堡遗址的项目。在这种干旱环境中控制天然饮用水水库在青铜时代早期提供了战略优势，可能是建造防御工事的主要动机。

The earliest evidence to-date for complex hydraulic systems in southwest Asia have been discovered in the direct vicinity of several Early Bronze Age hillfort sites in the basalt desert of northeastern Jordan. These systems collected local surface runoff during rainy seasons for irrigation purposes and stored water in open reservoirs. While water stored in open reservoirs can be used for watering livestock and domestic purposes, it is undrinkable for humans. The strategies as to how potable water was provided for the hillfort populations remain unexplained, and will be investigated in this project. The use of lava caves as natural cisterns is one possible strategy for storing potable water to be considered. Such lava caves, in which water naturally accumulates during rainy seasons and stays potable due to the exclusion of sunlight, have been identified at several spots in the basalt desert, where some of them are used for water supply even today by local Bedouin. Recent illicit looting at the Early Bronze Age hillfort site of Jawa exposed three natural caverns below the settlement surface and provides the first possible evidence for the presence of lava caves directly beneath the surface of a hillfort site. The aim of this project is the verification of this discovery by archaeo-speleological documentation and archaeo-hydrological investigation of these caves regarding their possible utilization as potable water cisterns. Additionally, for the adjustment respectively further development of geophysical methods for the localization of hidden lava caves several geophysical methods will experimentally be applied in test areas in the area around the identified caves at Jawa. In the event of a successful outcome the successful method(s) will be applied in a future project in the remaining areas of Jawa and at other contemporaneous hillfort sites in the Jordanian basalt desert. The control of natural potable water reservoirs in such arid environments provided a strategic advantage in the Early Bronze Age and was probably a major motivation for the construction of the fortification.