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，西南亚复杂液压系统的最早证据是在约旦东北部玄武岩沙漠的几个青铜时代早期山堡遗址的直接附近发现的。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。虽然储存在露天水库中的水可以用来灌溉牲畜和家庭用途，但它不适合人类饮用。关于如何为山堡居民提供饮用水的战略仍未得到解释，将在本项目中进行调查。使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策略。在玄武岩沙漠的几个地点发现了这样的熔岩洞穴，其中的水在雨季自然积累，由于阳光的阻挡而保持可饮用，其中一些洞穴甚至在今天仍被当地的贝都因人用作供水。最近在贾瓦青铜时代早期山堡遗址进行的非法掠夺暴露了定居点表面下的三个天然洞穴，并为山堡遗址表面正下方存在熔岩洞穴提供了第一个可能的证据。该项目的目的是通过考古洞穴文献和考古水文调查这些洞穴作为饮用水蓄水池的可能用途来证实这一发现。此外，为了调整各自的地球物理方法，以进一步确定隐藏熔岩洞穴的位置，将在已查明的贾瓦洞穴周围地区的试验区试验性地应用几种地球物理方法。如果取得成功，成功的方法(S)将应用于今后在贾瓦其余地区和约旦玄武岩沙漠其他同期山堡遗址的一个项目中。在这种干旱环境中对天然饮用水水库的控制在青铜时代早期提供了一种战略优势，可能是修建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.