Ofir Katz

Subsistence economy in the Negev Highlands: the Iron Age and the Byzantine/Early Islamic period

Abstract The article reports results of a long-term geoarchaeological project in the Negev Highlands. Based on previous phytolith analysis from degraded livestock dung, we suggested that the inhabitants of an Iron IIA site in the region subsisted on animal husbandry, without practicing cereal cultivation (Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein 2008). Here we report on further investigations — on another Iron Age site, a Byzantine/Early Islamic site, and on a pre-modern Bedouin winter encampment. We seek to test the nature of the phytolith record in this arid environment. We establish that phytolith assemblages in the study area are generally well preserved; that phytolith concentrations in dung of pre-modern free-grazing livestock were originally low; and that in a Byzantine/Early Islamic site for which cereal cultivation is documented textually, livestock dung includes cereal phytoliths. These patterns enable a secure interpretation of the phytolith assemblages from the Iron IIA sites, fortifying our previous suggestion that the Iron Age inhabitants of the Negev Highlands subsisted mainly on herding and did not undertake dry farming.

The birth, life and death of an Iron Age house at Tel ‘Eton, Israel

Using a biographic-like approach, this article presents the initial results of the study of an elite Iron Age house at Tel ‘Eton, from its conception, through its birth and life, to its death and decomposition. Massive preparations preceded the construction of the house, and the latter incorporated continuous foundations, and quality building materials, including ashlar stones. The building was pre-planned, and some of the original rooms had two doorways leading to them, in order to enable easy future sub-division, without endangering the structures physical integrity. The house evolved over the years, and its inner division changed overtime, reflecting the changes in the life-cycle of the extended family that lived in it. The house was destroyed in heavy conflagration in the late 8th century BC; hundreds of artifacts and complete vessels were unearthed below and within the debris, allowing for a detailed reconstruction of the use of space within the building on the eve of its destruction and the processes that accompanied its destruction (perhaps even ‘execution’), and subsequent collapse.

Plant Silicon and Phytolith Contents as Affected by Water Availability and Herbivory: Integrating Laboratory Experimentation and Natural Habitat Studies

AbstractPurpose When studying the effects of environmental variables on plant Si contents, results of laboratory and field experiments do not always agree with each other. However, new insights into the roles silicon plays in plant life can be gained if both approaches are integrated. Methods Experimental and natural-habitat studies of the effects of water availability and herbivory on plant silicon contents are reviewed and integrated. Results Although higher water availability is expected to have a positive effect on plant silicon contents, naturally-growing plants often have high silicon contents when grown under drought conditions. Likewise, although experimentation suggests that herbivory has a positive effect on plant silicon contents, such a correlation is not often found in nature. Conclusions Stronger effects of multiple environmental variables or selection in favour of constitutive silicon uptake and deposition as protection from drought and grazing stresses are the reasonable causes of discrepancies between experimental and natural-habitat studies.