ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS STUDIED FOR A MODERN TIME

In the Negev Desert, Israel, there are numerous ancient agricultural terraces that relate to a time when the area produced large amounts of wine and other crops for national and international consumption. Today these terraces continue to be used by local Bedouin groups and are a living example of ancient agricultural practices.

The author has been conducting archaeogeophysical, geological, and hydrological studies at several untouched agricultural terrace sites throughout the Negev in order to better understand how these systems function, what are their moisture retention capabilities, and possible implications for modern arid-zone farming. To test these questions, data was collected from five sites (Avdat, Nizzana, Shivta, Tell es-Safi, and Yatir) using GPR to test for soil humidity and mechanical analysis, which was then cross-correlated with standard soil sampling. In addition, modeling of the available historical, archaeological, geological, and mapping data of these sites has been combined to aid in-depth analysis. The first observations, results, and conclusions of this work will be discussed and brought to light as the subject of this paper.