Dead Sea pollen record and history of human activity in the Judean Highlands (Israel) from the Intermediate Bronze into the Iron Ages (∼2500–500 BCE)

doi:10.1080/01916122.2014.906001

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Dead Sea pollen record and history of human activity in the Judean Highlands (Israel) from the Intermediate Bronze into the Iron Ages (∼2500–500 BCE)

Journal Article•DOI•

Dead Sea pollen record and history of human activity in the Judean Highlands (Israel) from the Intermediate Bronze into the Iron Ages (∼2500–500 BCE)

Dafna Langgut¹, Frank H. Neumann², Frank H. Neumann³, Mordechai Stein⁴, Allon Wagner¹, Elisa J. Kagan⁴, Elisa J. Kagan¹, Elisabetta Boaretto⁵, Israel Finkelstein¹ - Show less +5 more•Institutions (5)

Tel Aviv University¹, University of Münster², University of the Witwatersrand³, Hebrew University of Jerusalem⁴, Weizmann Institute of Science⁵

20 Mar 2014-Palynology (GeoScienceWorld)-Vol. 38, Iss: 2, pp 280-302

TL;DR: A detailed pollen record for the time interval of ∼2500-500 BCE, which covers the time period of the Intermediate Bronze Age (Early Bronze Age IV) into the Iron Ages in the Levant, is presented in this paper.

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Abstract: A detailed pollen record for the time interval of ∼2500–500 BCE, which covers the time period of the Intermediate Bronze Age (Early Bronze Age IV) into the Iron Ages in the Levant, is presented. The study was conducted in the Ze’elim Gully, which drains the southern Judean Highlands into the Dead Sea. During the Bronze and Iron Ages, the Judean Highlands exhibited dramatic settlement fluctuations. To better understand these oscillations, high-resolution fossil pollen data were combined with a recent pollen data set, lithological features, radiocarbon dating and palaeohydrological information derived from the Dead Sea levels. Due to the occurrence of hiatuses in this fluvial environment, we used a composite profile which was based on two palynological-sedimentological profiles. This integrated information enabled us to reconstruct in great detail for the first time the environmental conditions in relation to the picture derived from archaeological field-work in the Judean Highlands. Evidence for drier clim...

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Journal Article•DOI•

Climatic changes and social transformations in the Near East and North Africa during the 'long 4th millennium BC: A comparative study of environmental and archaeological evidence

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Joanne Clarke¹, Nick Brooks¹, Edward B. Banning², Miryam Bar-Matthews, Stuart Campbell³, Lee Clare⁴, Mauro Cremaschi⁵, Savino di Lernia⁶, Nick Drake⁷, Marina Gallinaro⁸, Sturt W. Manning⁹, Kathleen Nicoll¹⁰, Graham Philip¹¹, Steve Rosen¹², Ulf-Dietrich Schoop¹³, Mary Anne Tafuri⁶, Bernhard Weninger¹⁴, Andrea Zerboni⁵ - Show less +14 more•Institutions (14)

University of East Anglia¹, University of Toronto², University of Manchester³, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut⁴, University of Milan⁵, Sapienza University of Rome⁶, King's College London⁷, University of Sassari⁸, Cornell University⁹, University of Utah¹⁰, Durham University¹¹, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev¹², University of Edinburgh¹³, University of Cologne¹⁴

15 Mar 2016-Quaternary Science Reviews

TL;DR: This article explored the possible links between rapid climate change (RCC) and social change in the Near East and surrounding regions (Anatolia, central Syria, southern Israel, Mesopotamia, Cyprus and eastern and central Sahara) during the ‘long’ 4th millennium (∼4500-3000) BC.

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110 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Vegetation and Climate Changes during the Bronze and Iron Ages (~3600–600 BCE) in the Southern Levant Based on Palynological Records

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Dafna Langgut¹, Israel Finkelstein¹, Thomas Litt², Frank H. Neumann³, Mordechai Stein - Show less +1 more•Institutions (3)

Tel Aviv University¹, University of Bonn², University of Münster³

14 Apr 2015-Radiocarbon

TL;DR: The role of climate fluctuations in shaping southern Levantine human history from 3600 to 600 BCE (the Bronze and Iron Ages) as evidenced in palynological studies was presented in this paper.

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Abstract: This article presents the role of climate fluctuations in shaping southern Levantine human history from 3600 to 600 BCE (the Bronze and Iron Ages) as evidenced in palynological studies. This time interval is critical in the history of the region; it includes two phases of rise and decline of urban life, organization of the first territorial kingdoms, and domination of the area by great Ancient Near Eastern empires. The study is based on a comparison of several fossil pollen records that span a north-south transect of 220 km along the southern Levant: Birkat Ram in the northern Golan Heights, Sea of Galilee, and Ein Feshkha and Ze’elim Gully both on the western shore of the Dead Sea. The vegetation history and its climatic implications are as follows: during the Early Bronze Age I (~3600–3000 BCE) climate conditions were wet; a minor reduction in humidity was documented during the Early Bronze Age II–III (~3000–2500 BCE). The Intermediate Bronze Age (~2500–1950 BCE) was characterized by moderate climate conditions, however, since ~2000 BCE and during the Middle Bronze Age I (~1950–1750 BCE) drier climate conditions were prevalent, while the Middle Bronze Age II–III (~1750–1550 BCE) was comparably wet. Humid conditions continued in the early phases of the Late Bronze Age, while towards the end of the period and down to ~1100 BCE the area features the driest climate conditions in the timespan reported here; this observation is based on the dramatic decrease in arboreal vegetation. During the period of ~1100–750 BCE, which covers most of the Iron Age I (~1150–950 BCE) and the Iron Age IIA (~950–780 BCE), an increase in Mediterranean trees was documented, representing wetter climate conditions, which followed the severe dry phase of the end of the Late Bronze Age. The decrease in arboreal percentages, which characterize the Iron Age IIB (~780–680 BCE) and Iron Age IIC (~680–586 BCE), could have been caused by anthropogenic activity and/or might have derived from slightly drier climate conditions. Variations in the distribution of cultivated olive trees along the different periods resulted from human preference and/or changes in the available moisture. DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.57.18555

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82 citations

Cites background or methods from "Dead Sea pollen record and history ..."

...…Sciences Perspective Edited by Israel Finkelstein, Steve Weiner, and Elisabetta Boaretto Birkat Ram (Schwab et al. 2004; Neumann et al. 2007b), Sea of Galilee (Langgut et al. 2013; this study), Ein Feshkha (Neumann et al. 2007a, 2009), and Ze’elim Gully (Neumann et al. 2007a; Langgut et al. 2014a)....
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...Within the framework of the current project, we returned to the Ze’elim Gully exposures in 2010 and described several new sediment wall-profiles, each 50 cm long, focusing on the section that covers the Bronze and Iron Ages (Langgut et al. 2014a)....
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...It is therefore considered as a reliable marker for identifying agricultural activities in antiquity (Langgut et al. 2014b)....
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...Ze’elim Gully (Neumann et al. 2007a; Langgut et al. 2014a); (b) the position of the southern Levant in the Eastern Mediterranean; (c) phytogeographic zones....
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...No pollen data for the Late Bronze Age are available from the Ze’elim record (Figure 4d) due to some sedimentary erosion and unfavorable conditions for pollen preservation in sandy sediments (Langgut et al. 2014a)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Drought and societal collapse 3200 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean: a review

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David Kaniewski¹, David Kaniewski², David Kaniewski³, Joel Guiot⁴, Elise Van Campo¹, Elise Van Campo³ - Show less +2 more•Institutions (4)

Paul Sabatier University¹, Institut Universitaire de France², Ecolab³, Aix-Marseille University⁴

01 Jul 2015-Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the role of climate change in the late Bronze Age collapse of Eastern Mediterranean civilizations and found that it may have hastened the fall of the Old World by sparking famine, invasions, and conflicts, leading to the political, economic, and cultural chaos termed Late Bronze Age.

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Abstract: One of the goals of climate scientists is to understand how climate shifts may have changed the course of history and influenced culture at millennial timescales. Repeatedly, environmental degradation has upset the balance between people, their habitat, and the socioeconomic frameworks in which they live. Among these imbalances, drought, firmly rooted in people's minds as a catalyst of harvest failures and famines, remains a permanent threat because it may trigger or amplify social crises, leading to massive exoduses, conflicts, and political turmoil. The spiral of decline in which the flourishing Eastern Mediterranean civilizations were plunged 3200 years ago, and the ensuing chaos, remains a persistent riddle in Near Eastern history. Scholars tend to believe that this socioeconomic collapse was violent and culturally disruptive. Most of the coastal cities between Pylos and Gaza were destroyed, burned, and often left unoccupied, thereafter, putting an end to the elaborate network of international trade that ensured prosperity in the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean. The rural settlements that emerged have mainly persisted through adapted agropastoral activities and limited long-distance trade. At the dusk of this event, regional cultures began to be poorly documented, leading historians to allude to a dark age that lasted for 300 years. Among the roots, tectonic instability and earthquakes, demographic imbalance between social groups, internal collapses, and technological innovations are commonly evoked. However, recent studies have mainly hypothesized about an impact of a centuries-long drought behind the decline. Drought may have hastened the fall of the Old World by sparking famine, invasions, and conflicts, leading to the political, economic, and cultural chaos termed Late Bronze Age collapse'. WIREs Clim Change 2015, 6:369-382. doi: 10.1002/wcc.345 For further resources related to this article, please visit the . Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflict of interest for this article.

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74 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

The Interaction of Climate Change and Agency in the Collapse of Civilizations ca. 2300-2000 BC

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Malcolm H. Wiener¹•Institutions (1)

AmeriCorps VISTA¹

02 Dec 2014-Radiocarbon

TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the interaction of a major, prolonged desiccation event between ca. 2300 and 2000 BC and human agency including migrations, the displacement of trading networks, warfare, the appearance of weapons made of bronze, and the first appearance of sailing vessels in the Mediterranean.

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Abstract: Human history has been marked by major episodes of climate change and human response, sometimes accompanied by independent innovations. In the Bronze Age, the sequencing of causes and reactions is dependent in part on dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. This paper explores the interaction of a major, prolonged desiccation event between ca. 2300 and 2000 BC and human agency including migrations, the displacement of trading networks, warfare, the appearance of weapons made of bronze, and the first appearance of sailing vessels in the Mediterranean. DOI: 10.2458/azu_rc.56.18325 ( Radiocarbon ) DOI: 10.3959/1536-1098-70.3.1 ( Tree-Ring Research )

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68 citations

Cites background from "Dead Sea pollen record and history ..."

...In the Intermediate Bronze Age, the Early Bronze Age urban centers in Canaan in general and the Judean Highlands in particular were abandoned, with parts of the population reverting to pastoralism (Langgut et al. 2014:14, and works cited therein....
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Journal Article•DOI•

The 4.2 ka BP event in the Levant

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David Kaniewski¹, David Kaniewski², David Kaniewski³, Nick Marriner⁴, Rachid Cheddadi⁵, Joel Guiot⁶, Elise Van Campo², Elise Van Campo³ - Show less +4 more•Institutions (6)

Institut Universitaire de France¹, Ecolab², Paul Sabatier University³, University of Burgundy⁴, University of Montpellier⁵, Aix-Marseille University⁶

22 Oct 2018-Climate of The Past

TL;DR: In this article, the authors review environmental reconstructions for the Levant and show that, while the 4.2-ka-BP event also corresponds to a drier period, a different climate pattern emerges in the central-southern Levant, with two arid phases framing a wetter period, suggesting a W-shaped event.

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Abstract: . The 4.2 ka BP event is defined as a phase of environmental stress characterized by severe and prolonged drought of global extent. The event is recorded from the North Atlantic through Europe to Asia and has led scientists to evoke a 300-year global mega-drought. For the Mediterranean and the Near East, this abrupt climate episode radically altered precipitation, with an estimated 30 %–50 % drop in rainfall in the eastern basin. While many studies have highlighted similar trends in the northern Mediterranean (from Spain to Turkey and the northern Levant), data from northern Africa and the central-southern Levant are more nuanced, suggesting a weaker imprint of this climate shift on the environment and/or different climate patterns. Here, we critically review environmental reconstructions for the Levant and show that, while the 4.2 ka BP event also corresponds to a drier period, a different climate pattern emerges in the central-southern Levant, with two arid phases framing a wetter period, suggesting a W-shaped event. This is particularly well expressed by records from the Dead Sea area.

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56 citations

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Journal Article•DOI•

Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing

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Yoav Benjamini, Yosef Hochberg

01 Jan 1995-Journal of the royal statistical society series b-methodological

TL;DR: In this paper, a different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented, which calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses -the false discovery rate, which is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise.

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Abstract: SUMMARY The common approach to the multiplicity problem calls for controlling the familywise error rate (FWER). This approach, though, has faults, and we point out a few. A different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented. It calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses -the false discovery rate. This error rate is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise. Therefore, in problems where the control of the false discovery rate rather than that of the FWER is desired, there is potential for a gain in power. A simple sequential Bonferronitype procedure is proved to control the false discovery rate for independent test statistics, and a simulation study shows that the gain in power is substantial. The use of the new procedure and the appropriateness of the criterion are illustrated with examples.

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83,420 citations

"Dead Sea pollen record and history ..." refers methods in this paper

...The statistical significance of each correlation was computed as well, and the Benjamini-Hochberg (BH) method (Benjamini & Hochberg 1995) with a False Discovery Rate (FDR) of 5% was used to correct for multiple hypotheses testing and to discern the statistically significant correlations....
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Minze Stuiver¹, Henry Polach²•Institutions (2)

University of Washington¹, Australian National University²

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TL;DR: In this article, standards for reporting C-14 age determinations are discussed, and the statistical uncertainty (plus or minus one standard deviation) expresses counting errors, inaccuracies in voltage, pressure, temperature, dilution, and should include errors in C-13 ratios.

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Abstract: Standards for reporting C-14 age determinations are discussed. All dates should be related either directly or indirectly to the NBS oxalic acid standard. Corrections for isotopic fractionation are also desirable. For some materials, particularly marine shell, corrections for reservoir effect are necessary, but these should always be reported separately from the conventional radiocarbon age. The statistical uncertainty (plus or minus one standard deviation) expresses counting errors, inaccuracies in voltage, pressure, temperature, dilution, and should include errors in C-13 ratios. Errors can be significant when isotope ratios are estimated rather than measured directly. The error in the conventional C-14 half life is not included. The article includes tables indicating what data should be reported.

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5,579 citations

"Dead Sea pollen record and history ..." refers background in this paper

...Radiocarbon ages are reported in conventional radiocarbon years (before present ¼ 1950) in accordance with international convention (Stuiver & Polach 1977)....
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Book•

Domestication of plants in the old world

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Daniel Zohary, Maria Hopf, Ehud Weiss

01 Jan 1988

2,467 citations

"Dead Sea pollen record and history ..." refers background in this paper

...…occurrence of walnut and grape: Olive trees (Olea europaea) grow today in Israel in the Mediterranean territory both as cultivated (the vast majority) and natural elements; in addition, some of the trees are feral and hybrids between domesticated, wild and feral (Zohary 1973; Zohary et al. 2012)....
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...Its cultivation probably started before Roman times, most likely in north Iran, northeastern Turkey and the Caucasus (Zohary et al. 2012)....
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...pollinated, while wild grapes, which currently grow in the region only in the Golan Heights and the Huleh Basin (Danin 2004), are dioecious plants (have unisexual flowers) with obligatory cross-pollination (Zohary et al. 2012)....
[...]
...…the Old World diet, are mostly monoecious when domesticated and are selfpollinated, while wild grapes, which currently grow in the region only in the Golan Heights and the Huleh Basin (Danin 2004), are dioecious plants (have unisexual flowers) with obligatory cross-pollination (Zohary et al. 2012)....
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...The olive has been the most important fruit tree of the Mediterranean basin diet (Zohary et al. 2012)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Textbook of Pollen Analysis.

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Knut Faegri, Johs Iversen

01 Dec 1975-Journal of Biogeography

TL;DR: This sales letter may not influence you to be smarter, but the book that this textbook of pollen analysis will evoke you to being smarter.

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Abstract: This sales letter may not influence you to be smarter, but the book that we offer will evoke you to be smarter. Yeah, at least you'll know more than others who don't. This is what called as the quality life improvisation. Why should this textbook of pollen analysis? It's because this is your favourite theme to read. If you like this theme about, why don't you read the book to enrich your discussion?

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1,852 citations

"Dead Sea pollen record and history ..." refers methods in this paper

...The floated suspension was sieved through a 150-mm mesh screen and submitted to an acetolysis mixture (Faegri & Iversen 1989)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Deposition models for chronological records

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Christopher Bronk Ramsey¹•Institutions (1)

University of Oxford¹

01 Jan 2008-Quaternary Science Reviews

TL;DR: In this paper, a range of Bayesian models for deposition which have been implemented in the computer program OxCal are presented. But these models can be used to combine information from the sediments themselves with radiocarbon or other direct dating information.

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1,419 citations

"Dead Sea pollen record and history ..." refers methods in this paper

...The carbon-14 (14C) ages (Table 2) were calibrated to calendar years before present (cal BP) defined by the 2s envelope error using the OxCal v.4.1 program of Bronk-Ramsey (2008)....
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