Landscape archaeology in the WćdĪ al-arab region

Katja Soennecken, Linda Olsvig-Whittaker*, Patrick Leiverkus, Avi Shmida

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

As an integral part of the Gadara-Region-Project, a survey of the Wādī al-'Arab region was conducted during the years 2009-2012, by the Biblical-Archaeological Institute Wuppertal and the German Protestant Institute for Archaeology in order to achieve a better understanding of the hinterland of the main study site Tall Zirāa and to provide answers concerning settlement pattern, trade relationships and the importance of sites throughout time. On the basis of this survey we used ecological approaches to see what correlation might exist between archaeological sites and habitat. Since more than half the sites in this survey had Roman occupation, we asked what difference, if any, was there in the distribution of Roman sites compared to previous occupations. A comparison was made of “new” Roman sites (those not previously occupied in the Hellenistic period) with those that had both Roman and Hellenistic occupation. Open water, riverine habitats, and large archaeological sites all seemed connected. In addition, analysis indicated a correlation of older (more successful or established?) sites with open water and new Roman sites were less related to water. We knew that Roman engineering both of cistern systems and aqueducts opened new areas (such as plateaus) for settlement and exploitation. Hence the weaker correlation of new Roman sites with natural water was reasonable.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)100-108
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Landscape Ecology(Czech Republic)
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 De Gruyter Open Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Habitat
  • Jordan
  • Landscape archaeology
  • Multivariate analysis
  • Roman era
  • Survey

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