Hendrik J. Bruins

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev | bgu · Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

Landscapes are inherently formed by geological, climatic, and geomorphological processes. However, anthropogenic activities may also affect the shaping of the landscape. This has been the case in the hilly central Negev desert, where remarkable human-made landscape changes occurred, related to the utilization of precious runoff rainwater in an arid...

The tenth century BCE synchronism between Pharaoh Shoshenq I, the founder of the 22nd Dynasty in Egypt, and the biblical Shishak is widely accepted. However, various paradigms exist regarding the understanding of biblical texts and their possible association with archaeological strata. The nineteenth century Wellhausen paradigm theorized that the L...

The deserts of the Negev Highlands and northeastern Sinai contain many rural settlements with roughly oval or elliptical fortresses dated to the Iron Age. One of these settlements is Horvat Haluqim, where the author has conducted investigations since 1982. His excavation methodology focused on archaeological soil stratigraphy, both in terraced agri...

Archaeological excavations in the central Negev desert in terraced wadi fields at Horvat Haluqim revealed remains of two ancient fertilizers: charred plant ash and animal dung. Average annual rainfall in the area is 94 mm. Runoff rainwater from natural hillside catchments, captured by terrace walls, augmented soil moisture in valleys to enable agri...

After the 2004 Indian Ocean (IOT) and the 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunamis, new research in tsunami-related fields was strongly stimulated worldwide and also in the Mediterranean. This research growth yields substantial advancements in tsunami knowledge. Among these advancements is the “Paleotsunami” research that has marked particular progress on the reco...

Extensive archaeological surveys have been conducted in recent years in the Negev desert region. The present research focusses on the central Negev Highlands north of the Makhtesh Ramon erosion cirque. The density of settlement sites in this area during the Bronze and Iron Ages is surprising in view of the absence of permanent water sources. Water...

Archaeological structures are often filled with sediments and may serve as effective dust traps. The physical parameters and chemical composition of archaeological soils in hilltop ruins, ancient runoff-collecting terraces, and cleanout spoils of cisterns were determined in the Petra region in southern Jordan and the Northern Negev in Israel. Diffe...

Ancient terraced fields in ephemeral stream valleys in the Negev desert enabled farming based on runoff water from local rainfall. The runoff was captured by stone terrace walls, which were built across suitable wadis in various archaeological periods. Runoff floods added not only water to the fields but also fine sediment. However, alluvial strati...

This article is a response to the publication by Nick Marriner, David Kaniewski, Christophe Morhange, Clement Flaux, Matthieu Giaime, Matteo Vacchi and James Goff entitled “Tsunamis in the geological record: Making waves with a cautionary tale from the Mediterranean”, published in October 2017 in Science Advances. Making use of radiometric data set...

Loess accumulated in the Negev desert during the Pleistocene and primary and secondary loess remains cover large parts of the landscape. Holocene loess deposits are however absent. This could be due low accumulation rates, lack of preservation, and higher erosion rates in comparison to the Pleistocene. This study hypothesized that archaeological ru...

Thousands of ancient agricultural terraced fields exist in ephemeral stream valleys in the central Negev desert. Their stone terrace walls captured runoff water, flowing from the surrounding hillslope catchments, to increase moisture in the loess soils of the terraced fields. Geoarchaeological research at the site of Horvat Haluqim discovered evide...

Tephra deposits in caves are not only significant as stratigraphic markers. The comparatively sheltered position of cave environments, protected from rainfall, may preserve original distal tephra deposition features, unlikely to have survived in the open landscape. Most reported findings of tephra in caves are from the Campanian supereruption, whic...

Abstract Radiocarbon dates of Ashkelon, the most important Middle Bronze Age site in Canaan along the southern Mediterranean coast, are compared with those of Tell el-Dabʿa, the Hyksos capital Avaris, focusing on archaeological phases associated with the Hyksos 15th Dynasty. The current calibration curve IntCal13 does not seem accurate for the peri...

An archaeological site is an integral part of its surrounding landscape. This is one of the main novel approaches in the long-term archaeological project of Tell es-Sâfi/Gath. The site has interacted with its surrounding for more than three thousand years. It was impacted by the ancient environment, but also had an impact on both the ancient enviro...

The volcanic mega event of the Minoan Santorini eruption constitutes a time anchor in the 2nd millennium BCE that is inherently independent of archaeology and political history. It was a geological event. Yet the dimension of time in geology is not different than in archaeology or human history. Why then does archaeological dating usually place the...

In this response to the reply by Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein (2017), we present additional data of our research at Horvat Haluqim. This includes phytolith percentages and multicellular phytolith stomata in a thin section of a layer in Terraced Field 12, dated by radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) to the Late Bronze–Early Iron Age. We also show thin-section evid...

Shahack-Gross and Finkelstein (2015) further developed their theory, based on microarchaeology, that there was no agriculture in the Negev Highlands during the Iron Age. We critically evaluate their article in this rejoinder and propose that their conclusion is an example of overinterpretation from a small amount of indirect data. Based on phytolit...

Two billion people worldwide live in arid environments. Water and productive soils have been and are scarce resources in these regions, but they still provide a certain – albeit limited – carrying capacity. Under landscape archaeological aspects, arid environments are often studied in terms of oases and other groundwater resources, where artifacts...

An archaeological site is an integral part of its surrounding landscape, rather than an isolated island. A study of the sediment record in the vicinity of a site (off-site record) can serve as an archive of the ancient landscape history and provide information about the interaction between the environmental process and human activities. There are t...

Background and aims In the Central Negev hills (Israel) many ancient terraced wadis exist, which captured run-off and caused gradual soil aggradation, which enabled agricultural practices. In these terraces, dark colored soil horizons were observed, containing charcoal, as can be found in Terra Preta soils, suggesting higher fertility compared to n...

The “younger fill” phenomenon defined by Vita-Finzi, related to sediments that were deposited in many Mediterranean valleys, has been a topic of discussion for several decades. The main challenge regarding this issue is deciphering the origin of the fill: geomorphic processes induced by natural climatic, or by anthropogenic activity. The current re...

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/088/ant0880267.htm The date of the volcanic eruption of Santorini that caused extensive damage to Minoan Crete has been controversial since the 1980s. Some have placed the event in the late seventeenth century BC. Others have made the case for a younger date of around 1500 BC. A recent contribution to that controversy has...

A series of AMS radiocarbon determinations have been obtained from the site of Khirbet-en-Nahas, Jordan. An initial suite of samples dated in Oxford and a subsequent and much larger suite from Groningen were obtained to determine the onset of copper and iron production in the Faynan district. The determinations came from two different areas at the...

Traditional archaeological approaches in the central Negev Desert used to employ excavation techniques in post-prehistoric periods in which stratigraphy is based on architecture, while material culture forms the basis for dating assessment and chronology. Such an approach was understandable, as it focused on the most visible remains of past human h...

The rural archaeological site of Horvat Haluqim is situated in the central Negev desert (Cohen 1976, Bruins 1986). Average annual rainfall is about 90 mm and the region is too dry for agriculture. However, in ancient times series of cross-channel stone terrace walls were built in suitable dry valleys to capture runoff/floodwaters from local rainfal...

Thousands of stone terrace walls were constructed by past societies in the dry valleys of the central Negev highlands to capture runoff/floodwaters from local rainfall to enable agriculture in the desert. Human intervention in geomorphic processes led to human-made geodiversity, as significant differences developed between terraced and natural stre...

Groundwater pumping in the hyper-arid Arava Valley began in 1936 for industrial use, south of the Dead Sea, and since 1949 for domestic and agricultural use with the establishment of Eilat. Pumping gradually increased with the founding of 19 rural villages throughout the Arava Valley. Groundwater levels dropped as a result, and springs in the Arava...

Cereal grains constitute the most important part of our daily food-the staff of life since times immemorial. However, the current situation of food grain production in the world is dangerously imbalanced in both spatial and import-export terms, which is neither sufficiently comprehended nor seriously addressed by national governments. The global fo...

This article is a reply to the preceding rejoinder by Fantalkin et al., which they wrote in response to our article concerning radiocarbon dates of Iron Age sites in the Mediterranean region measured at Groningen (van der Plicht et al. 2009). We do not agree with much of their criticism. Our reply is presented in detail with new viewpoints and eval...

Ancient literary sources of Pharaonic Egypt constitute the historical cornerstone of time in the eastern Mediterranean region during the Bronze and Iron Ages (the third to first millennia B.C.E.). Historical chronologies for ancient Egypt are based on abundant but fragmentary written sources, and various chronological interpretations exist ( 1– 5)....

Climatic trends in Israel during the period 1970–2002 were studied in detail on the basis of three parameters: average annual temperature, annual precipitation and the annual aridity (humidity) index P/PET (P = Precipitation; PET = Potential Evapotranspiration). Significant warming is evident in all 12 evaluated meteorological stations, situated in...

Deposits from the Minoan Santorini (Thera) eruption in the eastern Mediterranean region constitute the most important regional stratigraphic marker in the chronological perplexity of the 2nd millennium BCE. Extensive tsunami deposits were discovered in Crete at the Minoan archaeological site of Palaikastro, containing reworked volcanic Santorini as...

In this paper, we present an overview of radiocarbon dating contributions from Groningen, concerning 9 sites from around the Mediterranean region: Israel, Sinai (Egypt), Jordan, Spain, Tunisia, and Italy. Full date lists of the 9 sites are presented. Our 14C dates are discussed in terms of present actual chronological debates. We show that all our...

Remains of ancient farming systems based on runoff harvesting are widespread in the central Negev Desert. Modern hydrological research in the region led to two alternative concepts in relation to runoff generation, one placing the emphasis on loess and the other on bedrock. Did the ancient inhabitants design their farming systems to obtain runoff f...

The explosive eruption at Santorini in the Aegean Sea during the second millennium BCE was the largest Holocene volcanic upheaval in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The eruption was disastrous for the Minoan settlements at Santorini, but the effect on human society in the neighbouring islands and regions is still clouded in uncertainty. Tsunami g...

SIGNS OF A WAVE. The massive volcanic eruption of Santorini just before about 1600 BCE , or 3600 years ago, is one of the largest historical eruptions. It spread ash across the central Mediterranean and formed a massive caldera in the island of Thera. Despite its size, the scale of its effects on surrounding nascent civilizations even nearby in Cre...

An important archaeological survey was conducted by Leonard Woolley and T.E. Lawrence in 1914 on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund in the Negev and northeastern Sinai deserts—the “Wilderness of Zin.” The region of Ain Kadeis, associated by some scholars in the 19th century with biblical Kadesh-Barnea, received much attention in their survey...

The Iron Age desert village of Horvat Haluqim in the Central Negev Highlands is an example of many similar Iron Age sites in the region, which often include a kind of fortress that is roughly elliptical in outline, having casemate rooms around a central courtyard, ranging in size from ca 20 to 60 m diameter. Were these Iron Age settlements establis...

China is inhabited by ca 20 percent of the world population, but has only 7 percent of global arable land and only 6.6 percent of global freshwater resources. These unfavourable relationships between population size and the basic resources for food production – soil and water – require careful food security and contingency planning by the Chinese a...

Chronology is the backbone of all history, as the flow of time is identical in scholarly and scientific fields, even in the Near East. Radiocarbon dating can provide an essential and unifying chronological basis across disciplines, despite pre-cision limitations. This issue presents exciting new 14 C developments in archaeological and environmental...

Reliable series of high-precision radiocarbon dates in a stratified archaeological context are of great importance for interdisciplinary chronological and historical studies. The Early Bronze Age in the Near East is characterized by the beginning of the great civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as by urbanization in the Levant. We prese...

Presents the results of 18 samples, associated stratigraphically with the end of the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) at Tell es-Sultan. Six short-lived samples consist of charred cereal grains and 12 multiyear samples are composed of charcoal. The weighted average 14C date of the short-lived grains is 3306 ± 7 BP. The multiyear charcoal yielded, as expecte...

The Dead Sea is a terminal lake located in the seismically active zone of the Syro–African Rift Valley. The water level of the Dead Sea has been receding dramatically during the last decades, resulting in significant entrenchment of wadis towards its shores. Exposed sections in fan deltas reveal abruptly changing facies of alluvial fan, beach, and...

Near-Eastern archaeology has long remained oblivious to radiocarbon dating as unique historical calendars brought about a perception that 14C dating is superfluous. Circular chronological reasoning may occur as a result. There is now strong 14C evidence that the early part of Egyptian history seems older than age assessments currently in vogue amon...

As part of the long-term archaeological project being conducted at Tell e-Sâfi/Gath in the semi-arid foothills of the Judean Mountains, a first order dry stream channel located in a valley east of the main site was surveyed and soil pits excavated in selected locations. A ditch, 10 m in length, was dug perpendicular to one of the agricultural terra...

Tell es-Sâfi/gath is situated in the semiarid foothills of central Israel, adjacent to the coastal . plain. An enigmatic landscape feature, noted on aerial photographs, encircles the tell on three sides. This unique feature, unknown from other Near Eastern tells, was investigated. Methods of analysis include aerial photographs, field surveys, excav...

A series of AMS radiocarbon determinations have been obtained from the site of Khirbet-en-Nahas, Jordan. An initial suite of samples dated in Oxford and a subsequent and much larger suite from Groningen were obtained to determine the onset of copper and iron production in the Faynan district. The determinations came from two different areas at the...

The stratified series of Iron Age radiocarbon dates from Tel Reh ov, based on short-lived samples, measured in Groningen, is the most detailed and dense chronometric record currently available for the Levant in this period. The more detailed IntCal98 calibration curve was used, though some comparisons were made with the smoothed IntCal04 curve. The...

A series of AMS radiocarbon determinations have been obtained from the site of Khirbet-en-Nahas, Jordan. An initial suite of samples dated in Oxford and a subsequent and much larger suite from Groningen were obtained to determine the onset of copper and iron production in the Faynan district. The determinations came from two different areas at the...

Stratified radiocarbon dates provide a scientific chronological framework independent of cultural assessments. In both Groningen 14C labs (conventional and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry [AMS]), a total of 64 radiocarbon dates were measured from Tel Rehov, derived from 21 Iron Age loci. This is the largest Iron Age series available at present for an...

This study explores the chronological assumptions that underlie the past 40 years of Iron Age archaeological investigations in southern Jordan and offers an alternative framework based on the application of high precision radiocarbon dating. The 2002 University of California, San Diego— Department of Antiquities of Jordan (UCSD—DOAJ) archaeological...

The stratified series of Iron Age radiocarbon dates from Tel Rehov, based on short-lived samples, measured in Groningen, is the most detailed and dense chronometric record currently available for the Levant in this period. The more detailed IntCal98 calibration curve was used, though some comparisons were made with the smoothed IntCal04 curve. The...

Six excavation seasons conducted between 1997-2003 at Tel Rehov south of Beth Shean revealed rich data related to the 12th-8th centuries BCE. In Area D, six stratigraphic phases (D-7 to D-3) relate to the Iron Age I. Occupation layers of the Iron Age IIA were explored in Areas B, C, D, E, F and G. In each of these areas, three to four stratigraphic...

Organic samples have been collected from Tel Dan to establish an independent radiocarbon chronology of the site. In this paper we present and discuss 20 Iron-Age radiocarbon dates. Unfortunately, short-lived charred seeds were generally not excavated and charcoal formed the dominant sample material. However, two charred samples of olive pits, deriv...

Iron Age desert settlements in the Negev Highlands and the adjacent area of north-eastern Sinai are still enigmatic. Various theories have been developed to explain these settlements, particularly concerning the majority of the fortresses that are built in an elliptical or irregular shape. Chronology is obviously a crucial factor in archaeological...

The semi-arid Mediterranean landscape in the area of Tell eṡ-Ṡâfi (biblical Gath of the Philistines), in central Israel, has been affected by extraordinary human activities. The Judean foothills in the region are characterised by chalk and calcrete with a patchy cover of Rendzina soils. Unique human-made geomorphic and catenary changes in the lands...

Floods and droughts are the most common of natural disasters, and the number of victims and the economic damage are both greater than those caused by other events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The drought that affected Israel between 1998 and 2001 was of unusual climatic and hydrologic severity; the most serious in the last 125 years...

SUMMARY - The Middle East imports more food per person than any other region of the world. The results of this study are largely based on a detailed and complex analysis of FAOSTAT data. Food imports by Middle Eastern nations have risen dramatically over the last forty years, which is primarily due to population growth in the latter half of the twe...

La sequía es un fenómeno pasivo y no se considera una catástrofe natural propiamente dicha, pero su impacto puede ser muy severo. La disminución resultante en las reservas de agua causa conflictos de intereses entre los usuarios. Los agricultores piensan en su medio de vida y en la futura viabilidad de sus negocios. Los alcaldes de las ciudades, po...

Many retinal functions are circadian, but in most instances the location of the clock that drives the rhythm is not known. Cultured neural retinas of the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) exhibited circadian rhythms of melatonin synthesis for at least 5 days at 27°C. The rhythms were entrained by light cycles applied in vitro and were free-runn...

The growing of food and trees in the Negev with the help of local rain and runoff water - rainwater harvesting - is an important aspect of human ecology in the desert. Much archaeological evidence exists of rainwater ־ harvesting agriculture in the arid region of the Negev hills and also in the hyper-arid area of Biqat Uvda. It is possible to defin...

The Netherlands-Israel Development Research Programme (NIRP) was established jointly by the governments of the Netherlands and Israel and coordinated through DGIS (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague) and MASHAV (the Centre for International Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem). The Netherlands Government, through Nuffic (the Net...

This article examines the theoretical and practical risks to water security, which is rapidly declining in many parts of the world, particularly in drylands. Water security is threatened by current land-use developments and over-utilization of groundwater. About 70 per cent of freshwater resources is globally used by irrigation agriculture. Interre...

Water in the Middle East is an increasingly scarce commodity in relation to the rise in population and the desire for agricultural development. The competition for water is not limited to the respective thirst of the domestic and agricultural sectors, but often transcends international borders. Hence, hydropolitics is not a minor issue in the regio...

Water management is a first-importance matter in Israel. This paper explains the evolution of the water laws in Israel until present time, as well as the current institutional framework for water management, the planning process, the relationships with water companies and, finally, some questions to take into account for the future.

Chronology is the backbone of all history, as the flow of time is identical in scholarly and scientific fields, even in the Near East. Radiocarbon dating can provide an essential and unifying chronological basis across disciplines, despite precision limitations. This issue presents exciting new C-14 developments in archaeological and environmental...

Our stratified radiocarbon dates from EB Jericho (Trench III) on short-lived material are significantly older than conventional archaeo-historical time frameworks. The calibrated 14C date of Stage XV Phase li-lii (Early to Middle EB-I Kenyon) is 100–450 years older. Stage XVI Phase lxi-lxii (Early EB-II Kenyon) is 200–500 years older. Stage XVI Pha...

Aproximadamente, el 30% de la población mundial vive en tierras donde el agua es escasa y la sequía constituye un serio peligro natural. Extensas partes de África, el Norte de China, India, Oriente Medio, el área Mediterránea, el oeste de los Estados Unidos, así como algunas regiones de México, Perú, Chile Argentina y la mayor parte de Australia se...

The lowering of the Dead Sea level in the last seventy years has resulted in significant entrenchment along its shores. Exposed sections reveal an interbedding of facies representing abrupt environmental changes. The paleoenvironments are reconstructed based on field relations between the various facies types. Four environments are differentiated:...

Pastoralist societies in arid zones are experiencing profound political, social and land-entitlement changes in many parts of Africa and Asia. The viability of nomadic pastoralism has been affected, while the impact of drought is often increased. This project seeks to analyse the current situation among the Turkana, Maasai and Bedouin peoples in or...

The Mediterranean region, from the Iberian peninsula in the west to the Levant in the east, is situated at the northern margin of the largest desert belt on earth. Such a transitional geo-climatic position, between the desert in the south and the humid zone of the westerlies in the north, causes significant inter-annual variations in the amount of...

Biodimatic aridity is the principal constraint for habitation and development of arid regions. Moreover, climatic variability further increases the vulnerability of human activities in drylands, as rainfall variations are large and unpredictable from year to year, negatively affecting food and water security. When the rains fail, drought gradually...

Deserts and drylands constitute about one-third of the terrestrial surface of the Earth. Nearly half the nations of the world have to cope, at least in part of their territory, with the constraining factors of aridity. Dryness negatively affects local availability of the most basic requirements for sustained human existence: water and food. A deepe...

The arid frontier has been a challenge for humanity from time immemorial. Drylands cover more than one-third of the global land surface, distributed over Africa, Asia, Australia, America and Southern Europe. Disasters may develop as a result of complex interactions between drought, desertification and society. Therefore, proactive planning and inte...

Samples from Tell es-Sultan, Jericho, were selected for high-precision C-14 dating as a contribution toward the establishment of an independent radiocarbon chronology of Near Eastern archaeology. The material derives from archaeological excavations conducted by K. M. Kenyon in the 1950s. We present here the results of 18 samples, associated stratig...

The country of Israel is prone to significant variations in the annual amount of precipitation because of its geographical position at the northern edge of the largest desert belt on earth. The Sahara and Arabian-Iranian deserts make up a continuous arid zone, which stretches from the Atlantic coast of West Africa into central Asia over a distance...

The feasibility of runoff farming in the Negev desert depends largely upon the characteristics of climate, landscape and soil. Our understanding of ancient desert agriculture, therefore, is likely to be enhanced by studies in the fields of experimental archaeology as well as environmental archaeology. With regard to the latter line of research, it...

Progress in radiocarbon dating and calibration accuracy should lead to the development of a calibrated radiocarbon chronology of Near Eastern archaeology, particulary for historical times. The lack of such an independent and impartial chronology is a major constraint, not only in archaeological studies, but also for interdisciplinary research invol...

Slope features, treated previously mainly pedogenetically and described as alluvial terraces or as a catenary compound of stony loessial Sierozem, are shown to be remains of former colluvial-loessial aprons. The loess was deposited in the central Negev during the uppermost Pleistocene by dust-laden rainstorms which triggered debris flows under cond...

Land use based on local rainfall in the arid zone senso stricto is often limited to pastoralism, sometimes combined with very marginal rainfed farming, unsuccessful in most years. A more sophisticated form of rainfed agriculture - runoff farming - has been practised in the central Negev and adjacent northeastern Sinai by a sedentary population in c...

Rainwater-harvesting agriculture is a specialized form of rainfed farming that has a significant potential to increase food production in the arid zones of our planet. Runoff farming and rainwater-harvesting agriculture are considered synonymous terms, defined here as ‘farming in dry regions by means of runoff rainwater from whatever type of catchm...

Results of hydrological and geological investigations carried out during the last ten years in the deserts of the Sinai and the Negev indicate that unique climatological and hydrological conditions prevailed between ca. 100,000 and ca. 10,000 yr B.P.The uniqueness was expressed by the following characteristics: 1.(1) Higher precipitation and rechar...