About the Research Project

The Emergence of Terrace Farming in the Judean Highlands of Israel: Archaeological and Luminescence Dating

Unit #5 Har-Eitan Case Study

This research project addresses the subject of human subsistence strategies in the

highlands of Israel by creating a large dataset of agricultural terrace systems, evaluating their natural setting and dating them by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL).

Terraces are the most prominent feature of the agricultural sphere in the hilly landscape. Using terrace walls for the artificial creation of arable plots of land was a major technological innovation that has completely altered the natural terrain. It dramatically increased the carrying capacity of the land by transforming previously inhospitable regions into cultivated land plots and resulted in a major shift in human sustainability strategies. The exact dating of these seemingly simple stone constructions carries with it many implications for our understanding of major settlement and demographic shifts through time. Studying the natural setting is crucial for our perception of human choices and abilities and for reconstructing how human action has altered the natural landscape.

The dating of terraces by conventional archaeological tools proved to be unreliable. The present study offers a new interdisciplinary approach, combining geological, geomorphological and archaeological studies with direct dating of terrace sediment-fill using the OSL method. In two preliminary and published researches conducted at the site of Ramat Rahel, near Jerusalem (Davidovich et al. 2012) and in the Negev Highlands (Avni et al. 2009; 2012) we were able to date the time of construction of terrace walls and their sequence of use by OSL, and prove the reliability of the ages.

These promising positive results motivate us to expand this approach into the

heart of the agricultural landscape in the Judea Hills – the Sorek-Repha'im catchment system, serving for generations as Jerusalem's food basket. The proposed research intends to survey, excavate and date terraced farming systems in six selected agricultural sites in this region, in order to reach a well based spatial and quantitative sample of c. 100 dated terrace walls. The results will enable for the first time a comprehensive reconstruction of the changing landscape through time, an accurate reconstruction of human existence strategies and a better understanding of historical demographic cycles in the Judean hills.

Directing the project are Dr. Yuval Gadot Tel-Aviv University, Institute of Archeology, and Dr. Naomi Porat Geological Survey of Israel.

The research team includes Dr. Gideon Avni Head of Excavations and Surveys Department at the Israel Antiquities Authority, Dr. Yoav Avni Geological Survey of Israel and Uri Davidovich Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Institute of Archaeology.

Assisting in the project are Michal Piasetzky-David Excavation site manager Tel-Aviv University, Institute of Archeology. Galina Faershtein Geological Survey of Israel, OSL laboratory, and Dan Golan survey and research of Har-Eitan.

View / download the Scientific abstract of the research project – The Emergence of Terrace Farming in the Judean Highlands of Israel: Archaeological and Luminescence Dating. Yuval Gadot

Dr. Yuval Gadot briefing on the first day of terrace excavations on Har-Eitan Nov 2013.

This website focuses on Unit #5 of the research on Har-Eitan mountain in the Judean Highlands of Israel, one of the designated research sites.

The first phase of the research at Har-Eitan took place during November December 2013. A total of five squares were excavated on terraces on the north-west and south-east slopes of the Har Eitan mountain. Soil samples from 42 probes were collected for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) analysis.