Finkelstein & Perevolotsky 1990

Processes of Sedentarization and Nomadization in the History of Sinai and the Negev Author(s): Israel Finkelstein and Avi
Perevolotsky Reviewed work(s): Source: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 279 (Aug., 1990), pp. 67-88 Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1357210 . Accessed: 05/03/2013 08:38
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Processes and
Sedentarization Nomadization in the of History Sinai

and the
of
Negev
Avi PEREVOLOTSKY
The Volcani Center Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
ISRAEL FINKELSTEIN Institute of Archaeology Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv, Israel
The article suggests an historical-ecological model for human activity in Sinai and the Negev. Three main factors influenced human presence there: ecological niches that enabled dry farming alongside animal husbandry; proximity to centers of the settled lands, which allowed a symbiotic-dimorphic relationship with sedentary populations; and occasional trade opportunities that could change the economic balance in the desert. The desert people's subsistence usually was based on sheep/goat herding with occasional seasonal dry farming. The nomads traded surplus animal products to sedentary communities for agricultural goods. Usually they left only few archaeological remains. Occasionally, however, the desert witnessed some sedentarization, which was reversed when the geopolitical or economic situation changed. In two periods, sedentarization resulted from a deterioration of rural and urban society in the settled land, during which the nomads had to supply their own agricultural needs.
INTRODUCTION
in the desertregions research rchaeological

of Israel and the Sinai peninsula has increased dramatically in recent decades. Dozens of excavations and large scale surveys have been conducted throughout the Negev and Sinai (see Finkelstein et al. 1980; Beit Arieh 1984a; Cohen 1986). Although the field data are far from complete, the accumulation of archaeological information permits more than a partial reconstruction of the historical sequence in the southern deserts. Anthropological research also has increased, with emphasis on human ecology, which investigates the relationships among the environment, subsistence economy, social structure, and material remains of human cultures (Wittfogel 1957; Flannery 1972; Netting 1977; Orlove 1980; Butzer 1982). This article combines archaeology and human ecology to present a systemic model of the interrelations between man and the desert. It is a study of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of desert cultures, their subsistence economy, and their relations with neighboring cultures.' The archaeological finds from the Negev and Sinai are not continuous: for some periods there 67
are substantial remains but there are also long periods with no material evidence. Nonetheless the natural resources of the regions under discussion are such that there is no possibility of periods of human "void." Nomadic groups penetrated some other arid zones in the Middle East only after the domestication of the camel; the Negev and Sinai, in contrast, are convenient for small cattle herding and were inhabited by sheep/goat pastoral nomads. But since desert groups only rarely built permanent structures that survived to the present, human activity of most periods escapes the attention of archaeological research (for the "no remains-no inhabitants" approach see, for example, Baron 1978: 233-34; Cohen 1986: 433-34; Rosen 1987). An analogous situation existed in the last centuries regarding the Bedouin in the Negev and Sinai. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Bedouin tribes in the region were estimated to number in the thousands (e.g., Mills 1932: 328-35; Muhsam 1966: 31; Marx 1967: 11; Amiran, Shinar, and Ben-David 1979: 654); yet today, it is difficult to identify material remains of the pre-19th century Bedouin in much of the area. Sedentary peoples in settled areas usually leave plenty of archaeological evidence, especially of
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The material culture of the desert dwellers is relatively poor and is based mostly on natural materials that decompose over time. In some PASTORAL NOMADIC LIFE cases desert nomadic cultures leave a few meager remains of campsites (sometimes the stones that IN THE DESERT strengthened the tents are traceable), hunting inTo understand both the exceptional periods, stallations, fences of the animal pens, cemeteries, when the desert nomads left substantial remains, and rock drawings. The best known examples and the "normal" times, with no archaeological from the region under discussion include the evidence, we must consider the basic characteris- following:
their living quarters;only rarely do the inhabitants of these regions (and those, mainly nonsedentary groups) fail to leave material remains. In the desert areas the opposite is true: groups that practice subsistence economy based on hunting and gathering or on animal husbandry-and migrate in search of food, water, and good pasture-do not leave traceable remains. Although usually scholars divide the desert population into two segments--pastoral nomads and sedentarygroups-the nomad-sedentary continuum is much more complex, composed of diverse (and changeable) socioeconomic situations, such as sedentary elements, agropastoralists, pastoralists who engage in occasional dry farming, "pure" pastoral nomads, etc. Only when all the desert inhabitants live on the extreme nomadic end of this continuum are archaeological remains missing.2 Periods in which there is evidence of intensive activity of the desert people are exceptional and require explanation (Sass 1980: 46-47, 50). The present discussion concentrates on those extraordinary periods. The archaeological remains of the arid zones of Israel and its neighboring regions may be divided into two groups. The first includes evidence for the activity of foreign powers (those that come from outside the desert) that invested in the desert because of economic, political, military, or religious interests. Examples of such activities are the Egyptian mining in Timna and southwestern Sinai (Giveon 1978: 51-67; Rothenberg 1972: 63-111), the Egyptian New Kingdom forts along the international road of northern Sinai (Oren 1982: 813), and the Byzantine monasteries in southern Sinai and in the Judaean desert (Chitty 1966; Tsafrir 1970; Finkelstein 1985; Hirschfeld 1987). The second group of remains includes traces left by the desert cultures. This article will deal with the latter group. Perhaps any attempt to present an integrative model can be trapped in generalizations and superficiality. On the other hand, recent archaeological work demonstrates the necessity of such models.
tics of desert life. Daily life of any traditional group--its economy, social structure, and material culture--is determined primarilyby the type, quantity, and availability of natural resources and by the technology available to exploit those resources. The main limiting factor for human activity in the desert is the scarcity of water and food resources. Small amounts of annual precipitation-less than 100 mm-do not permit the inhabitants to develop significant agriculture, and desert oases usually cannot support substantial populations. Human existence therefore is based on animal husbandry. Since the pastoral-nomadic3 groups subsist on the products of their herds, the scarcity of pasture (and its seasonality) and of water sources requires either almost continuous movement or seasonal migration. The nature of nomadism accounts for the dearth of material remains. Generally, nomadic societies do not establish permanent houses, and the constant migration permits them to move only minimal belongings. Moreover, their limited resources do not facilitate the creation of a flourishing material culture that could leave rich archaeological finds. The limited resources also preclude development of complex social structures, in which part of the population would be free to engage in crafts that enrich the material culture. The ability of the pastoralists to obtain "out of the desert" goods through barter or other ways is also relatively limited (except for grain, which the nomadic pastoralists, if not practicing seasonal agriculture, get from the sedentary people in exchange for animal products), since they generally do not have enough surplus products to serve as a basis for regular trade, and since most of the resources are reinvested in the flocks (Barth 1964a). REMAINS OF NOMADIC ACTIVITY IN THE DESERT
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Desert Kites
SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION
69
astery);4others are clearly connected to the present tribal framework and are attributed to personThese are ancient hunting installations, first alities of recent generations (e.g., the tomb of discovered in the Black Desert in the 1920s. Many Sheikh Awad northwest of the monastery of St. such structures have been found in the Negev, Catherine). Sinai, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (Meshel 1980; Helms 1981: 45-46; Betts 1982: 31-32; Adams et Cult places al. 1977: 35). Dwelling sites of the desert kite people have not been positively identified and Open Cult Places. A multitude of Massebot their precise date of construction is unclear. It is (upright stones) sites and open sanctuaries, dated reasonable to assume, however, that they were to different periods, have been recorded in various built in different periods, at least from the fourth of the Negev and Sinai (Avner 1984). millennium B.C. in the Negev-Sinai region, and parts even earlier in Transjordan, and that they were Open Mosques. These structures are built of used over long periods. Their distribution has low walls that create a contour of a mosque with shed light on the economic strategy of their in the southern wall (Meshel 1971: 54). a mihrab builders (Perevolotsky 1980; Perevolotsky and It is difficult, sometimes even impossible, to estabBaharav 1987). lish a precise date for them but it is reasonable to assume that they were built since the early Islamic Cemeteries period (Cohen 1981: xi, 65-66). Some of the Nawamis. Twenty-one groups of Nawamis-- mosques are still in use, for instance those in late fourth or early third millennium B.C. burial Dahab on the coast of the gulf of Eilat and in Sheikh Okhbus in the west of southern Sinai. grounds-are known in southern Sinai (Goren 1980; Bar-Yosef et al. 1977). They are all in a similar geographical location, a belt around the Rock Drawings and Rock Inscriptions high mountains in the vicinity of the monastery of St. Catherine. Possible dwelling sites of Nawamis Thousands of rock drawings and inscriptions builders have recently been identified (Bar-Yosef are known in the southern deserts, many of them et al. 1986). The Nawamis people apparently were found in large concentrations. The rock drawings pastoral nomads who, for unknown reasons, be- were probably engraved by the desert people over gan to bury their dead in stone structures concen- the ages; they usually are impossible to date. The trated in tribal(?) burial grounds. The array of the dominant motif in the drawings is the desert Nawamis groups may reflect seasonal movement fauna-mostly camels and ibex but sometimes of their builders (Bar-Yosef et al. 1983; Hershko- also exotic animals such as orix and ostriches. A vitz et al. 1985). It is possible that they built some few drawings depict hunting scenes. of the desert kites. Regarding the inscriptions, one should distinguish between concentrations of pilgrims' inscripBedouin Cemeteries. The Bedouin bury their tions (e.g., Negev 1977: 76-80), which are beyond dead in central tribal cemeteries, which are usually the scope of this article, and the pre-Islamic located near water sources, oases, and important Arabian inscriptions. The latter include the Thamuroad junctions, places the Bedouin frequently visit dic and Safaic inscriptions of the Negev and the during their migration cycle. Good examples are thousands of Nabataean inscriptions of southern the cemeteries around Beer Karkom and Beerot Sinai (Negev 1977: 73-76; 1980). The pre-Islamic Oded in the Negev. In Sinai, the sacred sheikh's Arabian inscriptions are composed of short and tomb often serves as a focal point of social simple formulas, usually containing only a name activity, around which a burial ground has de- and a blessing. That and the fact that they are veloped (Levi 1980; Marx 1977). The traditions of spread all over the desert, not only along main the Sinai Bedouin hint that the sheikhs' tombs routes or near central mines, indicate that they were built in different periods: for some, only were written by the local nomads rather than by vague memories survived (e.g., the tombs of Nabi merchants, soldiers, or miners who came from Salah and Nabi Harun near St. Catherine's mon- "out-of-the-desert" countries (Meshel 1980).
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Other archaeological remains of the Negev and Sinai (except those mentioned here and those left by nondesert peoples) apparently are connected to periods when the desert groups experienced sedentarization. CAUSES OF SEDENTARIZATION Studies conducted in recent years in the region under discussion, as well as in other countries with similar ecological backgrounds, indicated varied reasons-historical-political, socioeconomic or environmental-for sedentarization of nomads (see Salzman 1980a; Shmueli 1980). The most important motives are discussed briefly below. Some of the examples are taken from distant parts of the world; however, they have implications for our region as well. Improvement of security conditions may bring about the resedentarization of elements that had previously withdrawn from the settled population because of misrule, shaky security, etc. (Gubser 1973: 26; Salzman 1980b). External forces in the heart of the desert can create a focus for the sedentarization of local nomads. Foreign intervention can be for economic, military, or religious reasons; the influence on the desert people will always be socioeconomic. The new factor changes the economic balance of the nomads, since the external income source releases them from total dependence on animal husbandry; consequently their dependence on the migration routine may diminish or even cease. The development of desert trade routes with road-stations (which sometimes develop into urban centers or regional markets ) may stimulate sedentarization along the roads and near the new centers (Berque 1959: 493; Awad 1959: 35; Bailey and Shmueli 1977: 33). The desert people themselves may also develop such routes (below). Exploitation of metal ores may also be a factor. The manganese mines of Umm-Bugma in western south Sinai and the nearby harbor that served them created a group of Bedouin settlements in the vicinity. Oil drilling played a similar role in several places in the Middle East (Berque 1959: 493; Awad 1959: 36, 44; Monteil 1959). Religious centers in the desert were important; the best example is probably the decisive influence of St. Catherine's monastery on the sedentarization of the Jabaliyah Bedouin (Ben-David 1981: 10-19). Intensive and varied activity of the state in the desert can accelerate, or at least encourage, seden-
tarization. The Israeli presence in Sinai in 1967 through 1981 stimulated sedentarization in parts of the peninsula-the Nueiba and Dahab oases on the southeastern coast, in the Feiran oasis, and the St. Catherine area (Glassner 1974; Perevolotsky and Perevolotsky 1979; Ben-David 1981: 14654; 1987). Another case is the sedentarization of the Bedouin in the Beer Sheba valley (Ben-David 1982). In Sudan, government excavation of wells and construction of roads stimulated the sedentarization of the nomads (Brenaud and Pagot 1962; Khogali 1981: 309-10). Prosperity of a neighboring sedentary population may increase the demand for labor and for animal products and other desert goods (i.e., minerals), that the nomads can supply (Amiran and Ben-Arieh 1963; Marx 1984). Such processes change the economic structure of the nomads in a similar way and may stimulate sedentarization in the heart of the desert as well as on the fringe of the settled land.5 Sedentarization initiated or enforced by the state may occur because governing sedentary people is easier and simpler than controlling nomads. Thus strong central government may encourage the nomads to settle down, using economic incentives (e.g., distribution of land) or compulsion (Patai 1958: 193-94; Awad 1959; Berque 1959: 494-95; Muhsam 1959; Abou Zeid 1959; Stauffer 1965; Irons 1974: 652; Abu Jaber and Gharaibeh 1981: 294, 298-99).6 Changes in the economic conditions of the individual may occur at opposite poles of the pastoral society. The rich accumulate more wealth and invest in land, which later triggers sedentarization. The poor cannot continue a pastoralnomadic life when the number of animals in the herd shrinks (because of an economic crisis, drought, or plague) beneath the level of economic profitability or when it contracts to the subsistence level of the owners. In such a situation the impoverished may become shepherds for the owners of big herds or for sedentary people, or they may try to shift to agriculture (Patai 1958: 187; Barth 1964b: 106-26; Stauffer 1965:293-94; Khazanov 1978: 121; Glatzer 1982: 72-73). Economic changes among the neighboring sedentary people may have a direct impact on the desert inhabitants. The typical dimorphic (or rather, multimorphic) society of the region is based on the specialization of its two main segments, with the sedentary people engaging in intensive agriculture and the pastoralists in animal
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husbandry and with the groups exchanging the surplus of their products. Specialization of that sort is an outcome of periods of prosperity. The entire structure depends on the ability of the sedentary people to produce grain surplus for the pastoralists, since the sedentary groups are able to maintain a well-balanced nonspecialized economy, while generally the pastoral nomads cannot produce all the necessary basic commodities. A decrease in the agricultural production of the settled people will undermine those symbiotic relationships (no grain surplus for the nomads), and will cripple the desert dwellers' independence to practice "pure" pastoral nomadism. As a result, the latter are forced to shift to an agropastoral subsistence, in which each family supplies its own needs in both grain and animal products but does not produce enough surplus for barter. Such a process brings the pastoralists closer to full sedentarization, generally in the margins of the agricultural zones (Bates and Lees 1977; Lees and Bates 1974; on regional economic integration between farmers and pastoralists who settle down in their proximity see N. Swidler 1980; Glatzer 1982: 77; on the dimorphic society see also W. Swidler 1973 and various articles in Nelson 1973; on dimorphic society in the Ancient Near East see Luke 1965; Matthews 1978; Rowton 1976; on nomads and sedentary people in the Ancient Near East see various articles in Castillo 1981). Demographic processes, both developments in the desert and those in the nearby settled land, may influence the economic stability of the nomads. In the desert, a number of unusually good years, in terms of precipitation and pasture potential, may upset the fragile balance between the subsistence requirements of the inhabitants and the animals and the availability and quantity of water and pasture land. A substantial increase in the human or animal population during the good years may lead to overexploitation of the natural resources-overgrazing, draining of water sources, and violation of the carrying capacity of the area (Irons 1972: 102; Haaland 1977; Bailey and Shmueli 1977: 32; Cisse 1981: 321). Another problem can arise from penetration of new nomadic groups into the territory of a pastoral group, which can push some groups of the original nomads into other niches in the vicinity, or into sedentarization on the margins of the settled lands (Khazanov 1984: 201).7 Among the sedentary people, population increase may bring about the expansion of agricul-
ture into the marginal areas. That in turn may destroy the economic base of pastoralists who are active, even seasonally, in those niches, causing them to lose pasture lands, and as a consequence may drive them to sedentarization (Bates and Lees 1977: 833-35; Patai 1958: 187; de Planhol 1959: 528; Irons 1974: 652; Khazanov 1978: 121; Beck 1980: 341; on sedentarization as a result of shortage of grazing areas see Khazanov 1984: 201).8 Economic changes in the desert, especially the decline of traditional income sources of the nomads (such as guiding caravans or smuggling) may also damage the frail subsistence balance in the desert and stimulate sedentarization or emigration (Patai 1958: 187; Capot-Rey 1962: 304-6). Climate changes may engender two opposite situations that can lead to the same result. A wetter climate extends the pasture potential and, more important, opens new possibilities for seasonal or even permanent agriculture. In such a case the nomads gradually shift to enclosed nomadism, limited movement in the vicinity of the farming areas, developing a combined system of dry farming and animal husbandry called agropastoralism (Vincze 1980; on enclosed nomadism in the ancient Near East see Rowton 1974). On the other hand, a drier climate dwindles the pasture potential and dries up water sources, expanding the migration cycle and lessening the time spent in each place. When conditions worsen, the option to subsist on animal husbandry in the desert declines and the nomads move to the margins of the farming lands, where they subsist on seasonal agriculture, herding, and wage labor (Dwayne 1970: 97; Bailey and Shmueli 1977: 32; Shmueli 1980: 102; Cisse 1981: 319). One way or another, many times nomads settle down, various situations combine to create a complex and varied process (e.g., Bailey and Shmueli 1977: 32-33; Ben-David 1982). In different environments or historical circumstances, similar conditions may end up with different results. THE REVERSE PROCESS: NOMADIZATION It is clear today that the transition between sedentary and nomadic societies is open both to sedentarization of nomads and to nomadization or pastoralization of settled people or of nomads who settled down only a short while before ("renomadization") (Glatzer 1982; Patai 1958: 19596; Khazanov 1978: 121; Salzman 1982: xv; on
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possible nomadization processes in the region in historical periods see Dever 1980: 58; Prag 1985: 85-87; La Bianca 1985; Finkelstein 1988a: 341-45). Nomadization can be caused by the same factors that caused sedentarization, but which now work in the opposite direction: political instability (e.g., misrule or heavy taxation) and deterioration of security conditions (Barth 1964b: 118; on SyriaPalestine at the end of the Ottoman period see Cohen 1973: 324-27; Sweet 1977: 43; Hiitteroth 1975); degeneration of central government (Beck 1980: 348); withdrawal of an external economic power from the desert; a shift back to a specialized dimorphic society in a period of economic prosperity (Bates and Lees 1977: 839); changes in the economic conditions of the individuals, as when a well-off farmer who can no more expand his property invests in animals (Glatzer 1982: 71-72; Khazanov 1978: 121) or has times when investment in animals is more profitable (Haaland 1972; Cisse 1981: 321-22); climate changes (Perevolotsky 1987); or overexploitation of limited resources in agricultural areas (Glatzer 1982). CHANGES IN THE LIFE OF NOMADS SETTLING DOWN The shift from pastoralism to dry-farming agriculture brings about significant modifications in the life style of the nomads. With the beginning of seasonal agriculture the grazing range diminishes and the family herd shrinks; with the intensification of farming, the grazing cycle is further reduced and concentrates, at least in part of the year, around the farming areas, where a permanent house with storage facilities is constructed. The outcome is a drastic reduction in the number of animals in the herd and a change in the work division within the family. Generally the man takes responsibility for the agricultural activity and the women and children continue to hold a small family herd. A certain compensation for the reduction in the grazing range is found in the stubble of the grain fields or in the fodder from the fields, which enrich the nutrition of the flocks, especially at the end of the summer and in the fall. A similar process, although faster, occurs when nomads/ pastoralists, who moved in a seasonal grazing routine between the steppe areas in the winter and the "green"niches in the summer, shift
the weight of their activity to the summer pasture lands. The new settlers keep a core of a small herd for balanced nutrition and as a propagation core. The animals contribute protein (meat and dairy products), which complements food rich with vitamins and minerals supplied by the field crops (Perevolotsky and Perevolotsky 1979). Keeping some animals for propagation gives the family an easy and fast shift back to pastoralism if conditions change. A similar process takes place in a family that adds another economic source such as trade, mining, or wage labor to the traditional animal husbandry (Marx 1980; 1984). The economic flexibility is especially important when the sedentarization process takes place in an arid region or on the margins of a dry area. EXAMPLES OF SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION IN THE NEGEV AND SINAI This section will present a discussion of periods of sedentarization and nomadization in the southern deserts in light of the processes described above, with special emphasis on periods when the desert people left behind considerable archaeological remains. As the goal is to present a framework of a model and some illustrations, rather than a full historical reconstruction, this article will not go into details of those periods. It is necessary to clarify a few methodological points that have crucial implications on the processes discussed below. Diverse Ecological Niches The existence and subsistence possibilities in the desert regions of Israel and Sinai are not homogeneous. The following factors are especially cogent: Climate. Elevation affects both temperature and the amount of precipitation; higher areas are cooler and wetter than lower areas. Lithology. Certain geological formations are more hospitable to human activity than others. This factor influences the agricultural potential of the area-quality and quantity of soil-and the availability of the water sources. For instance,
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since some formations are impermeable, most of the precipitation on them ends up as run-off water, which may be directed to the lower valleys. Vegetation. This factor, which is influenced by both climate and lithology, affects pasture possibilities as well as the distribution of animals. Extensive areas in the southern deserts, like the cAraba and the Paran-Hiyyon plains in the Negev and the plains of northern Sinai, are not hospitable to intensive human activity since they are poor in water sources and pasture potential. Other regions are more favorable for human occupation, and indeed contain most of the archaeological remains. Three are important: In the Negev Highlands, where the elevation brings a relatively high amount of precipitation, the wide wadi valleys are convenient for seasonal agriculture and other areas are available for grazing (Evenari, Shanan, and Tadmor 1971). The coastal strip of northern Sinai has a high water table that creates oases of palm trees, and water is available in relatively shallow wells (the best-known example is the oasis of El Arish). The population is concentrated in and around those locales (Oren 1980). In the southern Sinai red granite masifs, the high mountains receive a relatively large amount of precipitation. The impermeable red granite carries most of the water to the wadis as run-off. There the water is available in wells and small springs, which support intensive orchard agriculture (Perevolotsky 1981; Perevolotsky and Finkelstein 1985).
Bedouin do raise camels, they can live without them. Those arid zones, and especially the better ecological niches, enable sheep/goat pastoralism, which was the essential subsistence base for their inhabitants in antiquity, as well as in recent generations. Climate Changes
This equally complicated topic also has crucial implications for the possibility of human existence in arid zones. In the past, scholars tended to interpret periods of prosperity in the deserts as an outcome of a wetter climate (e.g., Huntington 1911). It is clear today that this is an oversimplified approach, which in some cases is in error. The possibility of climate changes over the last several millennia has been discussed extensively and attempts have been made to analyze it from different angles (e.g., Crown 1972; Horowitz 1974; Bintliff and Van Zeist 1982; Danin et al. 1983). In general, scholars tend to agree that there were wetter periods, for instance the pre-Pottery Neolithic (Goldberg and Bar-Yosef 1982: 403; BarYosef 1984: 146), and that from the beginning of the third millennium B.C.the climate stabilized to the conditions prevailing today (Goldberg and Bar-Yosef 1982: 404). But the crucial question is whether there were minor changes in the precipitation pattern during some periods, lasting long enough to alter the subsistence potential of marginal areas. A good example is the claim that a drier climate prevailed in the later phases of the third millennium B.C. (Crown 1972: 322-29; Horowitz 1974). However, many aspects of that field of research are still obscure or vague and scholars Sheep/Goat vs. Camel Nomadism are far from a consensus even on the major The domestication of the camel brought about trends. Therefore, in this article we consider the crucial changes in the pattern of human activity in climate of the southern deserts in the last 5,000 the Near Eastern deserts. Before the beginning of years to be more or less similar to the one camel-enabled pastoral nomadism, extensive parts prevailing today, and do not attribute to possible of those regions had only sparse human occupa- minor climatic changes a crucial role in initiating tion, if any, because they were too arid for sheep/ processes of sedentarization or nomadization. The historical-demographic examples below goat herding (e.g., Luke 1965). Dating the domestication of camels is complicated (see Thompson date from the third millennium B.C. on. The 1962: 490-92; Zeuner 1963: 364-65; Luke 1965: reasons to concentrate on that span are to limit 42-45; Bulliet 1975: 57-86; Zarins 1978; Mason the discussion to periods with climates similar to 1984: 21-25; Hakker-Orion 1984). The common the present one, to deal with populations that view argues that camel domestication did not take already practice sheep/goat pastoral nomadism, place, at least not on a large scale, before the late and to discuss periods with enough archaeological second millennium B.C. (contra Ripinsky 1975; data to allow reconstruction of the settlement 1983). In any case, although the Negev and Sinai patterns. The Harifian culture in the Negev, the
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pre-Pottery Neolithic B in southern Sinai, and even fourth millennium B.C. remains in Sinai do not answer those criteria, although they seem to reflect flourishing populations. EARLY BRONZE II Sheep/ goat pastoral nomadism was alreadypracticed in the southern deserts in the fourth millennium B.C. The concentration of Nawamis in southern Sinai and possible settlement sites of that period apparently represent that population (Bar-Yosef et al. 1986). Nevertheless, although there is evidence for central cemeteries, hunting installations, and some dwelling sites, the general picture remains fragmentary. In most of the period the majority of the population did not leave enough remains to give us a comprehensive understanding of the demographic patterns. The Early Bronze II is the first period for which a reliable reconstruction of this kind may be attempted. Beit-Arieh investigated the main concentration of sites in southern Sinai, especially in the margins of the high mountain block around the St. Catherine's monastery (Beit-Arieh 1977; 1981a; 1983), but also in other parts of the region (BeitArieh 1986). Recently scores of sites from that period were discovered in the Negev highlands, the Uvda valley, in the west of northern Sinai (the vicinity of Kadesh Barnea), and in the Tih plateau (Cohen 1986: 215-45; Beit-Arieh and Gophna 1976; 1981; Rothenberg 1979: 114-16; Hadashot Archeologiot 69/71-87, 1979-1985). Therefore we do not deal now with an isolated group of sites, but with an almost full continuity in all the preferred ecological niches of the Negev and Sinai (although there is no certainty that all the sites coexisted at the same time). Some of the south Sinai sites-Nabi Salah, Sheikh Mukhsen, and Sheikh Awad-were thoroughly excavated (BeitArieh 1974; 1978; 1981a; 1981b), and revealed important data on the material culture of their inhabitants. The sites are oval in shape, with a central courtyard surrounded by round and rectangular dwelling and craft units; Beit-Arieh and Gophna (1976) found similar layouts near Kadesh Barnea. The dwelling units are usually located on one side of the courtyard. The typical living unit is rectangular, and somewhat lower than the surroundings. It has a bench along the walls and a monolithic pillar supports the roof. There is a striking resemblance between those units and the "Arad house," the typical living structure in the
most important EB II urban center at the southern fringe of the settled lands of Israel (Beit-Arieh 1983: 33-36; Amiran et al. 1978: 14-17). The ceramic finds also are closely related to those at Arad. Petrographic analysis of vessels from Arad and the Sinai sites strengthens this observation (Amiran, Beit-Arieh, and Glass 1973). Evidence for copper production found in the excavated sites included copper ores, crucibles, molds, smelted copper, and copper tools. Similar tools were found in Arad. The Sinai finds indicate close cultural contacts between Arad, the main urban center in the south of the settled lands, and the sites of the southern deserts (Amiran et al. 1980a: 14; Beit-Arieh 1974: 154; 1984b). In addition, the desert sites yielded clear evidence that their inhabitants practiced sheep/goat husbandry and apparently also some sort of agriculture; grinding stones were found, for instance (Beit-Arieh 1977: 126, 140-43; 1981b: 114-17). In the initial stages of the Sinai research, aimed at interpreting the finds, the common approach associated the inhabitants of the Sinai sites directly with Arad. According to that view, the builders of the Sinai sites were groups of Canaanites from southern Palestine who came (or rather "immigrated") to the peninsula to mine copper for the urban centers of the settled lands (Beit-Arieh 1977: 200; 1978: 11; 1981a: 31; 1983: 48; 1984a: 40; Amiran, Beit-Arieh, and Glass 1973: 197; Amiran et al. 1980a: 14; Ben-Tor 1982: 8; Cohen 1986: 244). As research progressed it became clear that the distribution of the EB II sites was not related to the few copper mines of the region; most of the Sinai sites are not near the only copper mine in the area, in Wadi Riqitiyah, while the Negev sites are far from any copper ore deposit. Hence the desert sites are seen now as a local phenomenon. Even if connected to the urban centers of southern Palestine by cultural and economic relations, they reflect the activity of local southern nomads rather than a population from the cities of the settled lands or their fringes (Gophna 1982: 111-12; Beit-Arieh and Gophna 1981: 133-34); the southern settlement wave is seen also in the immediate vicinity of Arad (Amiran et al. 1980b). Indeed, the geographical pattern of the Negev and Sinai sites indicates that the EB II people were the indigenous population of the desert. The question that remains is what caused the southern nomads to settle in permanent or semipermanent
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sites (sites that were visited seasonally in a regular routine) and to adopt and absorb strong cultural elements from the neighboring urban society. Sedentarizing nomads give up the traditional migration, which means that the importance of the herd diminishes as the major component in their subsistence economy. That raises the question of what compensates the inhabitants for this loss and replaces the livestock in the subsistence equation in the desert. It appears that of all the factors that might have led to sedentarization, prosperity of the neighboring sedentary population was the prime mover behind the events in the southern desert during EB II (Finkelstein in press). The prosperity of the urban centers, especially those of the southern part of the country, also affected the desert nomads. The urban centers, which specialized in agriculture, crafts, and trade, were good customers for the produce of the nomads' flocks. But such exchanges do not lead to sedentarization; on the contrary, they would encourage even more specialization in animal husbandry by the nomads. A different economic reason is therefore required. That reason was apparently the demand for copper. The flourishing urban-agricultural communities needed large quantities of copper for their own use and possibly also for trade. Some of the desert groups mined the copper and transported it to the northern centers (on the importance of copper trade in the emergence and collapse of the urban centers see Kempinski 1989; Amiran 1986). Other groups probably were incorporated in other levels of the economic activity on the southern fringe of the urban political system. Such economic possibilities in the south enabled some nomadic groups to settle down; the new sources of livelihood compensated for the declining economic importance of the herd. Other nomadic groups continued the traditional seasonal migration, maintaining large herds and exchanging their products for grain and other goods not available in the desert. The groups that persisted in the nomadic lifestyle are archaeologically "invisible." Hence, differences in the material culture of sites (Beit-Arieh 1986) would indicate socioeconomic distinctions rather than different "cultures," and archaeologists trace only one component of the human system in the south. The strong cultural influence of southern Palestine is traceable among the desert nomads in almost every field-architecture, pottery, metallurgy, and so forth. The groups that settled down
kept their presedentarization traditions in their permanent sites: they laid out the settlements in oval configuration with a belt of broadrooms surrounding a large central courtyard, reflecting the traditional tent encampments. The single dwelling units were broadrooms opening onto the courtyard, reminiscent of the presedentarization tent (on the preservation of the tent and encampment traditions in permanent sites of nomads settling down see Shmueli 1980: 83, 154-55; BenDavid 1982: 287; see also Finkelstein 1988a: 24450 and bibliography). The sedentarizing groups apparently did not give up animal husbandry, but they did reduce the size of the herd; that was a direct result of ceasing migration in search of pasture. The small remaining herd served as a propagation core in the event of economic or political changes in the future, which would require a return to pastoralism. Thus, part of the family could carry on shortdistance herding and at the same time practice occasional seasonal dry farming. Other members could engage in copper mining, trade, and other economic activities associated with the urban centers (on similar economic flexibility among Bedouin settling down see Ben-David 1982), enabling the shift to permanent or semipermanent sites. The changes in the urban system in the south, which provoked the desertion of Arad at the end of the EB II, brought about the collapse of that economic structure (Finkelstein in press). Among the explanations suggested for the fall of Arad and the later disintegration of the entire urban system (see, for example, Richard 1980: 10-11; Amiran and Kochavi 1985: 362), the most probable seems to be the theory that a socioeconomic process caused a decline within the urban society (Dever 1989). It is possible that the decline of trade with Egypt, including the decrease in demand for Palestinian copper, was part of that process. Whatever the reasons, the impacts on the desert people were clear: the changes in the north diminished the economic opportunities that gave rise to the prosperity in the south and led the desert population to revert to traditional pastoral nomadism. That shift required a return to longdistance migration and therefore resulted in abandonment of the settlements. The fact that the inhabitants of the sites kept small family herds simplified the process. Hence, in EB III, all or most of the desert population "disappear": they did not leave traceable archaeological remains since they were in constant movement with their
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flocks.9 Again they no doubt practiced occasional
dry farming and exchanged animal products with the sedentary people for additional grain. Only several centuries later did another sedentarization occur in the desert, this time for different reasons. THE INTERMEDIATE BRONZE AGE During the Intermediate Bronze Age (ca. 2350/ 2300-2000 B.c.) a new wave of settlement occurred in the Negev and Sinai. Hundreds of sites from that era were found in surveys undertaken by Glueck, Evenari, Aharoni, Rothenberg, Kochavi, Cohen, and teams of the Archaeological Survey of Israel (Vogel 1975; Baron 1978: 205-33; Evenari et al. 1958: 247-50; Aharoni et al. 1960: 26; Rothenberg 1967: 79-86; Kochavi 1967; Cohen 1986; Hadashot Archeologiot 69/71-86, 19791985). Most of the sites-more than 400-are located in the Negev highlands. Others are found in the Uvda valley (Hadashot Archeologiot 69/71, 1979: 17; 74/75, 1980: 39-49), the Tih plateau (Rothenberg 1979: 120-21), and northern Sinai (Clamer and Sass 1977). Other parts of the southern deserts were less hospitable, and in such places as the cAraba, the southern Negev, and southern Sinai, practically no sites from that period were discovered. In addition to the settlement sites, hundreds (or even thousands) of tumuli-burial structures comprised of a stone cist covered by a pile of rocks-were recorded in the same regions. The tumuli usually were built on hilltops and high ridges; most apparently were constructed during the Intermediate Bronze Age. Scholars classified the settlement sites into three categories, according to size (Kochavi 1967: 13450; Baron 1978: 224; Cohen 1986: 253-55 presented a somewhat different division): large, or central sites, up to 25 dunams-Har Yeruham, Beer Resisim, Nahal Nissana, Mashabbe Sade and Ein Ziq, all of which were excavated (Kochavi 1967: 9-132; Cohen 1986: 41-106; Cohen and Dever 1978; 1979; 1981); medium-sized sites; and hundreds of small sites scattered throughout the area. Some argued that the large sites were permanent settlements and that the small sites reflect seasonal pastoral activity of groups that came from the large settlements (Baron 1978: 224; Cohen 1983: 22). The excavated sites shed light on the material culture of their inhabitants. Groups of round or
oval units were unearthed (in an average area of 5-10 m2; in each of the central sites were 80 to 200 units), generally built in proximity to an open courtyard. In many units remains of one or two stone pillars, which supported the roof, were found. The finds inside the structures were relatively poor. There were also open areas with no buildings. There was no evidence of fortifications or any other public architecture. Grinding stones and sickle blades were found in all the excavated sites. In four sites-Har Yeruham, Beer Resisim, Ein Ziq, and Har Tzayad-copper ingots were found (Cohen 1986: 295-98); similar Intermediate Bronze Age ingots are known in the northern part of the country (Tufnell 1953: 39-43, 75, pl. 21:1113; Dever and Tadmor 1976). The different views on the southern phenomenon are associated with the overall understanding of the Intermediate Bronze Age in Palestine and its vicinity. The only consensus is that it was an intermediate phase between two periods of strong urban activity in the settled lands, and that large parts of the population lived in pastoral frameworks side by side with a relatively limited number of rural communities. In all other topics, scholars expressed different and sometimes even contradictory views. The main theories on the origin of the Palestinian Intermediate Bronze Age people are that they were seminomads10of Semitic origin (the Amorites of the historical sources) who immigrated to Palestine from the Syrian steppe (e.g., Kenyon 1971); seminomads of a nonsemitic origin from the Transcaucasus (e.g., Lapp 1966: 111-13); local sedentary agricultural communities who had lived there earlier and continued (Thompson 1974); and a local population, part of which moved from settled to pastoral life (Dever 1980: 56-58; 1985; Prag 1985; Richard 1987: 35). The last view has emerged as the dominant one in recent research. According to that theory local processes within the society were responsible for the collapse of the Early Bronze urban culture. The exurban population experienced both geographical and socioeconomic shifts, to the marginal zones of Transjordan and the Negev, and to a pastoral nomadic way of life. In the settled parts of the country there was a significant rural component. In the beginning of the second millennium B.c. the process was reversed, and there was a shift back to an urban society in the centers of the settled lands. Dever (1980: 56-58) suggests that the Negev people moved in a seasonal grazing routine between the Negev in the winter and the
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Hebron hill country in the summer, and that the central cemeteries were in the summer areas. That may explain why most of the excavated Negev tumuli had no material finds or skeletal remains (Kochavi 1969: 41-42). Although Dever's pastoral nomadism model for the Intermediate Bronze Age is mostly acceptable it nonetheless requires some basic changes (Finkelstein 1989). It is especially important that thus far there has been no serious attempt to explain either the unusual prosperity in the Negev in a time of disturbances in socioeconomic and political conditions in the fertile parts of the country, or the desertion of the Negev sites just as the urban culture in the north recovered. Those two questions do not allow the reuse of the model that holds that sedentarization was a result of prosperity of a neighboring culture. It seems that in the Intermediate Bronze Age the answer lies in the nature of the relationships between nomads and sedentary people in the dimorphic society of the region. Exceptionally important, then, is an understanding of the situation in the settled lands. In spite of some disturbances in the urban society at the end of EB II, the settled part of the country continued to flourish in EB III. In many ways the urban culture now reached its peak. The sedentary population specialized in various forms of agriculture (on horticulture in the Early Bronze see Stager 1985) and were probably able to produce large surpluses of grain and other goods. The pastoral nomads in the arid zones traded their surplus wool, meat, and dairy products with the sedentary communities for grain and other field crops. The gradual disintegration of the urban system in the later stages of EB III upset the fragile balance of the dimorphic society. In the beginning, sociopolitical troubles in the urbanrural frameworks, and especially the decline in agricultural yield, could have urged the nomads to raid the settled lands for grain. Finally, when the cities disappeared, the demographic picture changed radically. The relatively poor rural communities of the Intermediate Bronze Age, which were organized in less sophisticated sociopolitical frameworks than during the previous period, could not produce significant surplus. Therefore, the inhabitants of the marginal zones were forced to supply their own basic needs in foodstuffs. That instigated a large scale sedentarization process in both Transjordan and the Negev. It is possible that some southern elements moved on to agropastoralist activity in the north; it is also reason-
able to assume that not all the steppe groups attempted to settle down and that some of them continued to subsist on pastoral nomadism, keeping contacts with neighboring villages (especially in Transjordan). It also has been suggested that some of the groups active in the Negev in the winter moved in the summer to frontier areas in the north, mainly in the hill country. But many of the desert dwellers probably had to find subsistence solutions in their own environment, possibly by seasonal activity in the different ecological niches of the area. Trade of copper, mined in the south, could have improved the economic equilibrium of the Negev people." The recovery of the settled land in the beginning of the second millennium B.C. reshaped society both in the north and in the arid southern regions. The emergence of a new, flourishing urban system, with a solid agricultural component that could produce surplus, led again to the creation of a specializing dimorphic society. The inhabitants of the marginal areas returned to full animal husbandry specialization and disappeared from the archaeological map. It is possible that part of the marginal population did not revert to pastoral nomadism, but was absorbed by the sedentary communities of the settled land. It is likely that there was a time lag between the recovery of the settled part of the country and the changes in the arid regions, and therefore it is feasible that at least some of the Negev sites were still active in the early stages of the second millennium B.C. During the Middle and Late Bronze Ages there was no significant change in human activity in the southern deserts. The strong urban and rural society of the Middle Bronze Age had no problem producing enough surplus for the pastoral nomads of the southern deserts. In the Late Bronze Age, when the settled population encountered political, social, and economic difficulties (see Gonen 1984), the desert people could have leaned on the Shephelah and the southern coastal plain, parts of the country close to them that continued to flourish; they could also have depended on the Egyptian centers (Naaman 1982: 174-75, 212; Weinstein 1981; Oren 1985). During that long period the frontier zone between the sedentary lands and the desert did not develop economic conditions suitable for the sedentarization of the nomads. For that reason in a millennium the nomads of the south did not leave remains in all the vast area of the Negev and Sinai. The absence of archaeological remains does not imply, therefore, a human
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void in the wilderness as suggested by Cohen (1986: 433-34). THE IRON AGE The next wave of settlement in the south took place in the Iron Age. It occurred mainly in the Negev highlands (on the Uvda valley see Hadashot Archeologiot 69/71, 1979: 17), where dozens of sites were established, 45 of them were described in the past as "Israelite fortresses" (Cohen 1986: 107-98; 1979; on other sites, which were not classified as fortresses, see Aharoni et al. 1960: 23-36; Vogel 1975; Baron 1978; Cohen 1986; Hadashot Archeologiot 80/81-86, 1982-1985). Most attention has focused on the latter, which past scholars identified as fortresses erected by King Solomon to protect the desert routes and the southern border of the Monarchy (e.g., Aharoni 1967; Cohen 1979; 1986). Some scholars dated the fortresses to an earlier stage of the Monarchy (Meshel 1979), or classified only some of the sites as such (Herzog 1983). A different theory argues that the Iron Age sites of the Negev highlands were simple settlements established by the desert people (Rothenberg 1967: 88-92; Eitam 1980; Finkelstein 1984). The last view seems most probable, with this wave of settlement dating to the end of the I Ith and the beginning of the 10th century B.C.We still do not know why the Negev nomads settled down and what caused their renomadization after a short time. If the phenomenon were connected to the degeneration of the urban system-a situation similar to that in the Intermediate Bronze Agethe sites should have been established in the 13th, or at the latest in the beginning of the 12th century B.C. The answer should be sought in new economic opportunities that enabled at least some of the Negev dwellers to give up the traditional migration routine. The stimulant to that process could have been the nomads' participation in the mining at Timna after the Egyptian presence there ended in the mid-12th century, and their share in the thriving trade in the area in the early Iron Age, which is reflected in the Tel Masos finds (Finkelstein 1984: 197-203). An extended and somewhat different version of the socioeconomic and political events in the south suggests that the intensification of the Arabian trade toward the end of the
second millennium caused the changes in the south (Finkelstein 1988b). From the mid-12th century B.C.when the Egyptian grasp in Canaan deteriorated, until the end of the llth century when the Israelite Monarchy emerged, there was no dominant political power in the southern desert area, and the desert groups exploited that vacuum well. A crucial factor in the growth of Arabian trade was no doubt the beginning of the use of camels as pack animals, apparently in the later second millennium B.C. As long as Egypt maintained its power it had the means to direct all or most of the Arabian trade through the Nile valley, a clear economic interest of the Pharaohs. But as the Egyptian influence declined and the camel gained prominence as the most efficient pack animal, the scene changed. Camel caravans transported large quantities of commodities over desert routes from southern Arabia to Syria-Palestine. The desert nomads eventually seized the monopoly of the Arabian trade, which brought about unprecedented prosperity in the Negev and enabled some of the pastoral nomads to settle down. The sedentarization process took place in the region that best fit the combination of desert agriculture and sheep/goat pastoralism, and which was not far from the trade lines, the Negev highlands. At the same time there was a beginning of settlement activity in northwest Arabia (Ingraham et al. 1981: 71-75; Parr 1982) and in Edom (Sauer 1986: 10), which probably had a similar background. In other regions in the south, and probably also in the same area, pastoral nomadic activity continued, with no archaeological footprints. The oval site with a belt of broadrooms surrounding a large courtyard, the dominant feature in the Negev Iron Age architecture, apparently reflects the shape of the presedentarization tent encampment. The thriving site of Tel Masos in the Beer Sheba valley developed as part of that process. It is plausible that this settlement emerged as the center of the sociopolitical framework of the southern people. Tel Masos, on the desert fringe, was the northern bridgehead of the southern trade route. It was located near the commercial centers of the settled land but far enough from them to permit an independent economic and political management. Comparing that process to similar events that took place several centuries later in the emergence
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of the Nabataean desert kingdom may indicate what might have happened if the process had continued undisturbed, that is, the creation of a solid political entity in the desert. But at the same time, far-reaching changes took place in the central hill country. The growing Israelite Monarchy had a clear interest in expanding to the Beer Sheba valley at its southern border and in controlling the northern end of the Arabian trade with its tempting economic advantages. The inevitable collision between the two entities is apparently hinted at in I Samuel 15 and II Sam 8:14. The northern kingdom had the upper hand, and as a result the desert people lost their monopoly on Arabian trade, which was the pivotal component in the economic system in the south. Consequently the Negev sites, including Tel Masos, were gradually abandoned, and the southern groups reverted to the pastoral nomadic subsistence. In the meantime, Israelite administration centers were established in the Beer Sheba valley. During the remaining centuries of the Iron Age there were no more significant changes in the socioeconomic structure of the desert population. The Judaean kingdom controlled the strongholds of the Beer Sheba basin and established a fort in Kadesh Barnea, a focal point for control of the desert people and the Negev routes. The situation therefore returned to what it had been earlierpastoral nomads and sedentary populations in classical, specialized dimorphic society enhanced by political stability. In the period of Assyrian domination in the southern coastal plain and in the Persian period, that symbiosis did not change; the monopoly over the Arabian trade was in the hands of a strong northern power and conditions for the existence of a specialized society continued. Hence only meager remains of this era are found in the southern deserts (on the Persian period see Meshel 1977; Cohen 1986: 436-62). FROM THE NABATAEAN PERIOD TO RECENT GENERATIONS The next wave of settlement in the southern deserts occurred several centuries later, again in a certain political "vacuum." During the Hellenistic period the south had no dominant power; and when the process that occurred in the Iron Age happened again, there was one major difference:
this time the desert people achieved the ultimate political stage, the founding of a desert state. The nomads, who had earlier participated in the southern trade, took advantage of the post-Persian political void and gradually strengthened their involvement in Arabian trade until they monopolized it. The Arabian trade poured a fortune into the desert. Road stations were established, which soon turned into thriving cities; many of the nomads settled down, and the Nabataean kingdom was established (Elliot 1982. Not all the desert population settled down; see evidence for Nabataean encampments in Hadashot Archeologiot 69/71, 1979: 18; 78/79, 1982: 94). The reverse process was also similar: the imperial Roman operations in the Red Sea from the days of Augustus on weakened the Nabataean kingdom and exposed it to the activity of the Safaen and the Thamudian tribes. At the same time the fragile equilibrium on which the desert state was built collapsed. Arabian trade flowed through Roman Egypt and the trade roads were deserted. In a desperate attempt to prevent the destruction of his kingdom, Rabel II, the last Nabataean king, took steps to strengthen desert agriculture (Negev 1983: 171-76, 204, 253). Eventually, however, the Nabataean kingdom was peaceably annexed to the Roman Empire. Presumably, one of the major reasons was that the Nabataeans could not maintain their independence without controlling Arabian trade. In the Roman period the desert population reverted to the classic symbiotic, dimorphic structure and the archaeological evidence decreases accordingly (see number of sites, compared to the Nabataean and Byzantine periods, in Cohen 1981: xvi; 1985: xx; Haiman 1986: 33*-34*). Some of the desert groups operated in the framework of the Roman limes, others practiced pastoral nomadism alongside it, with strong interrelations that stemmed from mutual interests; occasionally hostilities erupted (Graf 1978; Mayerson 1986; Parker 1986). The last wave of settlement in the south took place in the Byzantine period. Hundreds of sites from that period have been recorded in the Negev highlands (Vogel 1975; Baron 1978; Cohen 1981; 1985; Haiman 1986; Hadashot Archeologiot 80/81, 1982: 59-66; 83, 1983: 76-78; 86, 1985: 3941) and in the southern Sinai (Dahari and Goren 1982; Finkelstein 1985). Some, mostly monasteries,
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were inhabited by people who came from the set- the geopolitical and economic structure of the tled lands, but many others were built by the region and of the entire Middle East, there has desert dwellers; the main sites, especially in the been a strong new wave of sedentarization in the Negev, probably were inhabited by groups of both Negev and Sinai (cf., Ben-David 1982; 1987). origins. Some of the processes in motion were similar to those of previous periods, but new SUMMARY factors were also involved: the religious motivaThis article has presented an outline for an tion, which was responsible for the emergence of in Christian centers the as well as historical-ecological model of human occupation major Negev scores of small monasteries, especially in Sinai; in the Negev and Sinai. Certainly not all the the Sinai pilgrimage; the imperial political and questions and difficulties have been resolved and military maneuvers in an attempt to defend the there still are large gaps in our knowledge of the southern frontier; new economic opportunities, archaeology of those regions. Three dominant factors dictated the nature of such as service in the army; and the new agricultural possibilities that stemmed from the intro- human activity in the southern deserts (considering duction of new fruit species into the area. Some of a climate regime similar to the one prevailing those factors are related to sedentarization. Byzan- today): special ecological niches that allowed their tine sources shed interesting light on some of these pastoral nomadic population to engage in seasonal points, especially on the government-Saracen agriculture; the proximity to the centers of the sown land that enabled the dimorphic society to relations. In the early Islamic period the southern settle- create close symbiotic relationships; and occament system was gradually abandoned. The Arab sional economic opportunities, like mining and conquest led to a gradual desertion of the Chris- trade, which could change the economic balance tian cities in the Negev, the decline of the monastic in the desert. In most periods, the subsistence movement, and a possible penetration of new economy in these regions was based on sheep/goat nomadic groups from Arabia into the marginal pastoralism, supplemented in some areas by ocarid regions. The only major archaeological finds casional seasonal agriculture. The nomads traded from the long period of pastoral nomadism that their animal products with the neighboring settled lasted until recent generations are sheikh tombs people in exchange for agricultural products, esand cemeteries. The desert population over that pecially grain. They left only very few and poor period of time must have been relatively small, archaeological remains of hunting installations, since poor economic conditions in the sedentary cemeteries, and rock drawings. In certain periods, society of the north gave the pastoral nomads when the polities of the settled lands demanded poor markets for their products there, and since one of the desert resources, like copper or Arabian there are no traces of a significant sedentarization goods, a sedentarization process was triggered in process. In the period of the decline of the Otto- the desert. When the demand for those products man Empire and the degeneration of sedentary diminished, or when they were monopolized by Palestine, the desert inhabitants apparently had northern powers, the desert population reverted trouble obtaining grain from the settled communi- to pastoral nomadism. In two periods sedentarities. They made occasional raids over the settled zation was instigated by degradation and dislands; but, much more important, they began to integration of the sedentary communities, which settle down. A significant number of Bedouin forced the nomads to produce their own grain. penetrated into the fertile parts of the country and The history of human activity in the southern settled in regions that were neglected and not deserts was shaped, therefore, by alternate procesdensely populated (Amiran and Ben-Arieh 1963; ses of sedentarization and nomadization, which Ashkenazi 1938: 7-8; von Oppenheim 1943: 15). were closely linked to the political and economic Other groups did not move north; they continued conditions in the settled lands. to practice animal husbandry and in the better ecological niches of the southern deserts also engaged in seasonal dry farming. Tent encampACKNOWLEDGMENTS ments, animal pens, and other traces of the latter are seen in the Negev highlands. In recent generaWe thank O. Bar-Yosef,E. Marx, and B. Sass for tions, as a result of the revolutionary changes in theirvaluablecomments.
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'The attempt to draw conclusions about ancient societies from present-day descendants raises some methodological questions. First, almost all the available anthropological data were recorded under the influence of modern political frameworks, which could have blurred the original systems. Second, the nature of the relationships between societies (e.g., farmers and pastoralists) is influenced by historical conditions that are sometimes difficult to reconstruct. 2A very few Bedouin tribes leave almost no material traces, for instance, the Al Murrah of the "Empty Quarter," camel nomads who migrate about 1,200 miles each year (Cole 1975); and some sheep/goat pastoral nomads in Jordan (Weir 1976). 3The terms "pastoralism" or "pastoralist" describe a subsistence strategy based on animal husbandry. We accept Dyson-Hudson and Dyson-Hudson's (1980) distinction between the rate of dependence on the direct products of the herd and the place of the animals in the economy, culture, and way of life of the society ("pastoral mode of production"). Pastoral societies cannot subsist on the animal products alone; they depend on the supply of agricultural products, especially grain. The grain is obtained in barter with neighboring farming communities, seasonal agriculture, or raids. One should also distinguish between "pastoralism," which relates directly to occupation in animal husbandry and subsistence on their products, and "nomadism," which relates to the nomadic way of life. Most huntergatherer societies are nomadic but not pastoral. On the other hand, there are groups of agropastoralists, sedentary agriculturalists raising animals. The variety of social, cultural, and economic features does not allow us to point out any common characteristic of all the societies practicing that subsistence strategy. Moreover, it is difficult to indicate a sociocultural feature characteristic only of pastoral nomads (see Dyson-Hudson and Dyson-Hudson 1980; Spooner 1973). 4Meshel (1971: 94-95) assumed that the Sheikhs' tombs of southern Sinai were constructed in the early Islamic period in strategic spots, to control the Christian pilgrimmage routes. 50On the role of the military service in Bedouin sedentarization in Jordan see Abu Jaber and Gharaibeh 1981: 294-95.
60On the role of the state in the nomad-sedentary groups relations in the Middle East see Bates 1971. On sedentarization to protect land rights see Falah 1983: 33, 45. 7The traditions of the southern Sinai Bedouin tribes describe entry of groups from Arabia into the eastern part of the peninsula. After a long time and as a result of an economic crisis, they moved west and gradually penetrated into Egypt until finally they settled in the Nile valley. Examples of such a process are the disappearance of tribes (Bani Wasal) or sections of tribes (half of the Aliqat, Awlad Suleiman, Nefiat) from Sinai in recent generations. Those groups live today in the area between the Gulf of Suez and the Nile valley, but property in Sinai, such as palm trees and Sheikh tombs, is still identified with them (see Levi 1982). 8The pastoral-nomadic society sometimes is unable to develop craft specialization and variety of subsistence resources. The strong dependence on the limited resources and the full occupation of all the sections of the society in animal husbandry prevent a balanced distribution of duties. That and the constant movement cause stagnation of the society, a source of demographic instability that may push parts of the society toward sedentarization in the settled lands (see Anderson 1974: 217-28). 9Cohen (1983: 27) argues that the desert EB II sites, including Arad, continued to exist in EB III, and that we simply do not distinguish the ceramic assemblage of EB II and EB III in the southern part of the country. We find this view difficult to accept for several reasons, among others because of the accumulation of ceramic information from large southern sites such as Arad and Bab edh-Dhrac (see Finkelstein in press). 'OThe terms "nomads" and "seminomads" spread confusion in past archaeological and historical research. Usually scholars meant to distinguish between camel nomads and sheep/goat pastoral nomads, or between groups that subsist only on raising animals and those who also practice occasional seasonal agriculture. "Finkelstein (1989) proposes that the Transjordanian and Negev processes took place at the same time, as opposed to the theory that the settled parts of the country were emptied of their population in this period.
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Processes of Sedentarization and Nomadization in the History of Sinai and the Negev Author(s): Israel Finkelstein and Avi

Sedentarization Nomadization in the of History Sinai

in the desertregions research rchaeological

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

flocks.9 Again they no doubt practiced occasional

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

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Processes of Sedentarization and Nomadization in the History of Sinai and the Negev Author(s): Israel Finkelstein and Avi

Sedentarization Nomadization in the of History Sinai

in the desertregions research rchaeological

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

flocks.9 Again they no doubt practiced occasional

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

FINKELSTEIN AND PEREVOLOTSKY

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

SEDENTARIZATION AND NOMADIZATION

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen

Finkelstein & Perevolotsky 1990

Finkelstein & Perevolotsky 1990