Revolutions in the desert : the rise of mobile pastoralism in the Negev and the arid zones of the Southern Levant

'Revolutions in the Desert' investigates the development of pastoral nomadism in the arid regions of the ancient Near East, challenging the prevailing notion that such societies left few remains appropriate for analytic study. Few prior studies have approached the deeper past of desert nomadic societies, which have been primarily recognized only as a complement to the study of sedentary agricultural societies in the region. Based on decades of archaeological field work in the Negev of southern Israel, both excavations and surveys, and integrating materials from adjacent regions, 'Revolutions in the Desert' offers a deeper and more dynamic view of the rise of herding societies beyond the settled zone. Rosen offers the first archaeological analysis of the rise of herding in the desert, from the first introduction of domestic goats and sheep into the arid zones, more than eight millennia ago, to the evolution of more recent Bedouin societies. The adoption of domestic herds by hunter-gatherer societies, contemporary with and peripheral to the first farming settlements, revolutionized all aspects of desert life, including subsistence, trade, cult, social organization, and ecology. Inviting processual comparison to the agricultural revolution and the secondary spread of domestication beyond the Near East, this volume traces the evolution of nomadic societies in the archaeological record and examines their ecological, economic and social adaptations to the deserts of the Southern Levant. With maps and illustrations from the author’s own collection, 'Revolutions in the Desert' is a thoughtful and engaging approach to the archaeology of desert nomadic societies. List of Illustrations Acknowledgments 1. Beyond History: The Importance of an Archaeology of Pastoral Nomadism An Introductory Mythology The Role of Archaeology The Goals of This Study A Note on the Chronological Framework 2. The Problem of Domestication The Range of Domesticates Identifying Domestication Herd Animals in the Near East: A Preview to the Archaeological Sequence 3. The Problems of Definition: Variability in Pastoral Adaptations Introduction Herds, Other Animals, and Their Exploitation Economy Migrations and Seasonality The Structures of Pastoral Nomadic Society The Problem of Definition over Time General Notes on Origins Baselines, Fission, Adoption, and Economics Issues of Causality Summary 4. Invisibility and Visibility: A Background to the Archaeology of Pastoral Nomadism Why We Have Not Seen the Nomads The Structure of the Discipline The Misapprehension of Mobile Pastoralism How to See Nomads Ancient Texts and Nomads Ethnography, Ethnology, and the Study of Ancient Nomads The Implications of Archaeological Methods Integrating Texts, Ethnography, and Archaeology 5. The Environmental Background to the Rise of Pastoral Nomadism in the Southern Levantine Deserts Introduction Paleoenvironments and Climatic Change The Early Holocene The Middle Holocene The Chalcolithic Period/Middle Timnian The Bronze Age (Late Timnian, Terminal Timnian, and Second Millennium BCE) The First Millennium BCE The First Millennium CE The Implications of Climatic Fluctuations 6. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Baseline: The Last Hunter-Gatherers in the Desert Goats in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Heartland The Origins of the Negev PPNB Subsistence in the Desert in the PPNB Architecture and Material Culture Society in the Desert PPNB Summary 7. The Earliest Herder-Gatherers: The Adoption of Domesticated Animals in the Desert Periphery Introduction The Chrono-Cultural Framework The Earliest Evidence The First Desert Pastoralists: A Review Discussion 8. Revolution in the Desert: The Timnian Culture Complex and the Implications of Systematic Herding Introduction The Timnian Culture Complex Definitions Domestic Architecture and Settlement Subsistence Cult and Mortuary Sites Material Culture Rock Art Revolution in the Desert: Integrating Processes in the Timnian Culture Complex Conclusions: The Rise of Desert Tribal Society 9. Another Revolution: The Late Timnian, the Early Bronze Age, and the Rise of Economic Asymmetry Introduction The Late Timnian: A Description Domestic Architecture and Settlement Subsistence Systems Cult and Mortuary Sites Mobility and Seasonality Material Culture Pastoral Nomadism and the Rise of Economic Asymmetry Demography and Social Organization Economy Multi-Resource Nomadism, Core and Periphery, and the Rise of Economic Asymmetry Epilogue: The Terminal Timnian and Collapse in the Desert 10. Text and Relict: An Essay on the Archaeology of Desert Pastoralism in the Historic Periods in the Negev Prologue: The End of the Timnian Culture Complex What Happened Next? 1. The Problem of the 2nd Millennium BCE A Digression: Texts, Archaeology, and the Bedouin Explaining the 2nd Millennium Gap: A Model for Absence (Read Decline, Scarcity, Abandonment, Etc.) What Happened Next? 2. The Origins and Development of Classical Period Nomadism 11. Epilogue: An Archaeology of the End of Pastoral Nomadism 1700 and Beyond An Archaeology of Recent Bedouin After the Revolutions References Index Revolutions in the Desert" investigates the development of pastoral nomadism in the fertile heartland of the ancient Near East, challenging the prevailing notion that such societies left few remains appropriate for analytic study. Few prior studies have approached the deeper past of desert nomadic societies, which have been primarily recognized only as a complement to the study of sedentary agricultural societies in the region. Based on decades of archaeological field work in the Negev of southern Israel, both excavations and surveys, and integrating materials from adjacent regions, Revolutions in the Desert offers a deeper and more dynamic view of the rise of herding societies beyond the settled zone. Rosen offers the first archaeological analysis of the rise of herding in the desert, from the first introduction of domestic goats and sheep into the arid zones, more than eight millennia ago, to the evolution of more recent Bedouin societies. The adoption of domestic herds by hunter-gatherer societies, contemporary with and peripheral to the first farming settlements, revolutionized all aspects of desert life, including subsistence, trade, cult, social organization, and ecology. Inviting processual comparison to the agricultural revolution and the secondary spread of domestication beyond the Near East, this volume traces the evolution of these societies in the archaeological record and examines their ecological, economic and social adaptations to the deserts of the Southern Levant