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a II

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Biblical Archaeolo gist

to theMediterranean on theAncientWorldfromMesopotamia Perspectives A Publication of theAmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch

166

Volume56 Number4 December 1993

From the Nile Valley to the Chad Basin: Ethnoarchaeologyof Shuwa Arab Settlements Augustin F.C. Holl and Thomas E. Levy Why should Near Eastern archaeologists study the life of the Shuwa Arab pastoralists of Cameroon? Ethnoarchaeological research on their pastoral-nomad villages offers a model of how site-location strategies, settlement layout, material culture items, and subsistence strategies are used to maintain and reproduce ethnic identity.

180 Camels and Camel Pastoralism in Arabia Ilse Kihler-Rollefson Camel-based pastoral societies make an archaeological appearance at the center of the Near East towards the end of the second millennium. Advantageous for long-distance trade and desert warfare, the camel also opened up vast expanses of desert to human exploitation. The diverse cultural traditions of contemporary camel keepers illuminate the domestication and utilization of this estimable beast.

page 166

189

The Edge of the Empire:The Archaeology of Pastoral Nomads in the Southern Negev Highlands in Late Antiquity Steven A. Rosen and Gideon Avni Pastoral sites look more like sites from the Stone Age than those from the Iron Age. Yet by fine-tuning their methods, excavators in the Central Negev have succeeded in detailing the life of pastoral societies of Late Antiquity, making audible the voices of ancient nomads previously known only from the passing reference of some Byzantine travelers.

200 page 180

Pastoralists in Late Bronze Age Palestine: Which Way Did They Go? David C. Hopkins As Egypt struggled to maintain itself on a faltering Late Bronze Age Palestinian landscape, it lashed out at an elusive quarry: the shasu, a burgeoning and volatile nomadic pastoralist group. The economic dynamics of pastoralism explain how the shasu earned imperial animosity and eventually transformed Palestine's settlement landscape.

212

Where the Wild Stones Have Been Gathered Aside: Pastoralist Campsites in Wadi Ziqlib, Jordan E.B. Banning How can archaeologists discover and excavate the camping sites of ancient pastoral nomads? Observations of modem tent-dwellers and test excavations of potential camping sites have begun to detect elusive traces of ancient pastoralists in Jordan's Wadi Ziqlab.

page 200

222 Book Reviews On the cover: Camelkeepershave a strongholdon notionsof nomadicpastoralism,but nomadicpastoralismembracesa wide range of human-animal relationships.(Photographby K6hler-Rollefson.)

Fromthe Guest Editor When confronted with the concept of nomadic pastoralism, both the public and the scholarly community find it difficult to come up with a satisfactory definition. For many, especially those familiar with the modem and ancient Near East, the answer is simple: Bedouin-the camel pastoralists of the Saharan and Arabian desert zones. Hollywood has provided us with lasting images of Peter O'Toole riding through the deserts of Transjordanwith the rugged and individualistic Bedouin tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Turks. This highly romantic view of nomadic pastoralism is certainly appealing. Anyone who has had the pleasure of spending time with the Bedouin, sipping hot sweet tea, and listening to their heroic poetry which glorifies the honor code, will certainly agree honor does indeed play a central role in their internal and external cultural relationships. However, camel nomads represented only one kind of nomadism in the Old World. Archaeologically, they were one of the latest types of pastoral specialization and only began to have an impact on history toward the end of the Late Bronze Age. By using only the Bedouin "model," the complexity of nomadism and its diverse human/animal relationships become blurred. This is perhaps best highlighted in the new Anchor BibleDictionary (ABD) where "pastoralism" and "nomadism" are nowhere to be found. Instead, the whole issue of nomadic pastoralism is subsumed under the rubric "Bedouin and Bedouin States." This only reinforces misconceived stereotypes of the role of pastoral nomads in the ancient world. How then can nomadic pastoralism best be defined? In Thomas Barfield's new book The NomadicAlternative (reviewed in this issue), nomadic pastoralists are societies specializing in animal husbandry requiring periodic movements. This excludes other nomadic groups, such as hunter-gatherers, jet-setting archaeologists, migrant farm workers, and dairy farmers who don't move herd animals. While nomadic pastoralism is organized around mobile households involving all the members of the society in production activities, pastoralism can take on dimensions where mobility affects only a small portion of the society. Thus, the emphasis on the nomadic dimension of pastoralism, as in the ABD entry on Bedouins, does a disservice to the reader and clouds the significance of pastoralism in social change in the ancient world. As Ofer Bar-Yosef and Anatoly Khazanov point out in their new book Pastoralismin the Levant:ArchaeologicalMaterials in AnthropologicalPerspectives (also reviewed in this issue), pastoralism encompasses a wide range of forms, from mixed economies to transhumance, to semi-nomadism, to pure pastoral nofriadism along the lines of camel pastoralists. In the Old World, different types of pastoralism depended on the type of herd animal raised. There are cattle keepers, camel nomads, pastoral groups who raise sheep and goats, horse-based nomads, and yak breeders. With the exception of the yak, at one time or another all of these domestic animals have played an important role in human/animal relations in the Levant. As variability in the types of pastoral economies cannot always be distinguished in the archaeological record, it is important to rely on anthropological models of pastoralism to help build an understanding of the range of possibilities for the past. Nothing could be more true for the small area of Israel and Jordan. Each of its environmental zones (Mediterranean, semi-arid, and arid landscapes) has been characterized by changing pastoral systems from the beginning of animal domestication until today. It is in the attempt to grasp the conspicuous diversity of nomadic pastoralism that the following papers are presented. ThomasE. Levy University of California, San Diego

Biblical

Archaeologist

on theAncientWorldfrom Perspectives Mesopotamia to theMediterranean Editor David C. Hopkins Art Director Lyle Rosbotham Book Review Editor James C. Moyer EditorialAssistant Timothy L. Adamson Editorial Committee

GloriaLondon JefferyA. Blakely ErnestS. Frerichs JodiMagness GeraldL.Mattingly SeymourGitin RonaldS. Hendel CarolL.Meyers RichardS. Hess GaetanoPalumbo KennethG. Hoglund Neil A. Silberman ThomasE.Levy MarkS. Smith PaulZimansky Subscriptions Annual subscription rates are $35 for individuals and $45 for institutions. There is a special annual rate of $28 for those over 65, physically challenged, or unemployed. BiblicalArchaeologistis also available as part of the benefits of some ASOR membership categories. Postage for Canadian and other international addresses is an additional $5. Payments should be sent to ASOR Membership/Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 15399, Atlanta, GA 30333-0399 (ph: 404-727-2345; Bitnet: SCHOLARS@EMORYUI).VISA/Mastercard orders can be phoned in. Back issues Back issues can be obtained by calling SP Customer Services at 800-437-6692 or writing SP Customer Services, P.O. Box 6996, Alpharetta, GA 30239-6996. Postmaster Send address changes to Biblical Archaeologist,ASOR Membership/Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 15399, Atlanta, GA 303330399. Second-class postage paid at Atlanta, GA and additional offices. Copyright 0 1993 by the American Schools of Oriental Research. Correspondence All editorial correspondence should be addressed to BiblicalArchaeologist, 4500 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016-5690 (ph: 202-885-8699; fax: 202-8858605). Books for review should be sent to Dr. James C. Moyer, Department of Religious Studies, Southwest Missouri State University, 901 South National, Box 167, Springfield, MO 65804-0095. Advertising Correspondence should be addressed to Sarah Foster, Scholars Press, P.O. Box 15399, Atlanta, GA 30333-0399 (ph: 404727-2325; fax: 404-727-2348). Ads for the sale of antiquities will not be accepted. Biblical Archaeologist (ISSN 0006-0895) is published

quarterly(March,June, September,December)by Scholars Press, 819 Houston Mill Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, for the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), 3301 North Charles

Street,Baltimore,MD 21218.Printed by Waverly Press, Baltimore,MD. OF~' 0/?, 0

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By Augustin EC. Holl and Thomas E. Levy

When

excaarchaeologists

vate a site and find an axe, a figurine, house plan, or any other piece of human residue, how do they know what these ancient objects are? If the artifact comes from a Prehistoric period when no written documents exist, how can archaeologists be sure what the figurine, axe, or house plan they define is? In truth, they cannot be sure. The best archaeology can do is base its identifications on analogy with historically documented or modern objects. Analogy may be defined as "a similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based; a similarity of forms having a separate evolutionary origin; or a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of known similarities in other respects" (Costello 1990:49). From the inception of archaeology, its practitioners have made their conclusions about archaeological materials by making comparisons or analogies to ethnographically derived observations of living peoples. This is highlighted by Lewis Henry Morgan's book, Ancient Society (published in 1877), which was based partly on his enormous knowledge of North American Indian groups living at that time. It could easily be argued that many of the interpretations which archaeologists make are unconsciously based on analogy. It does not take an archaeological genius to identify a circle of postholes 166

BiblicalArchaeologist56:4 (1993)

as a house plan, or an object as an axe, sword, or pot. However, more conscious use of ethnographic analogy is made when the archaeological record is used to reconstruct prehistoric social organization, ideology, mortuary behavior, exchange patterns, and economic organization. Archaeologists examine the ethnographic record of traditional or modern societies to find appropriate analogs and parallels to the archaeological record. Thus, the use of analogy, whether conscious or unconscious, is the fundamental basis of all archaeological interpretation. As recently as twenty years ago, archaeologists relied on ethnographers to supply them with analogies. Then, a growing dissatisfaction on the part of archaeologists with the kind of "relevant" information provided by ethnographers led some of them to branch out on their own and conduct their own controlled fieldwork among contemporary peoples. This led to the birth of ethnoarchaeology, loosely defined as "the study of contemporary societies with the aim of understanding how human behavior relates to material culture" (Renfrew and Bahn 1991).

The Use and Abuse of Analogy in Archaeology Basic to ethnoarchaeological research, as Carol Kramer points out (1979:1), is the assumption that "some behavioral elements of socio-cultural systems have material correlates; if they are incorporated in the archaeological record, such residues may be used to

develop inferences about the behaviors with which they were associated. Thus observations made on living societies can be readily applied to past situations." However, this use of analogy can be dangerous when researchers assume a "deterministic uniformitarianism"where, as Ian Hodder (1982:12) suggests, archaeologists assume that societies and cultures similar in some aspects are uniformly similar in all other aspects. This outlook is basically unreliable, especially when great spans of time are involved in making analogies with present-day cultural forms. Cultural anthropologists who rely on the use of analogy face similar problems. For archaeologists, who are burdened with a dependency on analogy, a four-tier model can be devised: 1) simple direct analogy, 2) cautionary tales, 3) processual analogy, and 4) cognitive analogy. Simple analogy still dominates

Shuwa Arab pastoralists ride across the seasonally flooded grassland known as Yaere

in locallanguages.TheShuwainhabitdry-seasoncampsin this regionwhichthey abandon during the wet-season flooding. All photographs by TE.Levy,unless noted.

ethnoarchaeological research around the world. It falls into two main categories: functional studies and analysis of site-formation processes. Functional studies include "action" or "experimental" archaeology in which archaeologists reconstruct past technologies. For example, researchers have reconstructed a small pyramid in Egypt to discover the mechanisms of how these ancient monuments were constructed over 4,000 years ago. Others have replicated use-wear on experimentally manufactured stone tools. Functional studies also include observations on how people used their space-population size vs. habitation area-and re-enactments of so-called "primitive" technologies such as metal working, pottery production, glass making, basketry, and other non-industrialized means of craft production, which may shed light on the organization and techniques of production. Statistical

analyses can test the strength of a relationship between two variables, for example population size and house plans, yet we are still left with only a probability that such a relationship exists. The other type of simple analogy focuses on site-formation processes. This concept refers to those processes affecting the way in which archaeological materials came to be buried and their subsequent history (Schiffer 1987). Examples include studies of how artifacts are reused, re-cycled, and discarded, and how sites are disturbed. Other studies, termed taphonomy, concern environmental formation processes and how the natural environment affects the preservation of sites and artifacts. "Cautionary tales" constitute a special kind of analogy used by some researchers to ask archaeologists to be cautious in inferring behavioral patterns from past records. These

tales attempt to refute archaeological claims by pointing to the varieties of interpretations offered by ethnoarchaeological field work. Information is presented to caution against a particular archaeological interpretation. This information does not prove archaeologists wrong, but rather demonstrates that alternative and complementary interpretations must be sought and their relevance tested scientifically. A healthy dose of caution is certainly advisable when using analogy, and ethnoarchaeological research can provide food for thought for archaeologists when they make their interpretations. As far back as the 1950s, Clyde Kluckhohn (1957:44) remarked that "the interest of modem archaeology is focussed upon helping to establish the principles of cultural growth and change." As such, since the early 60s, processual archaeology has evolved as an approach which stresses the BiblicalArchaeologist56:4 (1993)

167

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dynamic relationship between social and economic aspects of culture and the environment as the basis for understanding the processes of culture change. In this regard, ethnoarchaeology can be characterized as involving "field study of the production, typology, distribution, consumption, and discard of material culture, with particular attention to the mechanisms that relate variation and variability to socio-cultural context, and to inference from the mechanisms to processes of change. 'Mechanisms' are defined as 'configurations of the full range of environmental, material, and socio-cultural variables that interact at one time horizon to generate patterning in material culture.' 'Processes' are 'diachronic changes in mechanisms including their structural change, breakdown, and transformation into others"' (David 1992:337). Processual analogy appreciates the utility of "general comparative analogy." It is based on the assumption that if processual questions are asked, the cross-cultural approach to ethnoar-

168


Ethnic affiliations and economic activities, Houlouf study area Numberof Villages EthnicGroup

Agriculture

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Among the six different ethnic groups that inhabitthe researcharea, the Kotokoare the longest tenured and have developed the strongest socio-politicalsystem.Sharedsettlement existsamong some groups, but not among the Kotokoand the ShuwaArab pastoralists.Nevertheless,these two are related by a range of socio-economicinteraction.

chaeological analogy is most useful, acknowledging that there is always a tension between the general and the particular. Cognitive analogies are an alternative to the materialist orientation of processual analysis. Cognitive analogies focus on the cognitive and symbolic aspects of material culture and the role of ideology as an active

organizational force in societies (Hodder 1982, Miller and Tilley 1984, Renfrew and Bahn 1991). Symbolic ethnoarchaeological research has produced illuminating studies concerning the degrees of interaction between culture and the symbolic meaning of different kinds of material objects in "non-industrial" societies. However, cognitive analogies

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risk being too "culturally specific" to be of use for cross-cultural purposes. A recent example of this is a study of decoration on pottery among the Mafa-Bulahay of Northern Cameroon. The authors propose a generalized "potting model" for West Africa which links pots with people and pottery decoration with symbolic structures (David et al. 1988). However, as Nigel Barley (1988:379) points out, this model is too culturally specific to be applicable to other parts of the world. Even if research carried out within the symbolic and structural school is too particular to be easily generalized, it is very challenging for archaeologists and helpful in suggesting complex systems of meanings for material culture. To conclude our short discussion on the use and abuse of analogy in archaeology, it is worth emphasizing that different kinds of analogs are

useful in the complex process of interpretation of material culture items and archaeological evidence. Cautionary tales have been useful in emphasizing the need for more controlled interpretations of archaeological finds. Both processual and cognitive analogies have roles to play and are not irreconcilable. As ?".r?~lb pointed out by Kosso (1991), these two research frameworks, associated with the ilaeNaa leading figures of Lewis Binford and Ian Hodder, are based on the same sets of assumptions with different research aims. "Binfordians and Hoderrians strive for different things, the former 'explanations' in terms of laws that apply cross-culturally, the latter 'understandings' in which laws are apparent, if at all, only as tendencies in sets of historical conjunctions. Neither account of socio-cultural life is complete without the other" (David 1992:336-37).

The Lake Chad Basin: Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives Our ethnoarchaeological research is part of the Houlouf Archaeological Research Project in northern Cameroon, which was initiated in 1982. In general, the project aims at explaining some of the dynamics of human settlement in the southern portion of the Lake Chad Basin over the past 4,000 years. To complement the archaeological investigation, an ethnoarchaeological research program has been implemented to understand problems linked to ethnic interaction in a multi-ethnic regional setting, and

to document the major characteristics of pastoralism which have bearing on the problem of ethnicity and material culture (Holl 1987, 1988, 1992; Holl et al. 1989, 1991). As we are jointly engaged in archaeological research programs in Israel and northern Cameroon, such a collaborative project may be of interest to all archaeologists who are concerned with identifying the material correlates related to change from nomadic to settled village life, the emergence, maintenance, and reproduction of ethnic identities, and systemic interaction between different socio-economic systems (Levy 1983). For researchers working in Syro-Palestine, a related research problem is certainly the settlement of the tribes of Israel from assumed semi-nomadic pastoralists to sedentary and complex societies in the midst of a multiethnic social landscape. The ethnoarchaeological research on pastoral-nomad villages in the Houlouf region has documented how site-location strategies, settlement layout, material culture items, and subsistence strategies are used to maintain and reproduce ethnic identity in a multi-ethnic regional setting within a context of complementary and competing socio-economic systems. From this preliminary regional research, it appears clear that studies which focus on individual sites inevitably fail to reveal the greater network of human activities and the ability of societies to cope with changing ecological and social circumstances. Thus, we advocate a regional perspective as the best way to monitor social and economic adaptation of human communities in the past and present. The Region of Houlouf: Land and Population The Houlouf region is situated in the northernmost part of Cameroon along the southern margins of the Sahel, some 120 km south of Lake Chad. The region covers an area of about 400 km2 bordered in the east by the Logone River, with other bor-


169

ders defined arbitrarily.The area was selected because of the centrality of the Houlouf mound and the representative range of micro-environmental zones which characterize the Chadian plain. It is an extremely flat land, with altitudes varying from 283 to 285 m above sea level. The vegetation association is characterized as arbustive savanna with thorny trees. As the area is located in the transition zone between the Sudanian savannah and the Sahel, the region is exposed to severe cyclical droughts. In general, the climate is characterized by two contrasting seasons: a very hot, dry season from November to May and a rainy season from June to October. The study area is thus characterized by very sharp seasonal variation in the availability and distribution of water. With the exception of the Logone River, all the streams are temporary. Most of them are presently almost inactive, being de facto fossil channels. In terms of micro-environmental features, two major sets of characteristics are critical in regard to settlement location strategies: firstly, the overall distribution of seasonally flooded/nonflooded areas, and secondly, the patterning of ecological micro-zones. Approximately 60% of the 400 square kilometers is composed of seasonally flooded lands; only 40% is permanently above flood level. In this flat Chadian plain, constituted primarily of montmorillonitic clay, the location of permanent habitation sites is thus severely constrained. Three main ecological microzones have been identified in the area; these include: 1) the Logone river valley, a denser cover of trees and vegetation composing 10% of the study area; 2) the arbustive savanna hinterland which is the largest micro-zone in the study area, comprising 70% of the region, and 3) the marshy lowland, called Yadrdin local languages, which is covered with grassland, is flooded during the rainy season, and covers 20% of the study area. For the past 4,000 years, the Lake Chad basin has been a meeting 170


Aerialview of LogoneBirni,one of the Kotokosettlementssituatedalong the west bankof the LogoneRiver.A defense wall surroundsthe settlement. TheSultan'spalaceis locatedin the centerof built-uparea.Source:Lebeuf7969. ground of different ethnic groups. These peoples practice a wide range of economic pursuits, including fulltime agriculture, fishing, pastoralism, and various combinations of these. Anthropologists have offered several definitions of ethnic groups. According to Manning Nash in his book entitled The Cauldronof Ethnicityin

the Modern World,there are different building blocks which may be helpful for the definition of ethnicity. These include a biological component expressed as blood, genes, and flesh; a similar language shared by a group of people; and similar general economic orientation, history, and world views. As Michael Meeker (1989) has

shared settlement exists between the Kotoko and the Shuwa Arabs. Both share some settlements with other ethnic groups with similar socio-economic systems. The Massa who are pastoralists are preferentially associated with the Shuwa Arabs, while most of the Sara and Mousgoum practicing agriculture and fishing are preferentially associated with the Kotoko. The Kanuri do not have a settlement for their own and are associated with the Kotoko, Massa, and Shuwa Arabs. Unlike the other ethnic groups of the stuarea, the Kotody The paramount chief (Sultan) of the Logone polity, ko claim possesSultanMahamatBahr,in his palace.He is picturedwith sion of the land symbolsof rankand power. through their mythical ancestors, the "Sao" (Lebeuf 1969). The Kotoko suggested, ethnicity can also be a "cultural identity" associated with a were the earliest settlers and develspecific practice, such as a "pastoral oped the strongest and the most warrior identity," which can be used structured socio-political organizato define the group. Whatever the tion in the region from ca. 1000 CEto selected definition, ethnicity is better the present. The Kotoko political sysconsidered in processual terms as a tem is best characterized as a smallconstructed scale Sultanate or complex Chiefdom. socially palimpsest which aims to highlight the differPast Kotoko societies were organized ences between a group's ego and outinto competing peer-polities which siders. As will be shown here, the fought against each other for political domination and control of the southpastoral identity in general helps to define the Shuwa Arabs as a separate ern part of the Chadian plain. In such ethnic identity, even if their language a changing balance of economic and is used as the linguafranca by all the political power, new settlers like inhabitants of the study area. Shuwa Arab pastoralists from the Six different ethnic groups have Nile Valley sometimes presented a been recorded in recent censuses of threat to or an opportunity for the study area: the Kanuri, Massa, alliances with these relatively centralized polities. The relationships of the Mousgoum, Sara, Kotoko, and Shuwa Arabs. Among the six, no Shuwa Arabs with different princi-

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palities and kingdoms of the Chad basin involve a very complex history, which is still poorly understood. In some areas, such as the 19th century Logone polity with the mound site of Houlouf as one of its northern district centers (Lebeuf 1969; Holl 1988), they were preferentially enrolled as soldiers and border guards for the Kotoko. At the same time, in the neighboring kingdom of Bornu, some Shuwa Arabs were among the highest officials of the state. Traditionally, the Kotoko attitude toward the Shuwa Arab pastoralists has been characterized by systematic exclusion and paternalism. According to oral information collected in the field, the Shuwa Arabs are considered to be untrustworthy, thieving, violent, and bad Muslims. On the other hand, Shuwa Arabs consider the Kotoko as dangerous witches, chauvinistic, and greedy for power and wealth. However, both ethnic groups happen to live together on the same land and must share and use the same space. An interesting range of socioeconomic interaction exists among these groups. Exchanges take place at weekly markets organized in the Kotoko settlements of each cluster of villages. Shuwa Arabs come from the hinterland to participate in these markets. Dairy products, dried fish, and calabashes are sold by Shuwa women, and some craftswork, such as blacksmithing, is performed by Shuwa Arab men. Among the Kotoko, a small number of males operate a mill for grinding sorghum and corn, and women sell Kotokomade pottery vessels, peanuts, and locally grown vegetables. The Shuwa Arab language is the linguafranca used among peoples of the entire southern Lake Chad basin, and even among the Kotoko from different settlements. However, the Shuwa Arabs have never had access to higher regional political offices. Their respective villages are ruled by a chief (termed Bilama,a Kanuri name for chief) elected among the elders. The Bilamais subordinate to a


171

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local chief (the lower order sultan), who is always a Kotoko residing in Houlouf or any of the Kotoko settlements. Above this chief is the paramount chief (the sultan), prince of Logone Birni. It thus appears that the exclusive control of higher sociopolitical offices by the Kotoko is one of the main reasons for their paternalism toward the Shuwa Arabs. With rapid changes in the regional distribution of population and balance of power during the last decade, there are interesting transformations of settlement patterns. Our ethnoarchaeological project was conducted in order to uncover the ramifications of these changing situations at different levels, including: 1) that of regional distribution of settlements, 2) that of settlement spatial patterning among both sedentary and pastoral peoples, and 3) that of selected material culture items. From 1987 to 1991, we investigated a range of Shuwa Arab settlements: 2 destroyed wet-season villages, 10 wet-season villages abandoned during the dry-season, 12 dry-season camps, and 4 permanent villages. Before considering the preliminary 172


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results of our ethnoarchaeological project, a short summary of the history of the expansion of the Shuwa Arab pastoralists is necessary.

Historical Background of Shuwa Arab Expansion Ethnohistorical testimony collected in one Shuwa Arab village in 1991 asserts that their ancestors arrived in the Houlouf area three hundred years ago from the locality of Bokoro, located in the east of the Chad

village Bilbede.

Republic, near modem Sudan. The details of the migration are not known, but it is believed that the dispersion of Shuwa Arabs tribes and factions was a consequence of drought and disputes. The earliest mention of the presence of Shuwa Arabs in the Chad basin is dated to 1391-92 CE,reported in a letter of Sultan Uthman b. Idris, King of Bornu, to the Mamluk Sultan Al-Zahir Abu Sa'id Barquq of Egypt which has been recorded by Al-Qalqashandi

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Above: a village from the Arbustive-Savanna micro-zone. This Shuwa Arab permanent settlement of Djidat is emerging to rival Houlouf, the traditional Kotoko social and economic hub of the Chadian basin. The proliferation of rectilinear houses is one signal of the emergence of this alternative market center. Plan by TE. Levy and A. Holl.


173

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and storagebin.

The bed is raisedca. 50 cm abovethe groundand is used byall membersof the family.

(Levtzion and Hopkins 1981:346-48). In this letter, the ancestors of the Shuwa Arabs are referred to as "Judham": ... for the Arabs who are called Judham and others have snatched away some of our free people, women and children, infirm men, relations of ours, and other Muslims. Some of these Arabs are polytheists and deviate from true religion. They have raided the Muslims and done great slaughter among them because of a dispute which has occurred between us and our enemies. As a result of this dispute they have killed our King 'Amr the Martyr b. Idris, the son of our father al-HajjIdris son of al-HajjIbrahim.... These Arabs have devastated all our country, the whole of al-Barnu, up to this day. They have seized our free men and our relatives, who are Muslims, and sold them to the slave dealers (jullab)of Egypt and Syria and others.... From this letter, it is clear that the expansion of Shuwa Arabs into the Chad basin was basically a peaceful process disconnected from any Islamic jihad. Troubles had started following a dispute; unfortunately, nothing is said about the nature of the dispute. We may suspect that 174


land for pasture and water may have been a bone of contention between pastoralists and settled agriculturalists. According to Zeltner (1979, 1980), the Banu Judham were one of the important tribes of Yemen at the end of the 7th century. They were among the first Arabs to settle in Egypt after the Muslim conquest and were given the rulership of some provinces. Under the Shi'ite Fatimid dynasty, the Judham were powerful and enjoyed important privileges up to the second half of the 12th century. With the advent of Salah al-Din and the Ayyubid dynasty, they started to loose their status and, consequently, initiated several revolts. With the changing balance of power in Egypt under the Ayyubids (1171-1250), there was a series of fights and strong pressure exerted on the nomadic Arab tribes to move beyond the borders of the kingdom. Under the Mamluk Turk sultans (1250-1517), the situation was much more disastrous for the Arab nomads, as they had to face Egyptian and Nubian attacks, and were castigated as savages, uncivilized, rebels, "urban," and "bedouins." According to Kropacek (1985:437),Mamluk Egyptian troops launched an important series of military campaigns against the nomadic Arab tribes in 1302, 1351, 1353, 1375, and 1395 to crush their rebellion. The

only way to save their lives was to seek refuge in Sudan where Mamluk troops had sacked and even destroyed some of the Christian Kingdoms in Nubia. By 1317, many Arab tribes such as the Djuhayna, Bali, Tayy, and Judham had expanded from the region of Asyut towards the desert hinterland, the Darfur in Central Sudan and the Chad basin (Garcin 1985; Kropacek 1985; Fischer 1977). According to Zeltner (1979, 1980) the expansion of the Banu Judham into the Chad basin followed the route along the Wadi al-Malik. There is however a major bias in the historical record-which concentrates on major political events-so that normal life and peaceful interaction are often not noticed. In the Chad basin, the expansion of Shuwa Arab pastoralists seems to have been peaceful. Yet their nomadic way of life was probably alien to the settled communities organized in competing peer-polities. As the Shuwa Arabs could easily shift their alliance from one ruler to another, from the beginning of their settlement in the Basin they played an important role in the shifting balance of power in the region. Yet in almost all the polities, they had to pay an annual tribute in horses, cattle, sheep, and goats to the Kotoko rulers. In all the cases, the Shuwa Arabs were always in the

-At

Oll'

Shuwa Arab decorated hearths are the most distinc-

tive materialcultureitemsfound at all varietiesof settlements.The "arrow"motif recursmostfrequently.

position of being dominated. However, through economic specialization based on intensive cattle husbandry they could occupy marginal environments in the Chad Basin and maintain a degree of independence.

Site-location Strategies At the regional level, the settlements of the Kotoko rulers are exclusively located on the part of the land situated above the flood level in the optimal areas of permanent settlement and on the shore of the Logone River. While most of the Shuwa Arab pastoral-based villages are located in the portion of the region which is flooded during the rainy season, others are located in the grassland of the Yadrd.This patterning is congruent with the different subsistence systems practiced in the region. These include: 1) the Shuwa Arab and Massa cattle pastoralists who inhabit the grassland (the Yaerdarea), 2) sedentary Shuwa Arabs practicing a mixed economy inhabiting the arbustive savanna micro-zone shared with Kotoko agriculturalists; and 3) agriculturalists and fishermen from the different ethnic communities. The settlement system of the Shuwa Arabs, whatever their subsistence system, is composed of two major kinds of sites: on the one hand,

Multi-niche, decorated hearth located at the dry season camp, YadreIX.

Suchhearthsare builtexclusivelybythe ShuwaArabswho reservedthe hearthsfor marriedcouples.Thepresenceof the hearthsreinforcesShuwa Arabethnicidentityin circumstances of rapidsocialand economicchange.

permanent and wet-season villages, and on the other, dry-season camps located deep in the Yaeremarsh land. The locations of the dry-season camps shift from one year to the other, and each camp is normally composed of people from the same village. These camps are clustered according to kinship, alliances, or friendly relationships between villages and also for reasons of security. The territorial range of nomadic movement from the wet-season villages to dry-season camps is relatively short, varying from 5 to 30 km for people from the Houlouf region, and much more (about 70 to 100 km) for groups coming from Afade and even the state of Nigeria. This movement represents what has been called a pulsating system of pastoral nomadism (Khazanov 1984).

Sedentary Kotoko Settlement Patterning The Kotoko have centralized sociopolitical institutions characterized by the existence of a paramount chief, lower order local chiefs, and villagelevel Bilama.Before and even during the colonial period, the Kotoko peerpolities were organized in a twotiered settlement hierarchy. The spatial organization of the different Kotoko political centers shares the

same basic structure and has been studied by ethnographers at a number of settlements such as Makari, Gulfey, Kusseri, Logone Bimi, Wulki, Houlouf, and Kala-Kafra(Lebeuf 1969). All these settlements were visited during our ethnoarchaeological field season in 1991. Each is encircled by an earthen rampart, within which the spatial patterning is focussed on the Sultan's palace. These ramparts are similar to those found at the SyroPalestinian tel sites. Habitation units are organized into walled individual and connected compounds composed of courtyards and various numbers of dwelling units depending upon wealth, the political position of the headmen, and the number of members of the household. The houses, built with sun-dried bricks, are rectilinear in shape with flat roofs. Aggregates of compounds are organized into distinct quarters or wards, separated from each other by narrow streets, and each of them is ruled by a chief elected or appointed among the elders. These elders are often members of different councils which manage the affairs of the whole community under the leadership of the Sultan, whose palace is located at the center of the settlement..Some of the highest ranked elders had impressive double or triple story residences; howBiblicalArchaeologist56:4 (1993)

175

ever, the central location of the Sultan's palace is a spatial correlate of the leading position of his office within the Kotoko socio-political system. The palace of the Sultan of Logone Birni is an impressive multistory building with one high tower located at the southeastern corner adjacent to the guard room. The palace has all the accoutrements of a royal institution: a reception room, women's quarters, guards' rooms, and special function rooms to store royal drums, arms, and other paraphernalia. The layout and organization of the Logone Birni palace are markedly different from that observed in domestic architectural units, and thus provide a reliable analogy for identifying royal architecture in other regions. Near the Sultan's palace are the Friday Mosque and the palace of the Ghumsa,the Queen mother, who, even if she does not have any specific attribution in the political system, is one of the most important advisers of the ruler. Houlouf, located 29 km northwest of the Logone Birni capital, is the sole Kotoko settlement in our study area and shares the same major characteristics presented above, but on a smaller scale. The local (petit) sultan's residence, the largest habitation unit of the village, is situated in the central position next to a large plaza with a well, a large grinding stone, and numerous trees. The elders meet each other formally and informally under a shelter built next to the Houlouf palace. The Friday Mosque and the residence of the highest ranked official are situated on the southern side of the plaza, close to the sultan's palace. Before the installation of a deep-bored pump in 1985, the well was the informal meeting place of the women of the whole village, and all kinds of information was exchanged and dispatched. Sedentary Kotoko settlements are therefore characterized by a particular spatial patterning-which is centered upon a hierarchy of sultans' residences-fenced compounds, quadrangular houses with flat roofs, 176


The appearance of sun-dried bricks is associated with the multiplication of

rectilinearstructuresat ShuwaArabpermanentvillages,suchas this buildingat Djidat.Sun-driedbricksare sightedonlyoccasionallyin pastoralvillagecircularhuts. Theshiftfromcircularto rectilinearhouseshas been connectedwith the transition from nomadicto sedentarycommunities. and the use of sun-dried bricks as building material.

Spatial Patterningof Shuwa Arab Settlements In varying degrees, all the Shuwa Arab settlements (dry-season camps, wet-season villages, and permanent villages) are circular to sub-circular in shape. Site layouts are structured in relation to livestock. Livestock enclosures are located inside the circle of habitation houses which are located on the periphery between the community and the outside plain. House entrances are all oriented toward the center of the settlement. Houses devoted to habitation and/or livestock are organized into clusters inhabited by extended families. The basic unit of social organization among the Shuwa seems to be the household.... an extended household, comprising the head of the household and grown-up sons. To this we must add the head's brothers who also have grown-up sons, and so on until in fact, you find a fairly large agnatically linked community working and co-operating together in such essential matters as herding, the seasonal movements and above

all, defense and military matters (Tijani 1986:70). Habitation houses are characterized by the presence of sleeping, storage, cooking, eating, and heating facilities. The bed, which is used by all the members of the family (father, mother, and young children), is made with short poles and sticks. It is raised ca. 50 cm above ground and covered by an ornate canopy made of sticks. The bed is always located at the center of the house, perpendicular to the entrance, and covers approximately half of the house surface. The cooking hearth (ca. 1.0 x 0.7 m) is usually built of clay or mud bricks with multiple niches and is always located on the right side of the entrance. The main storage area in the house is situated along the wall, on both sides of the cooking hearth, and to the right side of the door. In many cases, it is raised on a bench above which shelves are built. Various kinds of containers are used, including large jars, pots, and calabashes, as well as enamel wares used for storing, cooking, and serving food and performing other domestic activities. Finally, a small hearth located near the bed is used for heating the house during the cold

:1::i-'~iuii:~~i-~ :i-l:-~---::~~----~ib: --l~:aii :~~i~ii-~:i-:i-~"i2~-i~~i:~-i~i:--i :-~:-::~i-~il::?::~:::__'a-~:--:-:iP---

Augustin F.C.Holl (left)is Maitrede Conferencesat the Universityof ParisX in Nanterre,France.He is currentlyengaged in researchconcerningthe emergenceof social complexityin marginaldry-landsand deserts,in the Sahara,the Sahel,and Negev in Israel.Since 1982,he has directeda majorinterdisciplinaryarchaeological researchprojectin the LakeChadbasin of WestAfrica.Dr.Holl is authorof numerandSocial ous articlesand reviews. His most recentbooks include SpatialBoundaries Dynamics - Case Studiesfrom Food-producingSocieties(co-edited with T.E. Levy) and Houlouf I: Archeologiedes Socidtdsprotohistoriquesdu Nord Cameroun(Cambridge

Monographsin AfricanArchaeology). Thomas E. Levy (right)is AssistantProfessorof Anthropologyand JudaicStudies at the Universityof California,San Diego. Formerlyhe was AssistantDirectorat both the W.EAlbrightInstituteof ArchaeologicalResearch(1985-1987)and the Nelson GleuckSchoolof BiblicalArchaeology,HebrewUnion College-Jewish Instituteof Religion(1987-1992)in Jerusalem.He receivedhis Ph.D. fromthe Universityof Sheffield,England.Levy's field work focuses on the rise of complex societiesin Israel'sNegev desert and on ethnoarcheologicalresearchnearLake Chad,in northernCameroon.Authorof numerousscholarlypapers,his most

recent books are Spatial Boundariesand Social Dynamics - Case Studiesfrom Food-producing Societies(co-edited with A. Holl) and EretzIsrael- Studies in History, Archaeology,and Geography:Biran Volume23 (co-edited with E. Stem). He is a member of the editorial board of BiblicalArchaeologist.

nights of the rainy season and for keeping mosquitoes and flies away. It is a featureless structure attested in the material record only by a thin concentration of ash and charcoal. In each settlement, there are varying number of communal shelters which are often huts without walls where people from different households meet each other. Among the material culture items recorded in the abandoned huts, pottery-though produced by the Kotoko-is the most abundant. Animal figurines in clay have been found at one settlement, but the most distinctive artifacts are special kinds of multi-niche and decorated hearths. Multi-niche hearths are peculiar to the Shuwa Arabs and

are permitted only to married couples (unmarried boys and girls have simple featureless hearths). The patterns of decoration on the hearths vary from house to house and from settlement to settlement. When interviewed on the meanings of the decoration, many informants laughed and answered that it is simply for adornment, to make the hearth beautiful. However, the most recurring decorative motif in all the settlements, whether in dry-season camps, wetseason camps, or permanent villages, is that of an arrow. According to women informants, the arrows on the hearths represent the wooden stick used to prepare the sorghum dish. The decorated hearths signal food

preparation activities and highlight the major social role of the family unit reflected in the construction of these hearths and the layout of the house. There are, however, some differences among Shuwa Arab settlements which will not be presented in detail here. They concern: 1) the presence or absence of fences around household clusters. Fences are characteristic of sedentary settlements, which emphasize greater concern with private ownership; 2) the presence or absence of central livestock enclosures; 3) built or open-air mosques; 4) the degree of reliance on grain farming; and 5) the differences in clan affiliations in different villages. As far as archaeological analogy is concerned, the introduction of new kinds of building material is crucial. The appearance of sun-dried bricks, for example, has been associated with new architectural designs and an intriguing shift from circular to rectilinear houses with flat roofs. This remarkable transition is reminiscent of Flannery's study (1972) of the process of sedentarization in the Near East from Natufian times to the Neolithic period. In some pastoral villages there are few examples of circular huts built with sun-dried bricks, but in general houses are built with logs, twigs, and grass. It is in permanent villages that the number of rectilinear buildings increases dramatically. The change from a circular to rectilinear form is therefore a good indication of the transition from nomadic to sedentary communities. The architectural design, building materials used, patterning, and the associated material record of the settlements strongly emphasized Shuwa Arab cultural identity. In pastoral settlements, the site layout reflects a self-sufficient, relatively autonomous and disconnected social entity in strict conformity with the pastoralnomadic political system. This layout is devoid of any super-ordinate socio-political decision-making level, each settlement being a self-contained social and political unit. Such


177

autonomous patterns were countered by the centralizing tendencies of the Kotoko political system. Under the Kotoko tax system, the Shuwa Arabs had to pay out different kinds of annual tribute, and they were also integrated into the dominant political system by being used as soldiers and border guards for the Kotoko polities. In pastoral groups, the socio-economic system focuses mainly on livestock; accordingly, in the context of modem Cameroon, the spatial patterning of their sites is above all dependent on the decision-making organization controlling matters of herding and relations with neighboring societies. Because of their total exclusion from the pan-regional political system, the pastoralists' site patterning is inward-oriented in an expression of self-exclusion; the outside world is clearly disregarded. In this regard, one may easily understand the Shuwa Arab attitude toward the sedentary Kotoko, which may be characterized as negative reciprocity (Sahlins 1968). Shuwa pride and mistrust find expression in popular sayings of the Chad basin (Tijani 1986). They are a metaphorical expression of the symbolic and ideological features resulting from longterm Shuwa interaction with their different neighbors. Such symbolism is partially translated into their settlement location, patterning, and material culture.

Conclusion From a processual perspective, the centrality of pastoralism as the main economic activity of the Shuwa Arabs has served to reinforce their identity as a separate ethnic group. The settled Kotoko, with their agricultural-based economy and rank social system, have traditionally controlled the political power structure in the southern Chad basin. Their reliance on intensive gardening and extensive sorghum agriculture left a vacuum for other societies, who were willing to exploit non-agricultural lands, such as the Yadrd.With the arrival of the Shuwa Arabs from the

178


Nile Valley in the 14th century, the vacuum was filled by an alien ethnic group. Prior to independence, large scale, i.e., community level, interaction between the Kotoko and Shuwa Arabs was accomplished by the incorporation of Shuwa Arab mercenaries into the Kotoko Sultanates. Today weekly markets provide a routine forum for interaction between these peoples. Until recently, the traditional setting for these markets was inside the walls of the Kotoko towns and villages. Demographic records indicate that Kotoko-Shuwa Arab relations for the past twenty years have been impacted by a numerically higher Shuwa Arab population. The settling of the nomadic Shuwa Arabs has been largely achieved by the introduction of a new technology-the installation of deep-bored wells and pumps. With the advent of radical transformations of the Cameroonian political system at the local level, following which all local chiefs must be elected according to the rules of a pluralist democracy, traditional Kotoko Sultanate power structures have collapsed. The establishment of stronger power structures, first with the German and French colonial system and then the Cameroon state, has reduced, eroded, and finally wiped out all the socio-political means formerly used by the Kotoko to maintain control and power over the local landscape. Since 1985, we have seen for the first time the emergence of a rival, non-Kotoko settlement center in the Shuwa Arab permanent settlements of Djidat I and II. Djidat is gradually superseding Houlouf, the traditional Kotoko, second-tier social, economic, and religious hub of this part of the Chadian plain. From a materialist perspective, this change in Shuwa Arab social, economic, and religious organization is associated with: 1) the building of public religious institutions (mosques) and schools; 2) a new concern with private property and personal space (fenced areas and toilets); 3) an increase in the size and the

number of agricultural field systems; 4) a shift from circular (= pastoralist) to rectangular (= sedentary) architecture; 5) the widespread construction of permanent toilet facilities within each household; 6) the installation of a mill; 7) the rise of entrepreneurs reflected in small shops (boutiques); 8) a shift away from cattle production to a goat-based system; and 9) the establishment of craft specialists in the new Shuwa center at Djidat I and II. Due to the establishment of an alternative market at Djidat, which provides all the services previously available only at Kotoko centers such as Houlouf, the entire Kotoko power structure may be in its final stage of disintegration. Although the Shuwa Arab social organization and economy are also in a state of flux, their ethnic identity as an historical pastoral people is reinforced by the circular layout of their villages (even though rectilinear architecture is rapidly replacing the circular), the presence of traditional hearths and hearth designs, the Shuwa Arab language, and other features. The study of the Shuwa material culture provides archaeologists with a useful processual model to show how ethnic identity, economy, and social change can be linked to material remains.

Acknowledgements Wearegratefulto the NationalGeographic Society for financial assistance in carrying out our field work in Cameroon.Thanks

alsoto Dr.E. SiskinandtheJerusalem Associationforgranting Anthropological

some funds for collaborativework in Jeru-

salemin 1989.Finally,we aregratefulto our wives, Marie-Heleneand Alina, for putting up with our prolonged absences during the fieldwork sessions. T.E.L.would like to acknowledge the award of a University of California,San Diego, 1993 Chancellor's Summer Faculty Fellowship, which assisted in the research.

Thanksaredue to GuillermoAlgaze,Roy

D'Andrade, Michael Meeker,Fitz Poole, and other members of the faculty collo-

quiumin the Departmentof Anthropology UCSDwheremanyof theideasexpressed

here were discussed. LaurelMannen of the UCSD JudaicStudies Programkindly assisted in final production of the maps used here.

bridge: CambridgeUniversity Press. Miller,D. and Tilley,C., eds. 1984 Ideology,PowerandPrehistory.CamKluckhohn,C. Chang, K.C. 1957 Mirrorfor Man. New York:Fawcett. bridge:CambridgeUniversity Press. 1967 MajorAspects of the InterrelationL.H. Kosso, P. Morgan, ship of Archaeology and Ethnology. 1991 Method in Archaeology:Middle 1985 [1877]AncientSociety.Tucson:UniCurrentAnthropology8:227-243. Range Theory as Hermeneutics. versity of Arizona Press. Costello, R.B.,ed. AmericanAntiquity56:621-627. M. Nash, 1990 RandomHouseWebster'sCollegeDicKramer,C., ed. 1989 TheCauldronof Ethnicityin theModtionary.New York:Random House. 1979 Ethnoarchaeology: ern World.Chicago:University of Implicationsof N. David, New Archaeology. Ethnography for Chicago Press. 1992 IntegratingEthnoarchaeology:A York:Columbia University Press. Renfrew,C.A. and Bahn,P. Subtle RealistPerspective.Journalof Kropacek,L. 1991 Archaeology: Theories,Methodsand ' Archaeology11:330Anthropological 1985 La Nubie: de la fin du XIIesi&cle Practice.London:Thames and 359. la conquate par les Funjau debut Hudson. David, N., SternerJ.,and Gavua, K. du XVIesi&cle.Pp. 433-459in HisSahlins, M. 1988 Why are Pots Decorated?Current toiregeneralede l'AfriqueIV, edited 1968 Tribesmen. Englewood Cliffs:PrenAnthropology29:365-389. by D.T. Niane. Paris:UNESCO. Inc. tice Hall, Fisher,H.J. Lebeuf, A.M.D. Schiffer,M.B. 1977 The EasternMaghriband the Cen1969 LesprincipautesKotoko:essaisur le 1987 FormationProcessesof theArchaeologtral Sudan. Pp. 232-331in TheCamParis: de l'autorite. sacre' caractbre icalRecord.Albuquerque:UniverbridgeHistoryofAfrica3: Fromc. 1050 CNRS. to c. 1600, edited by R. Oliver.Camsity of New Mexico Press. Levtzion, N. and Hopkins, J.F.P.eds. K. Tijani, bridge:CambridgeUniversity Press. 1981 Corpusof EarlyArabicSourcesfor 1986 The Shuwa Arabs. Pp. 62-73in PasFlannery,K.V. WestAfricanHistory.Cambridge: 1972 The Origins of the Village as a Settoralistsof the WestAfricanSavana, CambridgeUniversity Press. edited by M. Adamu and A.H.M. tlement Type in Mesoamericaand T.E. Levy, the Near East:A Comparative Kirk-Greene.Manchester:Manches1983 The Emergence of Specialized Pasin and 23-53 ter University Press. Ecology AgriStudy. Pp. toralism in the Southern Levant. culturalSettlements:An Ethnographic Zeltner,J.C. WorldArchaeology15:15-30. andArchaeological Perspective,edited 1979 LesArabesdansla regiondu Lac Meeker,M. Tchad:problemesd'origineet de by R. Tringham.Andover: Warner 1989 ThePastoralSon and theSpiritof Modular Publications,Inc. Sarh:Centre d'etudes Perand chronologie. Religion,Society, Patriarchy: Garcin,J.C. son amongEastAfricanStockKeepers. linguistiques. 1985 L'Egyptedans le monde Musulman 1980 Pagesd'histoiredu Kanem:pays tchaMadison:The University of Wis(du XIIkau debut du XVIJ'siecle). dien.Paris:L'Harmattan. consin Press. Pp. 405-431in Histoiregne'ralede l'AfriqueIV, edited by D.T.Niane. We are proud to announce the resumptionof the Paris:UNESCO. Hodder, I. MITCHELLDAHOOD MEMORIALPRIZECOMPETITION 1982 Symbolsin Action.Cambridge:Camin Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic bridge University Press. The Literatureand the Ecumenical Theological Center in Detroit, of Biblical Society Holl, A. to are announce the continuationof this distinguishedprize competiMichigan, pleased 1987 Le projetarcheologique de Houlouf. tion, which providesan opportunityfor young scholarsto contributeto the discussionsof Akuma 29:10-13. Nyame BiblicalHebrewand NorthwestSemitic.The descriptionof the competitionfollows: des socite'spro1988 HouloufI:archeologie du Nord-Cameroun. OxSubject: The HebrewBible tohistoriques ford:BritishArchaeologicalReports. Conditions 1992 Systematique archeologiqueet 1.The competitionis open to qualifiedjunior facultyand graduatestudentswho have not reachedtheir 40th birthdayby December31, 1994. processus culturels:essai a. They,must be recommendedby an establishedsenior scholar. d'archeologie regionale dans le secteur de Houlouf (Nord-Camerb. They must hold the Ph.D. or equivalentdegree,or be in the final stages of completing such a degree. au oun). Pp. 51-78 in L'ArchIologie 2.The deadline for submissionof manuscriptsis February28, 1994. Cameroun,edited by J.M.Essomba. Paris:Karthala. Prize Holl, A., Levy,T.E.,Lechevalier,C., and 1. A cash awardof $1,500 to the winner. Bridault,A. 2.The authoris expected to readthe prize-winningpaperat the SBL1994 AnnualMeeting. 1989 Houlouf ArchaeologicalProject: - CompetitionCommittee PreliminaryReport 1988. Nyame Frank Moore Harvard Cross, Jr., University JackM.Sasson,Universityof NorthCarolina Akuma31:11-14. MarvinH. Pope,YaleUniversity DavidNoel Freedman,UC SanDiego,Secretary and Holl, A., Levy, T.E.,Lechevalier,C., other All and shouldbe sent to the nominations,inquiries,manuscripts, correspondence Bridault,A. DahoodPrizeCompetitionCommittee: 1991 Of Men, Mounds and Cattle: Dr.AstridBeck,Coordinator Archaeology and Ethnoarchaeology Programon Studiesin Religion in the Houlouf Region (Northern 445 WestEngineering Bldg. Cameroon). WestAfricanJournalof The Universityof Michigan Archaeology21:7-36. AnnArbor,MI48109-1092 Khazanov,A. 1984 Nomadsand theOutsideWorld.Cam-

Bibliography


179

Camels and Camel Pastoralism in Arabia By Ilse Koihler-Rollefson

Arabs into world history and revolutionized desert warfare. Of even greater significance were its contribution to long-distance trade and its role in desert transportation. Lastly, the camel opened up vast stretches of previously unoccupied desert to human exploitation and food production (K6hler-Rollefson 1992a).

The Domestication of the Camel

he Middle Eastis the sourceof

drinking may be generally admired, but in other respects the camel is frequently the victim of character assassination. It is maligned as stubborn, derided as stupid, and-wrongly-accused of spitting. Such intrepid explorers of Arabia as the Blunts (1881) and Wilfred Thesiger (1959) knew better, and their travelogues immortalized not only the virtues of this species but also attested to their own fondness for this animal. Their assessment is shared by experts of even greater standing, including the famous camel-breeding cultures of Arabia and Northern Africa. The Tuaregs of the Sahara, for example, trust the camel as a symbol of love (Ritter 1990). The Afar in Ethiopia may value their camels more highly than their sons (Teka 1991). Arabs hold that only the camel knows the hundredth name of God. The need of the camel for some positive publicity not withstanding, there is no doubt that the camel significantly shaped the Ilse Kiohler-Rollefsongraduated course of Near fromthe VeterinaryCollegein Eastern history Hannover,Germanyand later and provided wrote her Ph.D.dissertationon the domesticationof the camel. pivotal She has done fieldworkon severimpulses to al camelpastoralgroupsin Jorregional dan, Sudan,and India.Currently human devela researchassociateof the Instiopment on the tute of Zoology at the Technische political, comHochschuleDarmstadt,Germercial, and many,she recentlyfounded the ecological Leaguefor PastoralPeoples,an level. As a ridadvocacyand supportorganizaing animal it tion for pastoralistsworldwide. propelled the

the majority of our domesticated animals, including cattle, sheep, goat, pig, ass, and cat, but it is the camel that often conjures before our mental eye the scenes associated with this area. Without visions of caravans inching across the parched desert towards the fragile shelter of a cluster of date-palms; of burdened camels stoically winding their way through the crowded alleys and clamor of a suq; and of camelmounted Bedouins in flowing robes attacking a Beau Geste fort, our imagery of this cultural region would lose much of the fascination it holds for tourists, armchair travellers, and, I suspect, even supposedly levelheaded scholars. In spite of these romantic connotations, the reputation of the camel remains ambivalent at best. The camel's fortitude under conditions of extreme heat and its ability to cross vast expanses of desert without

::

180


There is a reasonable amount of archaeological documentation available about the other domestic livestock species that emanated from the Near East and the early stages of their association with humans. For sheep, goats, cattle, and pig, the transition from hunted prey to herded livestock can be followed more or less in situ at certain Neolithic sites in the Fertile Crescent. For the camel, data tracing the process of its domestication are very scarce. One of several factors which confer an added degree of complexity to the problem is the existence of two types of camels whose taxonomic relationship is not clear-cut and whose paleontological remains are virtually impossible to distinguish (K6hler 1981). These are the one-humped or dromedary camel (Camelusdromedarius) and the two-humped or Bactrian

camel (Camelusbactrianus). Genetically very similar, the two species differ mainly in their adaptation to dissimilar types of climate. The Bactrian camel thrives in the high-altitude deserts of Central Asia and remains unfazed by snow and cold temperatures. By contrast, the dromedary is an animal of the hot deserts of northern Africa and western Asia and is sensitive to humidity and low temperatures. This evolutionary adjustment to diverging environmental conditions is reflected in their different body proportions and the quality of their fur. The Bactrian is shorterlimbed and of much more compact build. Its hair is long and shaggy, while dromedaries often produce no wool to speak of. The Bactrian also has a longer pregnancy period and seems to be missing the dulaa, the

T? M 7w-i

Ai k-W'7

In traditional camel pastoral societies, camels are not only highly valued, but also regarded with much affection. Such affection is reflected in the effort spent on decorating camels. Photographsby Kohler-Rollefson.

extension of the soft palate that male dromedaries protrude from the corner of their mouth during the breeding season as an indication of their sexual arousal (K6hler-Rollefson 1991). Dromedaries and Bactrians are frequently classified as two distinct species, but some authorities regard them as domestic varieties of the same wild species. Neither interpretation exactly matches reality. By definition, a species is a population of animals that produces fully fertile offspring. Hence horse and donkey are considered two distinct species, since their cross-breeding results in infertile mules. But the mating of a one-humped camel with a twohumped one produces offspring that is at least partially fertile, and third and fourth generation hybrids are

known to exist (Kolpakov 1935). Because of this incomplete genetic barrier between the two types of camels, it is not totally inconceivable, as was suggested by earlier researchers, that the one-humped camel was bred by humans from a two-humped Bactrian population. This hypothesis was grounded in the lack of incontrovertible proof for the contemporary existence of a wild one-humped camel. However, its former existence can be inferred from two types of evidence. Camel bones have been discovered at several Neolithic and earlier sites in Arabia. There is no way of definitely proving that the bones derive from dromedaries rather than Bactrians, but they imply a wild camel that had adapted to local climatic conditions and there-

fore resembled the modern dromedary. In addition, scenes in which presumably wild dromedaries are pursued by spear throwing hunters are depicted in northern Arabian rock drawings presumed to be about two-thousand years old. Still, some die-hard skeptics contend that the camels depicted may have been than strictly feral-untamed-rather wild. Current archaeological data support the notion that dromedary and Bactrian camels were domesticated independently and from separate wild populations. The evidence to date points to Iran and Turkmenistan as the places where the domestication of the Bactrian camel first occurred. The key site is Shahr-i Sokhta, located in Iran's Sistan desert

BiblicalArchaeologist 56:4 (1993)

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and occupied from 3,200 BCE until 1,800 BCE.

The levels dated 2,700-2,400 BCE produced a handful of camel bones, a clay pot filled with camel dung, and a piece of fabric woven from sheep/goat and camel hair (Compagnoni and Tosi 1978). This collection of finds offers the earliest evidence for the domestication of the Bactrian camel. The origin of the dromedary The Arabian Bedouins once represented the prototypical camel nomads. Yet camel keeping is far from camel in the ArahomogenousthroughoutArabia,andArabianBedouinareonly one of severalspecializedcamelpastoralists. bian peninsula Othergroups-such as the Raikasof Indiaandthe Somalisof EastAfrica-utilizethe camelin markedlydifferhas never been ent manners. seriously doubted. When it first that one precipitated the other (Comarrived in the Levant, the camel was stone stela depicting a one-humped this a domesticated camel. Certain of assemunquestionably fully aspects pagnoni and Tosi 1978). a animal. Speculations that it might such as blage, relatively high perDispersal of the Dromedary have been the Canaanites or centage of bones from juvenile anian Arameans who achieved this feat reflect of For most of the second millennium, mals, may early stage need not be taken seridomestication Arabia's archaeological record is (Beebe 1990) (Hoch 1979). The referThere additional evidence for earliest historical is blank, and hence the role of the camel ously. the presence of the dromedary camel ences to the camel associated it with during this period is equally obscure. from scattered sites in the Emirates A camel mandible recovered from northern Arabian nomadic tribes in and at the eastern Mediterranean Oman. Finds these sites the Bronze Age deposits of a shell invading area. However, concrete archaeologireveal that this animal was known to midden site on the Red Sea coast of third-millennium inhabitants with Saudi Arabia had provided a clue, cal evidence for the process of but it was subsequently radio-carbon sufficient impact to become the subdomestication itself, which would dated to 7000 BCE(Grigson et al. have happened centuries or so earject of artistic efforts (Cleuziou 1977). known about is not Because little is is still This lier, 1989). It probably derived from a very really lacking. of wild this culture camel. Occasional second milthe Arabian southeastern since early peninsurprising, left are lennium scholars much sula remained virtually unexplored Arabia, "evidence," such as camel leeway the well the for about nature of and until into bones speculations figurines from the adjacent archaeologically the early human-camel relationship areas of Mesopotamia, Syro-Palessecond half of this century. Exploand about the circumstances that pro- tine, and Egypt, does not hold up to ration began in the 1970s, when vided the incentives for domesticacareful scrutiny. Either the find's Karen Frifelt from the Prehistoric tion. There are clear indications for Museum in Arhus excavated a fishstratigraphic provenience is unclear of trade contact between this or it is doubtful whether the figurines on the island intensive site located ing tiny area and Iran where the two-humped Umm an-Nar off the Abu Dhabi coast actually represent camels. Despite camel was domesticated. It is there(Frifelt 1975). At this site, dated to dogged attempts to prove the oppofore not unlikely that the domesticasite (e.g. Free 1944; Ripinsky 1983), 2700 BCE,Frifelt assembled a collection of the one-humped and twothere are no indicators for the camel tion of approximately 200 camel in Pharaonic Egypt (Midant-Reynes bones. She also unearthed a limehumped camels were connected or 182


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1977). Among the otherwise exhaustive inventory of animal life depicted in Egyptian tomb paintings, not a single representation of a camel can be catalogued. Hence Biblical references to camels in the "patriarchal era"-where Pharaoh included camels in the payment for Sarah (Gen 12:16) and Abraham outfitted his ser-

vant with ten camels for the search for Isaac's wife (Gen 24:10)-are anachronistic. They were considered later additions by Albright (1942), whose inklings about camel domestication can still be regarded as sound. Towards the end of the second millennium BCE,camels finally began filtering from the periphery into the

center of the Near East and making an impact on world events. At around 1100 BCE,camel-mounted tribes, the Midianites and Ishmaelites of the Bible, poured out of the Arabian peninsula, wreaking havoc on the settled agriculturalists of the Levant. According to a passage in Judges (6:5), "they and their camels were BiblicalArchaeologist56:4 (1993)

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without number." In this case the Biblical references to camels coincide with the archaeological record. It is in the Iron Age (1200-586 BCE)that camel bones become relatively frequent (Hakker-Orion 1984), especially at southern Levantine sites, for instance Tell Jemmeh, near Gaza (Wapnish 1984). From the middle of the 9th century BCEonwards, these camel-riding tribes were referred to as Aribi (Arabs). The first time the Arabs were documented in the historical record was in connection with camels. In 853 BCEthe Arab "Sheikh" Gindibu, owner of 1000 camels, supported the king of Damascus in his battle with the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III at Qarqar.In 733 BCE, another Assyrian King, Tiglah-Pileser III, engaged in a successful fight with Samsi, queen of the Arabs, who apparently controlled pasture land and trade routes of northern Arabia. From her, he collected 30,000 camels as booty (Ephal 1982). We are able to visualize these camel-mounted Arab warriors from several artistic renderings. A 7th-century orthostat from Carchemish in Syria and a roughly contemporaneous relief from Niniveh depict them in naturalistic detail. The system in vogue at that time was to put two riders on a camel, one of them to guide the camel, the other one sitting on the croup to fire arrows at the enemy (Bulliet 1975). Although the Assyrians usually seem to have been the winners in skirmishes with these dromedary warriors, they were sufficiently impressed to integrate them into their national security systems. In 671 BCE,Esarhaddon deployed camel troops during his second Egyptian campaign at Thebes. This tradition was adopted by the Persians. In 525 BCECambyses availed himself of camel trains borrowed from the Nabateans to carry water when invading Egypt. For quite a while, camel troops seemed to have played the role of mavericks in Near Eastern warfare.

184


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Camels can be put to a multitude of uses. In India,they are used predominantly as

draughtanimals.Theyare able to transporta broadarrayof goods even over roadsin dreadfulcondition. The Persian King Cyrus used the dromedary troops to put the equestrian armies of his enemy Croesus into a state of panic and win a hopeless battle. Incidentally, the method of mounting camels with two riders was continued by the Sassanians and eventually transplanted as far east as India, where camel saddles for two riders are still in use today. In the last century, Sir Charles Napier employed the same system in his campaign against the Baluchis, mounting each camel with a native driver and a soldier (Leese 1927). Parallel to the first encounters with the camel as a war mount, the people of the Levant also became acquainted with this animal in a more peaceful context. The camel entered the Levant as a beast of burden carrying incense from South Arabia. Queen Sheba on her visit to King Solomon (1 Kings 10) reportedly conveyed her luggage by camels. This has been interpreted as indicating that regular caravan traffic had been established between South Arabia and the Mediterranean area by the 10th century BCE(Bulliet 1975:77).

Several archaeological finds show that the camel was known in South Arabia at this time. The oldest camel finds from this area are two bones from Hajar bin Humeid in Yemen derived from layers dated from the 11th to the 10th century BCEand a ceramic camel head from the 9th-8th century BCE(van Beek 1969). This material does little to flesh out the picture of the beginnings of the use of the camel as beast of burden, but it remains likely that the use of the camel for carrying goods was first developed in South Arabia.

Camel Pastoralism So far we have touched upon the impact the camel made as a technological innovation on long-distance trade and desert warfare. Its advantages for commerce and military conflict were of importance to the rich and powerful and were therefore likely to be chronicled in history books. Another facet of the camel was rarely acknowledged explicitly, because it concerned people who had, for the most part, only marginal effect on the course of world developments

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Scattered vegetational resources of the desert are sufficient to sustain the camel. Nutritiousfood for a camel, desertic plants are converted into energy whereby human communities are sustained. Thusthe camel has opened vast stretches of desert to human habitation.

and who, instead of keeping written records, relied on oral traditions for the preservation of their historical heritage. Perhaps the greatest impact of the camel was its role in opening up vast expanses of desert to human exploitation. The domestication of the camel enabled people not only to traverse these areas, but successfully to extract resources from them. Thriving on a diet of thorny, fibrous and often salty plants, camels convert the otherwise useless vegetation of the desert into highly nutritious food and other forms of energy. From these scattered resources camels are able to produce large quantities of milk, with meat, wool, and dung thrown in as by-products. Camels thus come to form the basis of a highly specialized subsistence strategy-camel pastoralism. Pastoralists are people or societies who rely on animal husbandry for

their living. Often inhabiting those parts of the world where rainfall is not sufficient for crop cultivation, they may keep a mix of livestock or specialize in one or two species of domestic animals such as cattle, smallstock (sheep/goats), or camels. Pastoralism is an advanced, highly evolved type of human-animal relationship in which a high degree of mutual dependence has developed. It entails not merely one-sided human control over animals but also far-reaching adaptations by the human society to the needs of its herds. For the sake of the long-term stability of their subsistence systems, pastoral societies have adopted specific residence types (such as nomadic, semi-nomadic, and transhumant) and associated forms of social organization and inheritance mechanisms. Among pastoralists, specialized camel-keeping societies inhabit the

most arid areas. Dromedary pastoralism exists throughout the Old World dry zone belt, which extends from western Africa to India's Thar desert (K6hler-Rollefson 1992a). The Arabian Bedouins are one of several specialized camel pastoralists. While our image of the Bedouins may be colored by their connection with Lawrence of Arabia and mounted forays against the Aqaba fort or the Transjordanianrailway line, this raiding behavior represented just one facet of their existence. Their day-today life revolved around livestock breeding, which also formed the basis of their subsistence. For the noble camel-breeding Bedouins such as the Rwala, although they restricted the consumption of camel meat to special occasions, the milk of camels formed a regular and important part of their diet. They also made extensive use of other products, using camel wool for clothing, skin for conBiblicalArchaeologist 56:4 (1993)

185

tainers, dung as fuel, and urine for washing. Not letting anything go to waste, the Rwala recycled camel bones as tent-pegs and fed the ticks to their falcons. Crucial for their economic survival was the sale of all excess male camels to caravaneers and other clients. They used the proceeds to purchase vegetable food stuffs and other daily essentials not available in their desert habitat. Like other pastoralists, these Transjordanian Bedouins therefore did not exist in isolation but depended on regular exchange with the settled population. The manner in which the Arab Bedouins and North African camel pastoralists of Arab descent make use of the camel stands out as especially comprehensive. Other cultures have developed alternative utilization patterns which are generally more restricted. The Cushitic groups of the Horn of Africa which include the Somalis, Rendille, Gabbra, and Turkana,focus very heavily on milk production and refrain from using the camel for riding. The slaughter of camels is highly ritualized. Specially fattened castrated male animals are killed on ceremonial occasions. These East African groups are the only ones that bleed living camels to consume the blood either pure or mixed with milk, a practice outlawed in Islam. In the Asian countries camel usage focuses on transport. There are few specialized camel breeders; many pastoralists have a small number of camels for carrying their belongings on migration. An exception are the Raikas, a Hindu caste specialized in camel breeding at home in the two western-most states of India, Rajasthan and Gujarat.They observe an absolute taboo against the slaughter of camels and the eating of camel meat, and they also largely ignore the milk potential of their herds. The purpose of their system is to supply camels as draught animals. Camel-drawn carts are one of the most popular modes of transport in the area. They can convey a large variety of goods regardless of road conditions. In earlier times, the Raikas

186


took care of the royal camel breeding herds maintained by the Mahrajahs for the production of animals used in desert warfare (Ki5hlerRollefson 1992a, 1992b). These sketches of camel usage underscore the point that the rer way in which pastoral societies utilize the camel and apply it to the extraction of resources from arid environments is very specific for each group and varies greatly between them (Bulliet 1975:37).The particular fashion in which a society relates to the camel, e.g., Rider drives a camel with a rod from his perch atop a box-like using it for food saddle.Thisred-paintedlimestonelow relieffromTellHalaf,Syria, or transport or Theorthostatestandsabout has been datedto about 1000BCE. involving it in 65 cm tall. WaltersArt Gallery,Baltimore. rituals, forms a deeply ingrained feature of its cultural make-up. Hence utilization patsion of pastoral traits and traditions. terns are highly conservative and Patternsof Camel Pastoralism resistant to change. Convincing a in the Arabian Peninsula Rendille to ride a camel or a Raika to Above we discussed the relationship eat one would be on a par with pera cats the Arabian Bedouin and westerner to consume between suading and dogs or to ride a cow. the camel. Yet the culture of camel These observations have some pastoralism is not homogeneous the of for throughout Arabia. Ethnographers study pastorimplications indicate that the camel pastoralists of alism. They raise an intriguing set of the southwestern corner of the peninquestions about the factors responsible for determining the role an anisula, the Arabia Felix of the classical mal comes to occupy in a particular period, are in several respects quite different from their neighbors to the society. Secondly, the fact that utilizanorth. tion patterns are distinctly defined and constant over time provides a This area-the original home and tool for tracing the origin and diffusource of frankincense and myrrhAr

Bactrian camels depicted on the Black Obelisk of Shalmanezer 111(858-824 BCE) arrive as tribute for Shalmanezer from Sua of Gilzanu, an Armenian locale. The twohumped camel is adapted to the cold deserts of CentralAsia and never found a home in the Middle East.Both images used by permissionof the Trusteesof the BritishMuseum.

Double-mounted dromedary warriors attack on an Assyrian relief from Nineveh. The first rider guided the camel, while his partnerfired arrows at adversaries.This method of mounting the camel with two riderscaught on as far away as Indiaand has appeared as late as the modern period.

includes the Hadhramaut and the Dhofar region of Oman. It is ecologically distinct from the rest of the peninsula. Coming under the influence of the monsoon regime, the region is endowed with relatively high rainfall. Proximity to the ocean is a determining feature, and some of the pastoralists integrate camel husbandry with seasonal fishing activities, using their camels to transport sardines into the inland. There is a heavy emphasis on milk utilization so that it is customary to kill the majority of male calves at birth (Janzen 1980). In addition, the pastoralists use a different saddle type (Dostal 1967). While the northern Arabian Bedouins use the shadad type, which is put on top of the hump, the South Arabian Bedouins employ a typical cushion saddle called howlani.This saddle places the rider behind the hump and offers only very inefficient control over the camel. This appears to have been no handicap for the South Arabian bedouins, since, according to Louise Sweet (1970), they apparently refrained from the raiding practices of the North Arabian Bedouins. Sweet (1971) also noted some stark differences in organizational aspects of the caravan trade between South and North Arabia. In the north, commercial caravans are organized by city merchants, and when they cross territories of pastoral tribes, passage is secured by hiring local escorts and making protection payments. In the south, the camel breeders themselves control the caravans, providing transport across their own territories;hence animals must be changed at tribal boundaries and customs duties have to be paid. Richard Bulliet (1975) drew attention to the fact that the features of South Arabian camel pastoralism resemble many of those of the Somali camel pastoralists in the Horn of Africa. He regarded as "primitive" (an unfortunate choice of words) the Somali camel usage pattern in its emphasis on milk production and its aversion to riding camels. Using sev-


187

eral, very involved lines of evidence, he contended that the Somali camel pastoral system must represent an early phase in camel-human relationships that could only have originated in South Arabia. On the basis of this argument he concluded that southern Arabia was the original location of camel domestication and that milk exploitation provided the stimulus for this development. At the time Bulliet wrote, the archaeological finds from the east Arabian third millennium in Umm an-Nar and Oman, which predate the earliest evidence for the camel in South Arabia by a millennium and a half, had not yet been published. Had he been in a position to consider their implications, he might have been less insistent on South Arabia as the likely home of camel domestication. On the other hand, recollecting the circumstances under which the camel became known to the people of the Levant, it is clear that this happened in two guises: as a riding animal of raiding North Arabian tribes and as the beast of burden conveying incense from South Arabia. Juxtaposing this information with what has been said about the importance of tradition in camel usage, one might ponder the possibility that these two distinct functions were the outcome of separate domestication efforts by two different cultures. More intensive archaeological and ethnographic investigation throughout the Arabian peninsula may eventually clarify which of the many different hypotheses on camel domestication comes closest to the truth.

Bibliography Albright,W.F. 1942 Archaeology and theReligionof Israel. Baltimore:JohnsHopkins Press. Beebe,K. 1990 The DromedaryRevolution.Claremont: OccasionalPaper of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity 18. Claremont:Institutefor Antiquity and Christianity. Blunt,A. 1881 A Pilgrimageto Nejd.London:John Murray.

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Bulliet,R. 1975 TheCamelandthe Wheel.Cambridge:HarvardUniversity Press. Cleuziou, S. 1977 Archeologie aux EmiratesUnis. Archaeologyin the United Arab Emirates.Al Ain: Departmentof Antiquity and Tourism. Compagnoni, B. and Tosi,M. 1978 The Camel:its Distributionand State of Domesticationin the Middle East During the 3rd Millenium BC in Light of Finds FromShahr-i Sokhta.Pp.91-103in Approaches to FaunalAnalysisin theMiddleEast, edited by R. Meadow and M. Zeder.Peabody Museum Publications 2. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press. Dostal, W. 1967 Die Beduinenin Siidarabien. Series: WienerBeitrige zur Kulturgeschichteund Linguistik16. Wien:Institutfur Vl1kerkunde. Ephal, E. 1982 TheAncientArabs.Jerusalem:The Magness Press. Free,J.P. 1944 Abraham'sCamels.Journalof Near EasternStudies3:187-197. Frifelt,K. 1975 On PrehistoricSettlementand Chronology of the Oman Peninsula. Eastand West,New Series 25(34):359-424. Grigson,C., Gowlett, J. and Zarins,J. 1989 The Camel in Arabia- a Direct RadiocarbonDate Calibratedto About 7000 B.C.Journalof ArchaeologicalScience16:355-362. Hakker-Orion,D. 1984 The Role of the Camel in Israel's EarlyHistory.Pp.207-212in AnimalsandArchaeology: 3. Early Herdersand TheirFlocks,edited by. J. Clutton-Brockand C. Grigson. BAR InternationalSeries202. Oxford: BritishArchaeologicalReports. Hoch, E. 1979 Reflectionson PrehistoricLife at Umm an-Nar (TrucialOman) Based on FaunalRemainsfrom the Third Millenium B.C.Pp.589-638in South AsianArchaeology. Naples. Janzen,J. 1980 Die NomadenDhofars/Sultanat Oman. im Wandel. Traditionelle Lebensformen Bamberg:BambergerGeographische Schriften. Kahler,I. 1981 Zur Domestikation desKamels.Hannover:TierirztlicheHochschule. K6hler-Rollefson,I. 1991 Camelus dromedarius.Mammalian Species375:1-8. 1992a The RaikaCamel Pastoralistsof

WesternIndia. ResearchandExploration8(1):117-119. 1992b The RaikaDromedaryBreedersof Rajasthan:A PastoralSystem Under Crisis. NomadicPeoples30:74-83. Kolpakov,V.N. 1935 Uber Kamelkreuzungen.Miinchener Tierdrztliche 51:617Wochen-schrift 622. Leese, A.S. 1927 A Treatiseon theOne-humped Camel in Healthand Disease.Stamford: Haynes. Midant-Reynes,B. and BraunsteinSylvestre,F. 1977 Le chameau en Egypte. Orientalia 46(3):337-362. Ripinsky,M. 1983 Camel Ancestry and Domestication in Egypt and the Sahara.Archaeology 36:21-27. Ritter,H. 1990 SoziokulturelleAspekte der Tiere bei den Tuareg.GdttingerBeitriige zur Land-undForstwirtschaft in den 51:39-6 Tropenund Subtropen Sweet, L. 1971 The ArabianPeninsula. Pp. 199-266 in TheCentralMiddleEast,edited by L. Sweet. New Haven: HRAFPress. Sweet, L. 1970 Camel Raiding of North Arabian Bedouin:A Mechanismof Ecological Adaptation.Pp. 265-289in PeoplesandCulturesof theMiddleEast. New York:Natural History Press. Teka,T. 1991 Camel and the Household Economy of the Afar.NomadicPeoples 29:31-41. Thesiger,W. 1959 ArabianSands.London:Longmans. Van Beek,G. 1969 HajarbinHumeid.Investigations at a Pre-IslamicSitein SouthArabia.Publications of the AmericanFoundation for the Study of Man 5. Baltimore. Wapnish,P. 1984 The Dromedaryand Bactrian Camel in LevantineHistoricalSettings: the Evidence from TellJemmeh. Pp.171-200in Animalsand Archaeology: 3.EarlyHerdersand TheirFlocks,edited by J. CluttonBrockand C. Grigson. BARInternational Series 202. Oxford:British ArchaeologicalReports. Zarins,J. 1978 The Camel in Ancient Arabia:a FurtherNote. Antiquity52:44-46. Zarins,J. 1989 Pastoralismin Southwest Asia: the Second Millenium BC.Pp.127-155in TheWalkingLarder,edited by J. Clutton-Brock.London:Unwin Hyman.

The The

of

the

Empire: of Pastoral Nomads Archaeology in the Southern Negev Highlands in Late Antiquity

Edge

By Steven A. Rosen and GideonAvni raditionalarchaeologyhas it that nomads are one of those phenomena, like religious beliefs and kinship, with which the discipline is not well equipped to deal (e.g., Childe 1936:81;Kenyon 1980:177). Archaeologists have relied on texts and analogies with modem Bedouin to describe ancient nomadic societies and incorporate them into historical frameworks. Texts and modern ethnography, however, are not enough. Historical texts always present a biased case. Ancient writ-

ings describing early nomads may well describe political alliances and historical events relating to nomads, but they are almost always written from an antagonistic, if not hostile, perspective. They are almost always written from the perspective of the "sown" as opposed to that of the "desert," and they are also incomplete. Important details that any historian or anthropologist working with modem groups would deem essential for proper study are often lacking. Nomads themselves have

'el

Steven A. Rosen is a seniorlecturerin the ArchaeologicalDivision of the Departmentof Bibleand AncientNear EasternStudiesat Ben-GurionUniversityof the Negev. He receivedhis Ph.D.in Anthropologyfromthe Universityof Chicago in 1983and worked from 1980to 1987in the Negev EmergencySurvey.His researchinterestsfocus on the archaeologyof the Negev, ancientpastoralism,lithic analysis,and Near EasternPrehistory.Dr.Rosenis past co-editorof Mitekufat Haeven,the Journalof the IsraelPrehistoricSociety. Gideon Avni has been JerusalemRegionalArchaeologistfor the IsraelAntiquities Authoritysince 1989.His affiliationwith the Authoritybegan in 1979,and for almost ten years he has conductedextensive field researchand excavationsspecializing in variousaspectsof interactionbetween nomadic and sedentaryresidentsof the Negev Highlandsduring late antiquityand the archaeologyof the Late Byzantine- EarlyIslamicperiods in the Negev. Mr.Avni earnedhis Master's degree fromthe Instituteof Archaeologyof the HebrewUniversityof Jerusalem where he is currentlya Ph.D.candidate.

rarely left written records, and the bad press they get from history may be more a consequence of their illiteracy than any inherent truths that can be gleaned from the surviving written record. Ethnography can tell us much about nomadic behavior in general, and can provide important background against which ancient nomads and pastoralists can be examined (e.g., Cribb 1991). However, although ethnographic analogy can provide insights, it cannot replace data, and modem groups cannot be simply substituted for ancient ones, based on the assumption that "seen one nomad, seen 'em all." In the Negev, archaeology plays the pivotal role in the reconstruction of these ancient cultures and in their integration into History, writ large. It provides a means, perhaps the only means, of letting ancient nomads "speak for themselves." To be sure, the archaeology of ancient nomads is perhaps more akin to prehistory than Biblical and classical period archaeology. Pastoral sites look more like those from the Stone Age than from the Iron Age, and the methods used for discovering, excavating, and analyzing these sites must be drawn more from the study of Paleolithic camps than Roman forts. But this is merely a matter of fine-tuning our methods to fit a different range of data. The wealth of materials recovered from the excavation of a city, for example, may not be available. Yet detailed analysis of all remains, from microscopic plant

Biblical Archaeologist 56:4 (1993)

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remains through grinding stones, and traditional ceramic analyses can provide us the means (e.g. Brochier et al. 1992) for revivifying nomadic cultures previously known only from the passing reference of some Byzantine traveler. The nomads of the Negev in late antiquity provide an example of how such an archaeology can be achieved. A few texts with various references to these nomads give us the Roman/Byzantine perspective (e.g., Graf 1978; Mayerson 1964,1989) on these groups, and the recent Bedouin provide a comparative ethnographic framework. The archaeological remains allow us to view them in greater detail, and perhaps with less prejudice.

The Region The Central Negev constitutes a geographic transition zone between the Mediterranean and steppe zones of the southern Hebron Hills and the Beersheva Basin, respectively, and the Saharo-Arabian desert zone of the southern Negev and Sinai. The region is comprised of five parallel ridges of folded mountains, running NE-SW, with broad valleys between them. The highest of these ridges achieves an altitude of around 1000 m. The most impressive landscape features are the three large erosional cirques (or craters, makteshimin Hebrew), the Ramon Crater, the Large Crater, and the Small Crater, cut along three of these ridges. These show steep cliffs and broad valleys resembling large impact craters, but they are actually the result of erosion (see Evenari et al. 1982 for general environmental summary). The transitional nature of the region is reflected in the rainfall gradient from north to south, showing about 200 mm average yearly rainfall in the northern Negev around Beersheva, 100-150 mm in the Central Negev, and 25-50 mm in the Southern Negev. A key element of the environment for people living in the desert is that 200 mm of rainfall marks the threshold for dry farming of barley. Wheat requires around 300 mm. Thus, without irrigation, farming is 190


not practical in the Central and Southern Negev. This is further reflected in the natural vegetation zones. The Northern and Central Negev fall into the Irano-Turanian vegetation zones, or steppe-prairie zone, in contrast to the Mediterranean ' ? . . . . '.. . . zone farther north . .. and the SaharoArabian zones, farther south. These zones support clusters of different types of plants, from trees and shrubs in the Mediterranean zones, to grasses and shrubs in the Irano-TuranVEGETAT IONZON, ian zone, and scatMediterranean tered shrub vegetaIrano-Turanriansteppe tion farther south. There are also *Sudano-Dbecconian k changes in species desert SSaharo-Aabin type and major dif.L ferences in vegetation density and The vegetation zones of the Negev illustrating the transitional nature of Central Negev environments (after Danin 1983). coverage, the south showing only sparse coverage (see Danin most especially the Negev Emer1983 for Negev vegetation). Our research has focused on the gency Survey carried out during the southern edges of the Central Negev, early 1980s by the Archaeological around the Ramon Crater, the region Survey of Israel, have revealed several distinct although somewhat of transition from the steppe to the true desert of the southern Negev. overlapping zones of settlement in the Central Negev. The urban settleRainfall gradients are especially ments of the Byzantine-Early Islamic marked here, a result of the decrease in altitude from the highlands to the period, including Avdat, Shivta, Rehovot (Ruheiba), Nizzana, and lower plateau of the southern Negev. This zone of transition into the true Haluza, with their surrounding coundesert, on the edge of areas farmed tryside, constitute a sort of agricultural and urban heartland, in essence, using run-off irrigation techniques, the edge of the Byzantine Empire seems to have been a focus of pasin toral settlement late antiquity. (Shereshevski 1991; Bruins 1986; Evenari et al. 1982; Gihon 1967; Negev The Results of 1988; Rubin 1990; Tsafrir1988). In Archaeological Survey addition to the large towns with all the accoutrements of urbanism, this Archaeological surveys, beginning with those of the 19th century, but region boasts smaller villages and .

,

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Settlement zones and site locations of the Central ZONES SETTLEMENT

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BiblicalArchaeologist56:4(1993)

191

Tent remains from Giv'ot Reved, facing southwest. Two hearths lie in the right foreground. The scraped square is 5x5 m.

Close up of 'wall' remains from Giv'ot Reved, facing southwest. The geological hammer providesthe scale.

hamlets, numerous large, sophisticated run-off farming systems, and associated elements such a threshing floors, large cisterns, tuleiliatel anab,1 192


guard or watch towers, and winepresses. Smaller pastoral camps are also present. A region that can be character-

ized as a rural farming zone is located farther south, in areas higher and somewhat removed from the urban zone. The diagnostic sites here are the Byzantine and Early Islamic hamlets and farmsteads. These show rectilinear multi-room farmhouses, built of cut stone blocks, and extensive agricultural terrace dam systems. These are generally not as massive nor as sophisticated as those close to the cities. Cisterns and threshing floors are also present, although other elements, as mentioned above, are much less common (Haiman 1986, 1990; Lender 1990; Cohen 1985; Kedar 1967). If these two northern zones are primarily farming zones, the two southern zones, in the southern part of the highlands and on the fringes of the more desertic southern Negev, can be characterized as pastoral zones. The most striking contrasts between the southern and northern zones are the dominance of various types of tent remains in the south, the scarcity of farmhouses and rectilinear architecture, and the relative scarcity of agricultural terrace systems and other trappings of agriculture (Avni 1992a; Rosen 1987). Surveys, later confirmed by excavations, have demonstrated that the tent remains are variable in size and construction. Some show merely a few stones in a line used to hold down the tent flaps, a hearth or two, and a scatter of pottery. Others show well-constructed stone "foundations," marking the base of a tented superstructure. These rarely show more than two courses of construction, and are almost always rounded or oval in shape. Although tent sites are located all over the Negev, the larger, more substantial sites are found primarily in the areas within and south and southwest of the Ramon Crater.In the higher areas around Har Saggi, pastoral sites may show associated agricultural terrace systems. Thus we can distinguish two sets of pastoral zones, one with evidence for farming and the other with very little.

Excavations Gi'vot Reved Givot Reved (Rosen n.d.) is a pastoral tent camp located on the central plain of the eastern part of the Ramon Crater.A few lamp fragments show parallels to lamps from Avdat and suggest a date around the 2nd century CE.The excavated, or rather, scraped and sieved, portion of the site showed the remains of three distinct tents, with associated hearths, one storage bin or silo, and several small subsidiary installations. The overall site is considerably larger, showing the remains of some 10 tents aligned along the edge of a tributary to Nahal Ramon, several pens, and other unidentified features. The three tents are roughly semicircular in shape, the open side facing east towards the wadi and presumably representing the long open entrance to the tent. The hearths and several other stone piles are all located in the area in front of the tent, assuming that the open sides do represent the front. The "walls" are, in fact, lines of unworked wadi cobbles, aligned along the back of the tent. They rise only one or two courses high and are usually only one row wide. In a few places, small storage bins or perhaps raised benches or shelves seem to have been incorporated into the wall construction. Finds from this site were scarce and consisted almost exclusively of small potsherds, often only two centimeters across. Pottery restoration (in this case, actually the conjoining of sherds to make larger sherds), mapping of clusters of sherds and the conjoinable sherds, and standard topological analysis provide an estimate of 12-14 original complete pots in the portion collected and excavated (.5 dunam [.125 acre]). Nahal Oded Nahal Oded (Rosen and Avni 1989) is a large encampment of some 25 structures located south of the Ramon Crater,on the western footslopes of Mt. (Har) Ramon. The site is

ISM.

Double structure at Nahal Oded, incompletely excavated, facing northeast. Threshold stones sit at the join between the walls, center rear.

5IZh,

A round structure at Nahal Oded, facing northwest, with shrine and pavement in upper right.

dated to the 7th-8th centuries CE,on the basis of a radiocarbon date of 667-772 CE(after calibration according to Stuiver and Becker 1986:897),a

post-Abd el-Malik reform coin, and the ceramic assemblage. The site shows several distinct components and areas.


193

An unexcavated round structure from Har Oded, one of sixteen structuresthat compose the site.

Pli

were built by initially excavating a pit 25-50 cm deep, which was then lined with large slabs that projected above the surface. The space between the pit and the slabs was filled with gravel, an exterior row was placed on the surface around the pit, and the space between the exterior and interior faces was also filled. The wall was then capped, sometimes neatly, sometimes more haphazardly, giving it a total height of not more than 0.751.0 m. No significant stone fall was associated with these walls, so that we could assume that the original height had been more or less preserved. The two double structures showed entrances at the seam of the circles, such that one entrance angled into the tent. Of the other two structures, one did not show a clear entrance, and one showed a simple opening in the wall. All of the entrances faced east and showed apparent threshold stones. The floors were of tamped earth. Features and finds were rare. One of the double circle structures contained a cooking hearth, and another structure contained a small ashpit, perhaps a firepit of some kind. One contained a stone slab which may have been some kind of work table or anvil, and one contained a small paved area with several upright stones. The function of these features is difficult to ascertain. We interpret these structures to be the foundations for either dwelling tents or perhaps huts. Similar structures are known among the tent nomads in both Turkey (Cribb 1991) and Arabia (Zarins 1992) and usually reflect winter occupation. The depth of the pit and direction of entrance provides insulation and greater protection from the elements. Three other structures in area B were also excavated. One is smaller, somewhat deeper, and more haphazardly constructed than the dwellings, and may be a silo or storage pit. The second is a round structure with numerous partitions and bins. Its function is not ascertainable. Finally, a

....... ......... .0i .

OJ

Niche installations in the subrectangular structure at Har Oded, facing southeast. The larger structurewas preservedto a height of only one or two courses.

Area B, the primary focus of investigation, contained a set of four large structures, two of them oval or round, and two shaped like double 194

56:4 (1993) BiblicalArchaeologist

circles or figure eights. Excavation of these structures, one of which was cut and partially destroyed by the adjacent wadi, showed that they

small shrine, consisting of a large standing stone and a plastered pavement aligned N-S, was also excavated. A cemetery is located on the terrace directly above area B (east), and four skeletons were excavated. The graves were typical "desert" graves, showing a circle of stones around the fill of the grave, in some cases with uprights at the foot and head. The burials were aligned E-W, and the head faced south, in typical Muslim fashion. Unlike area B with its round tent bases and domestic features, area A contained only one structure, a rectangular building of cut stone blocks, built to a height of some two meters. The walls were two rows wide with gravel fill between the rows. This building contrasts totally with all other structures on the site. Architecturally, it most closely resembles the Byzantine and Early Islamic farmhouses found farther north, although these are usually multi-roomed structures. The function of this building is difficult to ascertain given the virtual absence of finds, although rough contemporaneity with Area B is assured by the radiocarbon date mentioned earlier and which was derived from the floor of this building. South of area A, on a ridge overlooking the site, an open-air mosque was discovered. Unlike most of the open-air mosques of the Central Negev (Avni 1992b), this one shows a large slab in place of the prayer niche, which directs the worshipper south. Other components of the site were not excavated, but they include tent remains similar to those of GiPvotReved (and possibly somewhat earlier in date than other elements of the site) and additional round structures. In terms of finds, the site is not rich, yielding only a total of 439 sherds, including surface finds, mostly the remains of cooking vessels and storage jars. Most of these are typical of the Late Byzantine and Early Islamic assemblages of southern Israel and were probably

Oval structure at Biqat Hisun, facing southeast. Nearthe entrance of this 6 x 5 m structure,the round hearth contained ashes and sherds. Nearby,a coin of the 8th century CEwas unearthed.

imported from the Negev towns. Some local hand-made wares were also found. Animal bones were mostly from sheep and goat, although chicken, quail, and fish remains were also recovered, along with chicken eggshells and Nilotic mollusc shells. Finally, pieces of glass, metal (iron and bronze), and a few millstones and grinding stones were also recovered. Har Oded The site of Har Oded (Rosen and Avni 1989) is located two km east of Nahal Oded. It contains 16 structures, more or less similar architecturally to the domestic structures of Nahal Oded. The ceramic assemblage is almost identical to that of Nahal Oded, and the sites are assumed to be roughly contemporary. Of the three structures tested, one (only half excavated) was round, similar to the round structures at Nahal Oded, and showed an incurving entrance, similar in conception to the entrances to the double-circle structures at Nahal Oded. As at the previ-

ous site, the entrance was on the southeast side of the structure. The second structure was a large, subrectangular building, preserved to a height of only one or two courses and showing little stonefall. It contained five small installations with paved niches and/or small standing stones forming niches incorporated into the walls. The building was constructed of uncut wadi cobbles and is akin to the domestic structures, rather than to the rectangular building at Nahal Oded. Finds were totally absent, so it is difficult to ascertain the structure's function. The final structure excavated was a storage pit, similar to that at Nahal Oded. In addition to these components, another open-air mosque and a tent camp were discovered on the ridge above the site and in the valley just beyond it. The mosque shows neat, single-course, double-row construction. The prayer niche was destroyed in antiquity, but the stones used in its construction were still present, scattered about where the niche would have been located. The tent camp BiblicalArchaeologist 56:4 (1993)

195

showed remains of rock lines and walls similar to those of the other tent camps described, but with Late Byzantine-Early Islamic pottery. Aside from the rather limited ceramic assemblage (only 259 sherds), a single millstone fragment was the only other artifact found. No animal bones or shells were recovered, although it must be remembered that excavations here were much more limited than at Nahal Oded.

Biqat Hisun The site of Biqat Hisun differs from Giv ot Reved and the Oded sites by its location in the midst of an area with numerous ancient agricultural terrace systems (Avni 1992a:39).The Hisun Valley is a wide alluvial plain, 650-720 meters above sea level, draining east to the Nahal Paran catchment. Terracedfields typical of ancient Negev Highland run-off agriculture are found throughout the valley. Three structures are located in the center of the site. Two are rectangular in shape, with rounded corners. The third, the only one completely excavated, is oval in shape, measuring 6x5 m. As at the Oded sites, the walls are double-row construction of large standing slabs. The entrance is in the southeast and shows a threshold stone resting on a floor of tamped earth and ashes, ca. 0.5 m beneath the exterior surface. Several darker ash patches were discernible, and a small number of sherds were collected from the floor. A round hearth and ash concentration, with sherds and an 8th century CEcoin, was uncovered near the entrance. A courtyard or pen (8x6.5 m) is attached to the oval structure. It is built of large wadi cobbles in two rows and is preserved to a height of two courses. A layer of organic material, perhaps the remains of ancient dung, was discovered beneath the surface of the courtyard. A larger pen (17x16 m), preserved to a height of three courses, is located on the slope west of the struc196

BiblicalArchaeologist 56:4(1993)

tures. A test excavation along the eastern wall of this pen revealed what appears to be an installation for floodwater drainage. Another square structure, built of blocks of stone preserved to two courses in height, lies just west of the pen. A terraced field, surrounded by a stone fence, is located in the adjacent wadi. The terrace dams are built of roughhewn blocks, preserved up to three courses high. Some show sluice gates. An Arabic inscription was discovered on one of the two standing stones located in the southwest corner of the field. A round threshing floor (11.5 m in diam.) is located just north of the wadi. The site seems to represent a seasonal farming encampment which was probably occupied for a few months during winter and spring, up to the harvest. The few finds indicate an extended period of use during the 6-8th centuries CE.

Be er Karkom This is one of the largest sites in the southern Negev Highlands. It includes 58 round and oval structures located in a wide plain next to the Karkom well on the southwest slopes of the Highlands. Most of the structures are roughly similar in dimensions, from 3x4 m to 7x8 m and are constructed of local cobbles, 2-3 courses high. The low quantity of stonefall indicates that the walls were no more than a meter high, and the superstructure probably consisted of either a tent or brush. Without exception, entrances face southeast, apparently for protection against the prevailing northwesterly winter winds. Round, stone-lined cooking hearths, with thick ash layers, were discovered near the entrances of several structures. Stone pavements abutting internal walls, usually opposite the entrance, were present in several structures in the middle of the settlement. These are similar to the stone platforms used by recent Negev Bedouin for storage of food and cooking utensils. Two open-air mosques were dis-

covered, one on the hill in the northeast part of the site, and the second on the wadi bank (Avni 1992b:69). The presence of two mosques is explained by the large size of the settlement and its proximity to a permanent water source. The Karkom Well (Be er), located 500 m from the site, probably served as the primary water source. Unlike the site of Biqat Hisun, which was in the heart of an area with numerous agricultural terraces, the absence of terraced fields around Be er Karkom (as at the Oded sites) suggests that the economy was not based on local agriculture. Systematic collection at three characteristic structures in the middle of the site included surface scraping and sieving of all materials. Scraping revealed that all three of the tested structures rested directly on natural sediments, with no earlier cultural horizon. As at Biqat Hisun, the ceramic finds indicate a period of use spanning some 200 years, from the 6th through the 8th centuries cE.

Discussion The presence of a pastoral nomadic system south of the settled zone of the Byzantine-later, IslamicEmpire is evident from both contemporary texts and the archaeology. Further archaeological study also enables more detailed reconstruction of these societies. Seasonal movement is a common component of all pastoral nomadic societies. The Oded sites seem to reflect a fall-winter occupation (Rosen 1992). The architecture suggests insulation from cold and wind. The presence of migratory quail, found in the Negev only in the fall or the spring, along with the near absence of flowering parts of plants in the region's microbotanical record, lend support to this hypothesis. The inhabitants of this site would move northward in spring-summer, after the agricultural harvest in the Highlands proper, thus avoiding conflict with Highlands farmers. The evidence from Giv3ot Reved for seasonality is equivocal. Notably, the system

at Biqat Hisun differs somewhat given the need for harvesting the fields near the site. Another feature of this pastoral system which should be stressed is the clear connection with, and perhaps dependence on, the settled heartland. The texts recount various business dealings between the towns and the pastoralists, involving, for the most part, trade in animals and desert guiding. Most of the accounts are brief descriptions written by travelers and pilgrims who passed through the Negev, or administrative documents relating to the area. For example, Nessana papyrus 82 (Kramer 1958:251-8) describes a merchants' caravan en route to Sinai through the Negev. It mentions an incident with a Bedouin tribe called the Bani al-Udayyid, which inhabited, some area between Sinai and the Negev Highlands. A pilgrim from Piacenza, who passed through the Negev during the second half of the 6th century CE(Geyer 1898:181-218), provides another sketch. To a degree, the nature of the Bedouin tribes of the general region is also reflected in the narrative of Nilus, a monk from South Sinai whose son was abducted by a nomadic tribe, brought to the Negev, and sold as a slave in Halutza (Mayerson 1975, and see Mayerson 1989 for more references). One obtains from the texts a clear impression of the general dependence of the nomadic tribes on the permanent settlements farther north. It is significant that these descriptions present the nomads as seen by outsiders-the settled populations of the Highlands, merchants, pilgrims, and contemporary historians. They are not "internal" descriptions or explanations of tribal life. The only written sources deriving from the tribes themselves are the numerous rock inscriptions and drawings found in the region, and these are limited in their narrative and descriptive potentials (e.g., Sharon 1990). The archaeology tells a more complete story. Virtually the entire preserved material culture repertoire

Fifty-eight round and oval structures constitute Be'er Karkom, one of the south-

ern Negev Highlands'largestsites.Thestructureswere probablynevermorethan 2-3 courseshigh and servedas foundationsfor tent or brushsuperstructures.

A stone pavement inside a structure at Be'er Karkom. This pavement resembles

stone platformsconstructedfor storageby contemporaryNegev Bedouin.

of these pastoralists derives from the settled zone. This includes ninety percent of the pottery, the metals,

glass, and even the millstones and grinding stones since there is little evidence for the manufacture of these


197

objects anywhere in the pastoral zone (although the raw material may be local!). Given the presence of grinding stones, and the absence of evidence for significant agricultural activity around Mt. Oded, Be3er Karkom, or in the Ramon Crater (i.e., Giv ot Reved), it is likely that grains were also imported. The presence of open-air mosques and other ritual structures provides us with some glimpse of the spiritual life of the nomads. Here we must consider that the Oded sites, Biqat Hisun, and Be-er Karkom are dated to the earliest stages of the rise of Islam. Although the mosques clearly reflect Islam, they reflect a desert adaptation of northern mosques. They are also somewhat removed from the actual occupation sites, which seem to incorporate other ritual features and installations. It is likely that in some ways the juxtaposition of the mosques and nonIslamic shrines reflects the transition from paganism to Islam. Finally, the historical perspective is also important. The continuing presence of pastoralists on the fringes of the newly expanding Islamic empire, in what can only be described as a marginal zone, suggests that these pastoralists were hardly integral to the rise of this empire. In fact, their close proximity to the Byzantine empire, within 20-30 km of the Byzantine towns, apparently over the course of a few centuries, and the generally peaceful relations that obtained, suggest that they did not constitute a significant threat to those settlements. The finds from dozens of settlements in the southern Negev Highlands witness to the close relations between the nomadic populations and the urban populations of the Negev, and to the dependence of the nomadic system on the sedentary one to its north. There is no evidence for destruction at the nomadic sites; rather, the archaeology strongly suggests abandonment. The decline of the urban system with the end of classical antiquity undermined the economic basis of the nomadic tribes

198


dependent on it, obliging them to adapt, either by migrating north or adopting seasonal agriculture. It appears that the political events of the 6th through 8th centuries in the Near East did not directlyaffect the nomadic populations of the Negev Highlands. Traditional history suggests that through the Roman and Byzantine periods nomads exerted constant pressure on the southern borders of Palestine, a pressure originating in the great reservoir of nomadism in Arabia, until the dam finally broke with the Islamic conquests (Mayerson 1964; Mayerson 1989; Parker 1986; and references from all). The archaeological evidence concerning nomadic activities during the late Byzantine and Early Islamic periods effectively disputes this claim. There is little evidence here for any major surge in nomadic activity with the Islamic conquests (also see Nevo 1985, 1991). Relations between the nomad and the settled in the Negev Highlands from the Late Byzantine through Islamic periods reflect local conditions ('micro-scale' in Mayerson's [1989] terms), and a cultural continuum rather than a cataclysm of conquest. Given the major culturalgeographic contrasts in the Negev, the picture is likely to be quite different in other regions, even those adjacent to the Highlands, such as the Aravah Valley. However, the integration of a larger area into a more synthetic perspective is beyond the scope of this paper. Sometime in the late 8th or 9th century CE,the whole pastoral system described here disappears. This disappearance coincides with the shift of the Islamic state from one centered in the Levant to one centered in Mesopotamia. The decline in pastoral fortunes is thus almost undoubtedly related to the decline and abandonment of the urban centers of the Central Negev. Without these towns to serve as markets and foci for nomad-settled interaction, the nomadic system on the fringes of the empire was unable to sustain itself.

In this situation, pastoralists adopted the classical solution of nomads to economic pressure-they set out for greener pastures.

Acknowledgements The survey work on which this paper is based was conducted under the auspices of

the Archaeological Surveyof Israel,now a branch of the IsraelAntiquities Authority. Excavations at Givot Reved were directed by Steven A. Rosen and funded by the Wenner-GrenFoundation for Anthropological Research,and sponsored by Ben-Gurion University. Excavations at Har Oded and Nahal Oded were directed by Steven A. Rosen and Gideon Avni, sponsored by BenGurion University and the IsraelAntiquities Authority,and partially funded by the Wen-

ner-GrenFoundationforAnthropological Research.Furthersupport for publication was provided by the Jo Alon Center for Bedouin Studies. Excavationsat Biqat Hisun were directed by Gideon Avni and sponsored by the IsraelAntiquities Author-

ity.Wearegratefulto all the volunteersand students in these excavations and surveys

fortheirenthusiasticworkand support.The map was drawn by Helena Sokolovskaay.

WethankTomLevyforthe opportunityto submit this work to BiblicalArchaeologist.

Note 1 Tuleiliatel anab, literally translated "grape mounds," are large tracts of hillslope show-

ing rowsof deliberatelyconstructedsmall hillocksor in somecasesridges.Thereis

debate on whether the purpose of these fea-

tureswas to aid drainage,increasehumidity or serveas supports in a microenvironment, for grapevines.

Bibliography Avni, G. 1992a Archaeological Surveyof IsraelMap of Har Saggi (225) 11-97.Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority. 1992b Ancient Mosques in the Negev Highlands. Atiqot21:69-81

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Brochier,J.E.,Villa, P., and Giacomarra,M. 1992 Shepherds and Sediments:Geo-ethnoarchaeology of Pastoral Sites. Science Journalof Archaeological

11:47-102. Bruins,H.J.

1986 DesertEnvironmentandAgriculture in theCentralNegevandKadesh BarneaDuringHistoricalTimes.Nijkerk:Midbar Foundation. Childe, V.G. 1936 Man MakesHimself.London:New American Library. Cribb,R. 1991 Nomadsin Archaeology. Cambridge:

CambridgeUniversity. Cohen, R. 1985 Archaeological Surveyof IsraelMapof SedeBoger-West (167) 13-03.Jerusalem: Departmentof Antiquities. Danin, A. 1983 DesertVegetationof Negevand Sinai. Jerusalem:Cana. Evenari,M., Shanan, L., and Tadmor,N. 1982 TheNegev.Challengeofa Desert.Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity. Geyer,P. 1898 CorpusScriptoriumEcclesiasticum Latinorum39. ItineraHierosolimitana Seculi IV-VIII.Vienna. Gihon, M. 1967 The Negev Frontier.Pp. 35-64in IsraelandHer Vicinityin theRoman and ByzantinePeriods,edited by S. Applebaum and M. Gihon. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University. Graf,D. 1978 The Saracensand the Defense of the ArabianFrontier.Bulletinof the AmericanSchoolsof OrientalResearch 229:1-26. Haiman, M. 1986 Archaeological Surveyof IsraelMapof HarHamran(198) 10-00.Jerusalem: Israel Departmentof Antiquities. 1990 AgriculturalSettlementin Ramat Barneain the Seventh-EighthCenturies CE.Atiqot10 (HS):111-125 (Hebrew). Kedar,Y. 1967 AncientAgricultureof theNegev Highlands.Jerusalem:BialikPress (Hebrew). Kenyon, K. 1980 [1964]Archaeologyin theHoly Land. London:Benn Norton. Kraemer,C. 1958 Excavationsat NessanaIII.Princeton: PrincetonUniversity. Lender,Y. 1990 Archaeological Surveyof IsraelMapof HarNafha(196) 12-01.Jerusalem: IsraelAntiquities Authority. Mayerson, P. 1964 The FirstMuslim Attacks on Southern Palestine (AD 633/634). TransactionsandProceedingsof theAmericanPhilologicalAssociation 95:155-199. 1975 Observationson the Nilus Narrations. Journalof theAmerican ResearchCenterin Egypt12:51-74. 1989 Saracensand Romans:Micro-Macro Relationships.Bulletinof theAmerican Schoolsof OrientalResearch 274:71-80. Negev, A. 1988 TheArchitecture ofMampsisI-II. Qedem 26-27.Jerusalem:Hebrew University. Nevo, Y. 1985 SedeBoqerand theCentralNegevin

the7th-8thCenturiesAD. Jerusalem: IsraelPublicationServices. 1991 PagansandHerders.MidreshetSede Boqer:Israel PublicationServices. Parker,S.T. 1986 RomansandSaracens:A Historyof the ArabianFrontier.American Schools of OrientalResearchDissertations Series 6. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Rosen, S.A. 1987 ByzantineNomadism in the Negev: Results from the EmergencySurvey. Journalof FieldArchaeology 14:29-42. 1992 The Case for Seasonal Movement of PastoralNomads in the Late Byzantine/Early Arabic Period in the South CentralNegev. Pp. 153-164in Pastoralismin theLevant:ArchaeologPericalMaterialsin Anthropological spective,edited by U. Bar-Yosefand A.M. Khazanov.Madison:Prehistory Press. n.d. A Roman-periodPastoralTent Camp in the Negev, Israel.Journalof FieldArchaeology in press. Rosen, S.A. and Avni, G. 1989 Har Oded 1988.IsraelExploration Journal39:117-120. Rubin,R. 1990 TheNegevas a SettledLand:Urbanizationand Settlementin theDesertin theByzantinePeriod.Jerusalem: Hebrew University (Hebrew). Sharon,M 1990 ArabicRock Inscriptionsfrom the Negev. Pp. 9*-35*in AncientRock Inscriptions:Supplementto theMapof HarNafha(196) 12-01,edited by M. Sharonand M. Halloun. Jerusalem: IsraelAntiquities Authority. Shereshevski,J. 1991 ByzantineUrbanSettlementsin the Negev Desert.BeershevaV: Studies by the Departmentof Bible and Ancient Near East. Beersheva:BenGurion University. Stuiver,M. and Becker,B. 1986 High PrecisionDecadal Calibration of the RadiocarbonTime Scale 19502500 BC.Radiocarbon 28:863-910. Tsafrir,Y. 1988 Excavationsat Rehovotin theNegevI: TheNorthernChurch.Qedem 25. Jerusalem: Hebrew University. Zarins,J. 1992 PastoralNomadism in Arabia:Ethnoarchaeologyand the Archaeological Record:A Case Study.Pp. 219240 in Pastoralismin theLevant: Materialsin AnthropoArchaeological logicalPerspective,edited by U. BarYosef and A.M. Khazanov.Madison: PrehistoryPress.

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Pastoralistsin Late Bronze Age Palestine: Which Way Did They Go? By David C. Hopkins

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This pharaonic claim takes us back to the end of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1550-1150 BCE)in Palestine when the Egyptian Syro-Palestinian empire had fissured to the point of disintegration. Making their presence felt in these cracks, the "clans of the shasu people" were apparently a worthy focus for one of Ramesses' many last-ditch attempts to consolidate the imperial artifice. His efforts were in vain. Within three short decades of Ramesses' rule (ca. 1182-1151BCE), the empire crumbled completely. Evi"I destroyed the Seirites of the dence of his successor twiceclans of the shasu people. I plunremoved, Ramesses VI, offered the dered their tent camps of people last significant trace of Egyptian sovand possessions and their cattle ereignty in Palestine (Weinstein likewise, they being without 1981:23). number, they being bound and Ramesses III claimed to have carried way as captives as tribute the Seirite (Edomite) clans destroyed of Egypt...." of the shasu, plundered their David Hopkins holds the tent camps, and positionof Professorof dragged captives, HebrewScriptureat Wesley 6::: and herds goods, TheologicalSeminarywhere down to Egypt. r forseven yearshe has His account prosharedfacultyduties with .?vides a key withis wife DeniseDomb,-Iness to the hiskowskiHopkins.Dr. it? i~B tory and nature Hopkinsreceiveda B.S. of pastoralists in fromTrinityCollege ?r -r.. ..-, his M.A. and a Late Bronze Age (Hartford), Ph.D.fromVanderbilt Palestine. University.As partof the Ramesses echoed MadabaPlainsProject,he the controlling servesas a survey field view of Egyptian supervisor,conductingexcavationsin the hinterlandsof sources. The Tellel-Umeiri(Jordan).Dr.Hopkinsis Editorof the Biblical shasu were a miliHis publicationsincludeTheHighlands of Archaeologist. force to be tary Canaan: Lifein theEarlyIronAgeas well as artiAgricultural with. reckoned cles on the archaeologyof ancientIsrael. Nearly every bat-

and movies, "Which way did they go?" is a question of pursuit, often hapless, a question of intelligence information. To judge from pharaonic records, the Egyptian rulers of Late Bronze Age (LBA) Palestine must have been greatly interested in military intelligence concerning the whereabouts of a frequent quarry: the shasu pastoralists. Thus Ramesses III asserts (Papyrus Harris [I, 76, lines 9-11]):

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Biblical 56:4(1993) Archaeologist

tle-relief series of the nineteenth dynasty (e.g., the Karnak reliefs of Seti I) depicted the shasu as embroiled in military action in Palestine (Giveon 1971:39-134).The official traveler of Papayrus Anastasi I found troublesome shasu at almost every turn as he made his way through the Canaan of the time of Ramesses II. Shasu spied on his military preparations, plagued his trip along the coast of southern Syria, and waited concealed beneath the bushes of the narrow pass through the Carmel mountain spur. Their significance was implied in the annals of a contemporaneous official on the Egypt-Canaan border (p. Anastasia VI) who did not fail to register the passage of a group of shasu from Edom. No doubt he wanted to be able to answer the question, "Which way did they go?" These citations show that the shasu occupied widespread locations. Though they are linked repeatedly to a southern Transjordanian(Moab and Edom) homeland throughout the several centuries of the Egyptian empire in Palestine, shasu also appeared in northern and southern Palestine, as well as Syria (Giveon 1971:235239). This distribution rules out any blanket identification of these folk with particular peoples or particular economic interests. The term was a generic designation of non-city-state, that is, tribal peoples who were linked with a variety of territories across the Egyptian sphere of influence (Coote 1990:44;DeVaux 1978:334;Weippert 1974:275-276; Zarins 1989:134). The interest of the Egyptians in the shasu was predominantly military. Some shasu no doubt supported themselves in part or in toto from mercenary pay and the profits of raids. Yet despite the military orientation of the Egyptian inscriptions, the records did preserve indications that the shasu were primarily engaged in pastoral activities. Lacking an equivalent to the modern term "pastoral nomad", Ramesses III reported flocks and herds and tents in connection with the shasu. Pharaoh's scribe

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Shasu as depicted on the Karnak reliefs of Pharaoh Seti I (1305-1290 BCE).Egyptian

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employed a Semitic loan word for tents (*'hr)corresponding to the word found in the Genesis circumlocution for Yabal's descendants, "those who dwell in tents ('ohel)and [possess] cattle" (Genesis 4:20; Weippert 1974:275). The previously mentioned border official's report adds a second attestation of shasu involvement with pastoral pursuits. They crossed the border into Egypt to save the lives of their animals. Whether their passing was periodic migration or one-time flight to avoid drought, we do not know. Further detailing of the economic underpinnings of the shasu life was hardly of any interest to the record keepers and is not forthcoming from Egyptian documents (Coote 1990:44;Lemche 1985:156).

The Egyptian Imperial Context Our reliance upon Egyptian records for intelligence in answering the question "Which way did they go?" bids us examine the Egyptian imperial context in which shasu were apparently a military threat. Shasu commanded notice as early as the

first period of Egypt's four centuries of imperial power in Palestine (Giveon 1971:1,219;Zarins 1989:134). Set in place by the decisive military campaigns of Tutmose III (the battle of Megiddo, ca. 1482, marks a key juncture), the empire installed Palestine as the vital military and commercial link with Near Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean centers of power (Redford 1992 and Weinstein 1981 are notable presentations of Egypt in Palestine). Palestine served as a staging ground and thoroughfare for military expeditions and commercial caravans. A network of garrison cities and administrative centers took root at such strategic sites as Gaza, Joppa, Bethshean, and Yeno'am. This political and economic system, established by Tutmosis III as Egypt took firm control of its West-Asian provinces, was securely entrenched nearly a century later. The diplomatic archive known as the Amarna letters depicted a stable Egyptian presence in Palestine, which was called upon to cope with inter-city disputes and rural restless-

ness, but remained unchallenged in its hegemony (Bienkowski 1989; Knapp 1989; Lemche 1988:83-84). Though decidedly derelict in international affairs, the Nile-based rulers sprawled themselves over the fractured landscape of small city-states. Pharaohs demanded the political allegiance and economic proceeds of the territory without replacing the city-state system. In response to the demands of the pharaohs, their emissaries and on-site administrators, the kings of Palestinian city-states were required to collect and deliver the annual tribute, to prepare supplies for Egyptian troops, to furnish contingents to campaigning Egyptian forces, and to recruit the locals for corvee (forced labor) (Ahituv 1978:97; Bienkowski 1986:141;Na'aman 1981:178). The costs of Egyptian imperial administration and garrisons were subvented entirely from Palestinian production. Moreover, the Amarna letters refer to an impressive array and quantity of tribute and gifts that were exported. Consisting of metals, wood, glass, and manufactured goods, the largest slice of these goods was not indigenous to Palestine. Thus, tributary demands steered Palestinian agricultural production toward providing the items most desired by the pharaonic court, i.e., BiblicalArchaeologist56:4 (1993)

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luxury items and stores of value procured by the city-states on the international trading network. Under this Egyptian sponsorship, life in Palestine rebounded from its nadir following the disintegration of the thriving Middle Bronze Age (Gonen 1984 presents the basic settlement pattern data). Yet re-establishment of the social fabric was only partial, and the renewed settlement landscape emerged in a strikingly different configuration from its earlier contour. Palestine fell short of recovering even half of its former sedentary population in cities, towns, and villages. Moreover, the pattern of recovery was highly regional in character. The highlands of Western Palestine included areas that were almost devoid of sedentary populace such as the Galilee and the Beer Sheba Valley. The central highlands that had boasted nearly 200 sitesfrom hamlets to fortified cities-now offered no more than a few dozen settlements (Finkelstein 1988:339340). Major cities from the previous period dwindled, disappeared, or drew into small fortresses. The cities of the southern Coastal Plain, lowlands, Jezreel Valley system, and Ghor (Jordan Valley) represented a second regional pattern, which contrasted sharply with the highland pattern of diminishment. Ashdod, Lachish, Gezer, Megiddo, Beth-Shean, and Hazor all carried over their importance from the Middle Bronze period (though not all unscathed) and flourished as citystates under Egyptian rule. Along the coast, as well, several new ports were planted, from Tel Mor in the south to Tel Abu Hawam north of Carmel (Mazar 1990:240). Apart from these preferred areas, settled life in Western Palestine failed to rejuvenate. The frontiers were abandoned, rural life restricted, and a diminished population stuck to the main settlement sites (Bienkowski 1989:59). The Jordanian plateau represented a third variety of settlement landscape. In central Jordan, both Amman and the Baqa'h valley were 202


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of the thirteenthcentury.TheoutcomesecuredHittitehegemonyoverformerlyEgyptian dominatedSyrianterritory.Inresponse,Egyptredoubledits effortsto securegeography closerto home and turneditsattentionto southernPalestine.Theeffect was a greatly increasedEgyptianpresenceand multipliedexactionson the Palestinianeconomyand its people, includingnomadicpastoralistgroupssuchas the shasu.

inhabited (McGovern 1986:335-344). They participated to some degree in the international trading nexus, as finds of Mycenean and Cypriote imports demonstrate. Numerous LBA sites have come to light in the Kerak plateau, although here the total absence of imported ware sig-

nals the region's isolation (Miller 1991). Both of these regions of the Jordanian plateau existed at least one step beyond the reach of the Egyptian empire and international politics. Egyptian records virtually ignored the plateau (there are two references to Moab from the reign of Ramesses

administrative centers, commanding and commandeering production ~yz~ towards the Egyptian tributary system. These cities were themselves ?: ~r~i~i ~ absorbed into a larger hierarchy of Egyptian imperialism. They lost their 1 ~R autonomy and were pressed to produce the preferred exchange commodities for Egypt and for maintain,, I " a C ing their local power through status ~ 1 . reinforcement. Coerced and unbalanced exchange impeded the growth a of an intermediate zone and thwart;i: a ed the attainment of self-sufficiency in the hinterland, inhibiting hamlets ii.; and villages (Knapp 1989:65-66). ,,;,,,; ~ _iThis reduced and fragmented ~ --i?~ ~~'~~:"~ ~!-i::~C~I::i;_l,:-'l?l:::?:i-!:~l :i::ii::: 14:~::::-!li~;~ill:.ill-i:::::;lbii: ;I:Yi::~(:~!::'?~l-~;i!~~:~~:ll:i !~ landscape owed its character in large measure to a new phase of Egyptian Three figures from the Balu'a stele, rule under the pharaohs of the ninefound in central Moab and dated to the teenth dynasty (ca. 1295-1186 BCE). time of the Late Bronze-IronAge transiPerhaps attempting to repristinate tion, constitute an investiture scene styled the Asian empire of Tutmosis III, after an Egyptian model. The central character may represent a Transjordanian Egypt's military expedition to and shasu chief surrounded by god and godthrough Palestine re-awakened and dess who commission him. The tribal peooffered a belated response to the continued strength of the Hittite empire ples of Palestine were clients as well as adversaries of the Egyptian rule, seeking along the Mediterranean littoral. alliances or profiting from resistance as cirOnce again Palestine served as a cumstances warranted. The Balu'a stele staging ground for a stepped-up may illustrate the attempt of a local leader strategy of north-bound military to project Egyptian authorization for his adventures. The fresh line of rule. Pharaohs launched forays to the Drawingadapted from Dearman,ed., Studies Phoenician coast, to the mountains in the Mesha Inscriptionand Moab,p. 308. above the coast (Amurru), to Lebanon's Beka Valley system, and to and Northern Syria beyond. Kadesh out smoothly increasing Age plot After many skirmishes, the appartotals, from least to the largest. In the Late Bronze distribution, middleently decisive battle with the Hittites at Kadesh in the first quarter of the off have fallen towns sharply range thirteenth century reinstated the staso that the once-smooth curve now tus quo ante: Egyptian power was small to the from the large. jumps not to recapture its preeminence in The MB IIB curve suggests a flourishand Syria. well-integrated economy. ing In reaction to its foreshortened The large cities dominated the economic hierarchy but stimulated their reach, Egypt intensified its grasp in Palestine south of the "armistice" line environments. Secondary and sites were bound in southern Syria. Seti I, Ramesses II, together peripheral and into and Merneptah attempted to enforce internally regional systems linked externally into the internaa tighter rule with numerous military tional trade system to which the large swipes throughout Palestine. If durcities provided access. ing the Amarna century of Egypt's The Late Bronze picture points to Asian empire Palestine was adminisa different sort of hierarchy, one tratively regulated, the Palestine of focused on a smaller number of "centhis climactic century and one-quartral places" that acted as regional ter was militarily occupied. There a~;b::~~r':':h~, ~:i:~_~l ~:~a:ii:::::

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II), and inscriptional data from surrounding polities failed to make even a single reference (McGovern 1986: 337). Though the character of LBA settlement of central Jordan remains to be fully elucidated, it hardly represents a "gap", as Glueck's reconstruction asserted (1970:140-143). Central Jordan was, however, somewhat insulated. Thus the region may have retained some measure of autonomy and self-sufficiency. Such was not the case in Western Palestine. Plotting the distributions of site sizes from the Middle Bronze to the end of the Late Bronze period makes prominent the meager state of human activity. Alongside the overall reduction in the total area of occupation, the distribution of site sizes shows a conspicuous shift towards much smaller sites. Settlements no larger than 5 ha constitute an average of ca. 92 percent of all of the excavated sites from the Late Bronze age, a full 20 percentage points higher than the Middle Bronze II number. More tellingly, the distribution curve has lost a chunk of its midsection. The major sites of the Middle Bronze

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were more evidences of Egypt's presence in Palestine from the nineteenth dynasty than the previous eighteen combined (Weinstein 1981:20). Administrators moved in and troops took up stations in large numbers. Voluminous evidence-from forts to faience vessels-disclosed a quantum jump in Egyptian exactions from the city-states and the Palestinian economy. The costs of provisioning this Egyptian presence must have skyrocketed. Tel Sera in southern Palestine has produced a collection of inscribed sherds from small bowls that documents this tax demand. Written by a trained and knowledgeable hand, the hieratic inscriptions of two of the bowls list large quantities of grain-33,500 and 145,000 literspresumably delivered to the Egyptian domain at the site (Goldwasser 1984). Born of weakness on the northern front and unsettled conditions in Palestine itself, the escalation of Egyptian presence included military raids like that of Ramesses III against the clans of shasu, the report of which we quoted at the beginning of this paper. The fact that Egyptian efforts to hold Palestine peaked just prior to the final collapse of the empire shows that Egypt did not relinquish its hold through lack of effort. On the contrary, even the most assiduous attempts to maintain a potent presence did not avail. Egypt was losing its grip. Egyptian authority could not be imposed upon and its benefits could not be derived from a landscape that had long been faltering. Despite the contributions of other factors, including domestic and dynastic problems in Egypt and new, energetic competitors (e.g., the Philistines) for control in Palestine itself, the long-term effects of imperial exploitation of the Palestinian economy were fundamental to the Egyptian collapse (Bienkowski 1986:152-155;Lemche 1988:83). Unbalanced exchange and military requisitions eventually extinguished the province's economic fires. The costs of colonial administration grew 204


larger than its benefits as multiplying Egyptian exactions ultimately undercut its own occupation of the land. The fragmented settlement gg pattern of the final . MO 121 phase of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1300-1150 BCE), with its amalgam allSite 5", of selective urban prosperity and rural neglect, constituted a tenuous and fragile ecoV> I-s A oX-N b nomic scaffolding. investEgyptian ment and profits drawn off the The distribution of sites by size shifted from the Middle indigenous PalesBronze to the Late Bronze. The loss of the middle of the distinian economy tributioncurvesuggestsa morefragmentedand hierarchically maintained only dominatedlandscapein the LateBronzeAge. the focal points of administration and the network of trading cities. At some Egyptian propagandists, our views of point, probably incrementally, ecopastoral nomads usually belong to nomic production dwindled and the swarming horde genre. Seti I jusinvestment no longer paid off. The tified a campaign against the shasu by Egyptian rule of Palestine was over, quoting an intelligence report from the field: "...they have stirred up disdespite the last-minute Ramesside raids. Among a host of other adverorder and tumult, one killing the saries, Egyptian armies and propaother. The have no respect for the laws of the palace!" (ANET p. 254). gandists attacked the shasu in a miliThe modern western world has often tarily and politically futile and misplaced response to conditions cre- imagined pastoral nomads as fierce ated by Egypt's own short-sighted and land hungry desert dwellers and oppressive rule. who emerge from one or another wasteland to challenge settled society Dynamics of Palestinian (Dyson-Hudson and Dyson-Hudson Pastoralism 1980:15). Within the past two The processes by which the shasu decades, however, the study of pastoral nomadic life in the ancient Near apparently gained enough power in Late Bronze Age imperial Palestine to East has veered sharply from this and attract royal animosity are underother such imaginations. Say goodstandable on the basis of the Palestinbye, for example, to the conventional ian dynamics of pastoral nomadism. evolutionary sequence that set the Another aspect of the question pastoralist on the road between "Which way did they go?" concerns hunter/gatherer and sedentary agrithe nature and structure of the culturalist. In its stead, archaeologists nomadic way of life, a kind of pashave chronicled pastoral nomadism toral modusvivendi or halakah.Our as an off-shoot of the established mixed farming and shepherding imaginations hold a variety of ready answers to this question. Like the economy of the village (Adams 1974).

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Inscriptions of small bowls from Tel Sera illustratethe movement of grain into the hands of the Egyptiantax agent. The Egyptianhieratic script recordsa payment of 460 sacks of grain (ca. 33,500 liters). Drawingand transcriptiontaken from Goldwasser(1984:77-8).

Most significantly, modem ethnographic studies have dissolved the nomad-sedentary dichotomy (Barth 1973; Cribb 1991; Salzman 1980; Swidler 1973). The fall of this cultural dichtomization of the wandering herder and settled cultivator is encapsulated in observations such as this one by anthropologist Roger Cribb: The traveler in the more isolated parts of the Near East should not be surprised to see groups of migrating nomads passing through villages whose inhabitants dress in the same manner as the nomads, speak the same dialect, employ the same range of household utensils, possess the same species of domestic animals and, in some cases, claim the same tribal affiliation. Differences there certainly are, but these are often ideological, organizational and economic rather than 'cultural' (1991:65;note also Barth 1973:16). In place of the desert versus the sown, there stands a portrait of an economically and politically charged contin-

uum encompassing the desert and the sown. This notion of the integration of pastoralists and agriculturalists, of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles within the same society, has become fundamental to our understanding of the ancient Near East. "Which way did they go?" Pastoralists lived as part of a socio-economic continuum. Ethnographers have observed that herder households sow fields to which they return at the end of the growing season. Farming families maintain small herds of sheep and goats. Pastoral and agricultural community sectors are integrated by means of specialization of households or individuals, such as expert shepherds. Within the same territory or region, a tribe may integrate herding and farming sectors. Alternatively, the territory may host tribal pastoralists and urbanruled farmers/peasants side-by-side (Cribb 1991:25-26).At any given moment the pattern of relationships on this nomadic-sedentary continuum may appear more or less continuous, more or less fragmented (Swidler 1980:22).Yet none of the farmers and herders who inhabit this spec-

trum can be understood in isolation. Indeed, the fluidity of their location is such that people of the same ancestry, even the same household, may be found at a variety of locations along the continuum. Depicted as an interdependent sector on the nomadic-sedentary continuum, pastoral nomadism remains nevertheless constituted by a particular nature and structure, a way that herders go. Pastoral nomadism interweaves in manifold permutations two logically separate dimensions: dependence upon animals and habitual mobility (Cribb 1991:16).There is a strong linear relationship between the two, however, so that the greater a community's livestock dependency, the greater its commitment to mobility with its animals. The correlation is produced by the conflict between the unrelenting dietary needs of livestock and the discontinuous availability of pasture in regions, like Palestine, marked by sharp climatic seasonality. This basic consideration can be joined by other incentives to the seasonal movement of herds: competition for limited pasturage; patterns of insect infestation and disease vectors; the political demands or economic exactions of oppressive authorities; and the presence of markets. Some factors, such as the existence of defended political boundaries and guarded land rights, may offer disincentives to pastoral movement and otherwise serve to shape its path and determine its pulse. Whether primarily influenced by determinants in the physical, cultural, or historical environment, it is the choice of seasonal movement in order to satisfy the dietary demands of livestock that defines nomadic pastoralists. Beyond this fundamental aspect, pastoral nomads exhibit enormous variability in social, economic, technical, and political relations. This strikes a very important cautionary note too infrequently heard by researchers who find examples of nomadic communities that "fit" ancient pastoralists. Thus, the use of the modern Bedouin as an


205

ideal model for Palestine's ancient inhabitants flounders in light of the wide variability of pastoral nomadism. Isolating a specific, contemporary nomadic type and applying it to ancient times does not increase the accuracy of any reconstruction (Lemche 1985:137). Among the welter of variables, we can settle on one common element among Late Bronze Age nomadic pastoralists: sheep and goats were the primary animals of herders in Palestine. Other beasts were present-horses, asses, camels, cattle, and pigs-but none other than sheep and goats occupied a significant place. Horses and asses were not bred for subsistence. Camels became a focal animal upon which desertdwelling nomadic communities relied only later in the Iron Age, possibly toward the end of the 12th century though probably even later (Beebe 1990:8-15;K6hler-Rollefson in this issue). Cattle and pigs were extremely important in the pastoral economy of the village and town, but both required daily water and were generally not herded transhumantly in Palestine. On the other hand, the ubiquity of sheep and goats, the ovicaprids, is attested by manifold documentary references, as well as by every archaeological examination of the bone refuse of ancient sites (Hellwing and Adjeman 1986; Hesse 1986; LaBianca 1990). Thus, the question "Which way did they go?" receives a second basic answer: they went with sheep and goats. But how many, how herded, and to what end? Details of the size, structure, management, and products of Palestinian sheep and goat herds are difficult to reconstruct but can be inferred from the ethnographic record (Barth 1961; Bates 1973; Behnke 1980; Dahl and Hjort 1976; Gamble; Haitt 1981 are pertinent ethnographies; see also the synthetic presentations of Garnsey 1988; Hodkinson 1988; LaBianca 1990; Nyerges 1980; Skydsgaard 1988; Vincze 1980). Herd sizes vary widely both within and between nomadic societies.

206


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Small flock grazes a field of ripe barley: the planter of the barley and the owner of the flock are one and the same family. The sheep and goats store the energy of the barley which later can be withdrawn from this "food bank on the hoof" in the form of animal sales or even meat.

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The sizable flock of a nomadic pastoralist descends on the harvested fields, grazing the stubble. Flocksmaintain field fertility by providing needed manure.

Between fifty and one hundred animals represents the dimensions of an average holding among contemporary herding families, which is approximately five times larger than that held by settled villagers. The characteristic combination of sheep and goats is a natural by-product of the complementary herding and dietary traits of the animals. Sheep are selective grazers on annual grasses; goats are indiscriminate browsers. Sheep tend to flock together, while goats are more inde-

pendent and mobile and thus enjoy the role of flock leader when combined with their more docile relatives. The sight of a mob of dirtywhite fat-tailed sheep ranging a hillside along with a smattering of brown goats remains familiar throughout Palestine. Only an urbanite could possibly imagine permanently separating the two on "judgment day." Milk, wool and hair, hides, bone and horn, meat, manure, and young animals for trade or sale: these are

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the familiar products of the ovicaprids. The catalog of secondary products derived from sheep and goats is enormous and encompasses a wide variety of bone tools and implements, wool clothing, blankets, and rugs, a huge assortment of milk products (yogurt, butter, and storable cheese), as well as the goat-hair black tent itself. Yet the herd does not run autonomously: it is managed to enhance its productivity in one direc-

tion or another. Goats are immensely more valuable than sheep as milk providers. Their shorter life-cycle and higher reproductive rates make goats a more productive meat source as well, mostly in the form of unwanted male offspring. Sheep provide less meat and milk, but outstrip goats by the production of wool, a fibre of much greater value than goat hair. Lower reproduction and longer maturation rates increase the innate

value of the sheep itself. Thus, both from the standpoint of its main product, wool, and its innate value, the sheep is a more market- or trade-oriented animal. The goat is the animal of choice for household subsistence. With an eye toward economic conditions, such as the rise or decline of markets and the needs of subsistence, pastoralists adjust the balance of animals. Natural conditions play a part as well, with goats better adapted to more extreme aridity. The most telling characteristic of the herd of sheep and goats is its potential for explosive growth. Early sexual maturation ages (one year of age) and short gestation periods (ca. five months) make these small animals fecund. These rates stand out markedly in contrast to larger beasts, such as camels (five year maturity, 12-13 month gestation) and cattle (three-year maturity, nine month gestation). A large herd of cattle represents the work of decades, while a sizable herd of sheep can materialize in a matter of years. A set of conservative flock demographics-birth rates, cull rates, and mortality ratescharts a yearly growth rate of 11.2% for a hypothetical flock of sheep and goats (modelled by Cribb 1991:29-34). This rate of increase would double flock size within six years. The rapid flock expansion made possible by this dynamic growth potential is matched by the herd's susceptibility to precipitous decline. Pastoral disasters are frequent in the Near East. Droughts and epidemics join animal predators and human thieves to give an Asian proverb the ring of truth in Palestine: the herd belongs to the first adverse season or powerful enemy (quoted by Cribb 1991:31).Disaster comes with unpredictable regularity in the ethnographically well-documented communities of the Taurus-Zagros mountain arc: two years out of five witness the loss of more than half the herds (Cribb 1991:31).Thus the economic basis of nomadic pastoralism is given to extreme fluctuations, shaping an oscillating venture of high gain and


207

high risk. "Which way did they go?" "Boom or bust," unpredictably. In tandem with the rapid rise or precipitous decline of the herd, pasturage requirements and labor needs will also fluctuate dramatically. This underlying economic seesaw necessitates the prominent "flexibility" of nomadic pastoralists in regards to group composition, relations with settled sectors and, not least, territorial associations. During the "boom" cycle, for example, the usual network of grazing grounds will rapidly reach its capacity. The exhausted pastures impel territorial movement and expansion. Other conditions-notably political, such as weak central authority-may abet territorial expansion. The growth potential inherent in pastoral production makes territorial change-displacement, expansion-a common theme in the history of pastoral nomadism. The oscillation of the herding community's needs for labor and pasturage brings into focus an important contrast between pastoral and agricultural economic sectors. Agricultural productivity tends to be inelastic compared to the productivity of pastoralism. Land and labor needs do not rise and fall in tandem with the success or failure of the crops, but remain relatively constant. In the herding sector, tremendous increases during pastoral boom cycles are matched by tremendous declines during bad years. Labor and pasturage needs rise and fall correspondingly (Barth [1973:12-18] offers the classic discussion of this contrast). These contrary tendencies of herding and farming are fundamental to the dynamics of the pastoralagricultural continuum. They provide incentives for the integration of the two sectors in Palestine's erratic and uncertain environment, especially at the household and village level where the complementarity of these two pursuits is strongest. The ability of settled cultivators to turn to pastoral pursuits adds buoyancy to their subsistence. Pastoral nomadic

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households seek stability when making investments in arable land. Agriculture's need for institutions-e.g., markets-to facilitate its growth, its labor-intensive nature, and its demands for territorial stability associate its florescence with periods of well-oiled, forceful central authority. At the same time, this central force may act to check the territorial expansionism inherent in pastoralism's potential for explosive growth. Pastoral pursuits become more specialized as market outlets for herd output and excess labor appear in the settled sector. Conversely, weak rule and disordered social and economic institutions create incentives for multiplying the number of nomadic pastoralists, spur herd management for subsistence production, and offer latitude for territorial aggrandizement.

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Milking and shearing among early twentieth century

Palestinian Bedouin. Goatsoutstripsheep as dairyanimals, but sheep'swool is of muchgreatervaluethan goat hair.Both can producecommoditiesfor market,butthe goat predominatesamongsubsistence-oriented the sheep among pastoralists, market-oriented Herders can shift the shepherds. proportionsof theirflocksdependingupon economicand environmentalconditions.Thebalanceof sheep and goats amongancientpastoralistsresistsdeterminationsincethe usualbone remainsof the two animalsare indistinguishable. Photographsfrom the Matson Collection,Libraryof Congress, Washington,DC.

Palestinian Pastoralists at the End of the Late Bronze Age This sketch of the dynamics of nomadic pastoralism, the functionalist aspect of the question "Which way did they go?", prepares us to answer the directional or historical aspect of the question. In the last phase of the

Late Bronze Age, "Which way did the pastoral nomads-among them the shasu-go?" The shape of the pastoral-agricultural continuum in Late Bronze Age Palestine reflects a situation of pastoral expansionism. The fragmented settlement pattern of the final phase of the Late Bronze Age, with its amalgam of selective urban prosperity and rural neglect, mani-

fests an intensely disrupted agricultural sector favoring nomadization. Sedentary communities turned toward nomadic pastoralism both as an escape from centralized exactions and as 'T a means of 12 resilient subsistence in a hardpressed environ~ 14 ment. In these circumstances, nomadization represents "...positive selection for an unstaPlan of Giloh, an early12thcenturysite in ble production A graph of potential flock growth demonstrates the explosive sexual maturathe JudeanHills.Gilohmakesbest sense and Produced of goats. by early fecundity sheep system which is when regardedas a constellationof perma- able to accommotion ages and shortgestation periods,this ideal portraitis based nent structuresbuiltfor the seasonaluse of upon a birthrateof 44%, 10%mortalityof kidsand lambs,30% date rapid fluctuthe burgeoningpastoralistelement of the removalof young males,and adult mortalityof 12%.Herdscan ations of fortune Highlandregions. grow to largesizes in a matterof years,overtakingthe abilityof and is responsive familylaborand availablepastureto supportthem. Adapted from Mazar(1981:6). to any opportunities afforded by unsettled conditions" (Cribb 1991:6364). With the integrated mixed economy of farming and herding rendered untenable at the village level and the reduced urban sector restricting labor and trade outlets, pastoral pursuits became increasingly nomadic and aimed more toward subsistence autonomy. At the same time, agricultural retreat opened new and desirable pastures to herders as land went out of cultivation and the urban sway over the land declined. Grazing land was politically and economically accessible to a pastoral boom. The percentage of the Palestinian population that was embraced in the process of nomadization is not known. Estimates of the relatively recent shift ~Im that took place under weak Ottoman rule in Iraq exceed half the population (Eickelman 1981:65-66;for Ottoman Palestine, see Haitt 1981:31-62). walls of one to The sheep market outside the Jerusalem (1978) represents way Such a figure would not be out of achievethe integrationof pastoraland agriculturalpursuits.The urbanmarketabsorbs excessanimals,checkingthe growthof flocksand providinga sourceof incomefor the keeping with the overall decline in herders. the total area of occupation in Pales-

81

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ack

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,


209

cant numbers of shasu pastoralists ranged LBA Canaan. Direct archaeological data is harder to come by. Evidence of the conduct of ordinary pastoral activities, particularly of camping locations, remains elusive, especially where traces of nomads are obscured in a difficult terrain with its vegetational cover. Less direct testimony to their presence can be adduced. Perhaps pastoralists were the builders of cultic structures existing apart from permanent sites. Such sanctuaries An aerial view of Early Iron Age Te11ll el-Umeiri's fortias the Amman airfications. Thesite evidencesa processof sedentaizationunderport structure and way inthe JordanianHighlands.The long trenchexposesthe re- the cult places at used moat, retainingwall,and rampart,topped with a Tell Deir 'Alla and casematestoreroom.IronIIbuildingsare exposedat top. Shiloh could have Photo courtesyof Douglas Clarkand the MadabaPlainsProject. functioned as gathering spots for inhabitants of their tine, estimated at a steep 55% from non-sedentary the Middle Bronze level (Gonen regions (Finkelstein 1988:343-344). 1984: 68). Yet alternative explanations are This dramatic increase in the perequally plausible-Deir 'Alla, for of nomadic occucentage pastoral example, has been interpreted as a of Palestine trementrade center (Van der Kooij and pants produced dous conflict among pastoralists, as Ibrahim 1989:79-80). What of the scatwell as between pastoralists and tering of Late Bronze Age cemeteries It is no found in peripheral areas unattached sedentary society. surprise that references to the shasu crest in to any permanent settlement? Such the period of Egypt's augmented cemeteries could have attended to the of the mortuary needs of non-sedentary occupation during reign Ramesses II. Egyptian military conpastoralists (Gonen 1992:12, 18, 148-9; cern with the shasu likely had its Finkelstein 1988:343-344). roots in territorial conflicts engenYet the nomadization that prodered as the map of Palestine adduced the shasu of Egyptian record is most clearly evidenced only as the justed to an enlarged, opportunistic, and volatile pastoral tenancy. process peaks with the collapse of The fractured settlement pattern Egypt's empire. This evidence does and the Egyptian military record not appear in the area of Egypt's warrant the assumption that signifistronghold-the southern coastal

MIN RON

, , ;, ,

210


sONE

;

plain and valley systems-which received a new layer of rulers wearing the feathered caps of the Philistines. However, in the Highlands of Western Palestine, the changed political circumstances and economic opportunities of the early Iron Age germinated dozens of seasonal encampments. These sites are regularly interpreted primafacie as signs of sedentarization. Yet building activity and settling down are not necessarily linked, as the platforms, animal pens, and huts of contemporary pastoralists demonstrate (Rosen 1988). Rounded enclosures and small clusters of buildings such as those found at 'Izbet Sarta (st. III), Giloh, Hazor, and Beer Sheba make best sense as pastoral constructions designed to meet seasonal needs in new territory. Soon, however, the pastoral nomads did enter a phase of sedentarization that produced permanent villages such as Shiloh, Kh. Radana, Ai, and Masos. On the Jordanian plateau, the early 12th-century fortified village at Tell el-Umeiri brings the pastoralists into unambiguous view as increasingly sedentary residents of ancient Palestine. "Which way did they go?" They went to villages, rejuvenating the landscape and sowing the seeds, literally, for Palestine's transformation into the monarchies of the Iron Age.

Bibliography Adams,RobertMcC. 1974 TheMesopotamian SocialLandscape:A ViewfromtheFrontier. Pp. 1-20 in ReconstructingComplex Societies,edited by CharlotteB. Moore. Cambridge,MA: Cambridge Archaeology Seminar.

Ahituv,S.

1978 EconomicFactorsin the Egyptian Conquest of Canaan. IEJ28:93-105. Barth,F 1973 A General Perspective on NomadSedentary Relations in the Middle

East.Pp.11-27in TheDesertandthe

Sown:Nomadsin the WiderSociety; edited by Cynthia Nelson. Institute of InternationalStudies, Research Series, 21. Berkeley:Univ. of California. Bates, D. G. 1973 NomadsandFarmers:A Studyof the Ybriikof SoutheastTurkey.University

of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Paper,52. Ann Arbor:University of Michigan. Beebe, H. K. 1990 TheDromedaryRevolution.Occasional Papers of the Institute For Antiquity and Christianity,18. Claremont:Institute for Antiquity and Christianity. Bienkowski, Piotr 1986 Jerichoin theLateBronzeAge. Warminster:Aris and Phillips. 1989 Prosperity and Decline in LBA Canaan:A Reply to Liebowitz and Knapp. BASOR275:59-63. Behnke, R. H., Jr. 1980 TheHerdersof Cyrenaica:Ecology, Economy,and KinshipamongtheBedouinof EasternLibya.Illinois Studies in Anthropology, 12. Urbana:University of Illinois Press. Coote, R. B. 1990 EarlyIsrael:A New Horizon.Minneapolis: Fortress. Cribb,R. 1991 Nomadsin Archaeology.New Studies in Archaeology.Cambridge:Cambridge University. Dahl, G. & Hjort,A. 1976 HavingHerds:PastoralHerdGrowth andHouseholdEconomy.Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology, 2. Stockholm:University of Stockholm. De Vaux, R. 1978 TheEarlyHistoryof Israel.Translated by David Smith. Philadelphia: Westminster. Dyson-Hudson, R. and Dyson-Hudson, N. 1980 Nomadic Pastoralism.Annual ReviewofAnthropology9:15-61. Eickelman,D. E 1981 TheMiddleEast:An Anthropological Approach.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Finkelstein, I. 1988 TheArchaeologyof theIsraeliteSettlement.Jerusalem:Israel Exploration Society. Gamble, C. 1981 Animal Husbandry,Population and Urbanization.Pp. 161-171in An IslandPolity:TheArchaeologyof Exploitationin Melos,edited by Colin Renfrew and Malcolm Wagstaff.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Garnsey,P. 1988 Mountain Economies in Southern Europe. Pp. 196-209in Pastoral Economiesin ClassicalAntiquity;. edited by C.R.Whittaker.Supplementary Volume 14. Cambridge: Cambridge Philosophical Society. Giveon, R. 1971 LesbidouinsShosoudes documents igyptiens.Documenta et Monu-

menta Orientis antiqui 18. Leiden: Brill. Goldwasser, O. 1984 Hieratic Inscriptionsfrom Tel Sera' in Southern Canaan. TelAviv 11:7793. Glueck, N. 1970 TheOtherSideof theJordan.Cambridge, MA: ASOR. Gonen, Rivka 1984 Urban Canaan in the Late Bronze Period. BASOR253:61-73. 1992 BurialPatternsand CulturalDiversity in LateBronzeAge Canaan.ASOR Dissertation Series, 7. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns. Hellwing, S. & Adjeman, Y. 1986 Animal Bones. Pp. 141-152in cIzbet Sartah,edited by Israel Finkelstein. B.A.R.InternationalSeries 299. Oxford:B.A.R. Hesse, B. 1986 Animal Use at Tel Miqne-Ekronin the Bronze Age and Iron Age. BASOR264:17-27. Hodkinson, S. 1988 Animal Husbandry in the Greek Polis. Pp. 35-74 in PastoralEconomies in ClassicalAntiquity,edited by C.R. Whittaker.SupplementaryVolune 14. Cambridge:Cambridge Philosophical Society. Knapp, A. Bernard 1989 Independence, Imperialismand the Egyptian Factor.BASOR275:64-68. LaBianca,O. S. 1990 Sedentarization andNomadization: FoodSystemCyclesat Hesbanand Hesban 1. Vicinityin Transjordan. BerrienSprings, MI:Institute of Archaeology and Andrews University Press. Lemche, N.P. 1985 EarlyIsrael:Anthropological andHistoricalStudieson theIsraeliteSociety BeforetheMonarchy.VTSups38. Leiden: E.J.Brill. 1988 AncientIsrael:A New Historyof IsraeliteSociety.The BiblicalSeminar, 5. Sheffield:Sheffield Academic Press. Mazar,Amihai 1990 Archaeologyof theLandof theBible: 10,000-586BCE.The Anchor Bible ReferenceLibrary.New York:Doubleday. McGovern, PatrickE. 1986 TheLateBronzeand EarlyIronAges of CentralTransjordan: TheBaqahValley Project,1977-1981.University Museum Monograph, 65. Philadelphia: The University Museum. Miller,J.M.,ed. 1991 Archaeological Surveyof theKerak Plateau.Atlanta:ScholarsPress. Na'aman, N. 1981 Economic Aspects of Egyptian Oc-

cupation of Canaan.IEJ21:172-185. Nyerges, E. 1980 TraditionalPastoralism:An Evolutionary Perspective. Expedition22, 4:36-41. Redford, Donald B. 1992 Egypt,Canaan,andIsraelin Ancient Times.Princeton:PrincetonUniversity Press. Rosen, S. A. 1988 Finding Evidence of Ancient Nomads. BiblicalArchaeologyReview 14(Sept/Oct):46-53. Salzman, P.C. 1980 Introduction:Processes of Sedentarization as Adaption and Response. Pp. 1-19 in WhenNomadsSettle, edited by Philip C. Salzman. New York:Praeger. Skydsgaard,J. E. 1988 Transhumancein Ancient Greece. Pp. 75-86 in PastoralEconomiesin ClassicalAntiquity,edited by C.R. Whittaker.SupplementaryVolume 14. Cambridge:Cambridge Philosophical Society. Swidler, N. 1980 Sedentarizationand Modes of Economic Integrationin the Middle East. Pp. 21-33 in WhenNomadsSettle, edited by Philip C. Salzman. New York:Praeger. Swidler, W. W. 1973 Adaptive ProcessesRegulating Nomad-Sedentary Interactionin the Middle East. Pp. 23-41 in The Desertand theSown:Nomadsin the WiderSociety,edited by Cynthia Nelson. Institute of International Studies, ResearchSeries, 21. Berkeley: Univ. of California. Van der Kooij,G. and Ibrahim,M. M., eds. 1989 PickingUp theThreads...AContinuing Reviewof theExcavationsat Deir Alla, Jordan.Leiden:University of Leiden ArchaeologicalCentre. Vincze, L. 1980 Peasant Animal Husbandry:A Dialectic Model of Techno-Environmental Integrationin Agro-Pastoral Societies. Ethnology19:387-403. Weinstein,JamesM. 1981 The Egyptian Empirein Palestine. BASOR241:1-28. Weippert,M. 1974 Semitische Nomaden des zweiten JahrtausendsUber die Shaso der aigyptischenQuellen. Biblica55:265280;427-433. Zarins,Juris 1989 Pastoralismin Southwest Asia: The Second Millennium BC.Pp. 127-155 in TheWalkingLarder:Patternsof Domestication,Pastoralism,and Predation,edited by JulietCluttonBrock.London: Unwin Hyman.


211

Wild Stones Been Gathered Aside: Have in PastoralistCampsites Wadi Ziqlib, Jordan Where

the

Seaof Galilee

By E.B. Banning At ourleftlay a campinggroundthathadevidentlybeenoccupiedbuta littlewhilebefore.Therewas thedeepened fireplace,uponthreestonesof which bedsof a kettlehadbeenplaced;heapsoffuellayaboutas wellas improvised stonesandbrush,andin placescamelshadlodged.A shorttimebefore,men hadbeenthere,perhapsrelativesandfriends;butnowall wassilent(Musil 1927:80-81).

betweenthe hedichotomy

desert and the sown has fascinated archaeologists working in the Middle East and central Asia for the last five decades. Regrettably, however, archaeologists rarely, until recently, gave serious consideration to the possibility that we could discover, excavate, and study the sites that belonged to ancient nomadic pastoralists. Instead, they concentrated on sites of "the sown." Archaeologists invoked invisible pastoral nomads, whose sites were supposedly too ephemeral to be archaeologically visible, only when they needed to explain curious gaps in the archaeological record, or even more curious destructions of town sites. When the Wadi Ziqlab Project began in 1981, one of its objectives was to provide some insights into the locations of ancient pastoral camps. For the most part the 1981 survey was unsuccessful in this respect. Although it discovered several lowdensity scatters of pottery and lithics, these were not only very few in number, but it was difficult or impossible to demonstrate from the surface remains alone what kind of sites they were (Banning 1982; Banning and Fawcett 1983; Banning 1985). One of the objectives of further work in Wadi Ziql1b has been to improve our 212


success at finding and recognizing ancient tent sites, and this has involved test excavations combined with observation of modem tentdwellers' activities.

Site WZ 200: Its Modern Use During 1986 we carried out some test excavations at a low-density scatter that we hoped would reveal evidence for a campsite of Late Roman date. From 1987 to 1992 we had the opportunity to carry out both mapping and excavation of a recent camp. Excavating our way down to deposits of Late Neolithic and earlier age, we also discovered what we think may be the remains of earlier camps on the same site (WZ 200) but dating to the periods ca. 4500 BCEand 350 CE. Modem pastoralists and farmers in and around Wadi Ziqlab most normally place their tent sites on wellsheltered, gently sloping stream terraces along the length of the wadi and its tributaries. Nestled among steep canyon slopes that both shelter them from wind and sun and provide pasture for sheep and goats, the camps here usually have only one

long tent or baytsha'ar.Generally

made of burlap and other scraps rather than the traditional goat hair, the tent is occupied by a family of one or two adults and several chil-

Dead Sea

The location of Wadi Ziqlib in northwest Jordan.

dren for periods of up to three months. For the most part, these families fall into two groups. In December of 1981 the stream terraces along 'Ayfin Ziqlab, which had been unoccupied for at least several weeks, suddenly were spotted with tents belonging to Bedouin of the Beni Hasan, one of these groups, who had just trucked their livestock in from the steppe east of Irbid. During summer, however, we frequently see these same terraces occupied by tents belonging to local "small farmers." The family and the flocks that occupied locality WZ 200 in 1986 and 1987, for example, belonged to the village of Tubna, about 3 km south. But in 1990, a family from Jenin asSafa, a village at a similar distance to the northwest, erected two tents on the same terrace less than a week after its previous occupants, a woman born in Dayr Abu Sa'id and her children, left it. During the summer of 1992, this same woman, rejoined by her Bedouin husband, was camping about 500 m farther downstream. She and her husband

Two tents on a stream terrace in iRyun Ziqlib. Photo by T Dabney.

provided an example of a more unusual situation that cross-cuts both "village" and Bedouin groups. While we have observed, photographed, and in some cases even excavated other terraces in Wadi Ziqlcib that show the traces of abandoned camps, it is at WZ 200 that we have had the most detailed glimpse of such a camp in use, as well as of its material residues. In addition, we have been able to excavate residues of earlier camping episodes. During the summer of 1986 we found this terrace inhabited by a family associated with the village of Tubna. They had one poor bayt sha ar and a canvas army tent placed on either side of a fenced corral. The fact that we were, at the time, unfamiliar foreigners, coupled with the fact that the tents were guarded by a rather vicious dog, prevented us from making any close observations of this camp until almost a year later. In June of 1987 we found the terrace unoccupied and prepared to carry out the test excavations that would shortly result in our discovery of a Late Neolithic farmstead (Banning, Dods et al. 1989; Banning, Dods et al. 1992). Part of the preparation consisted of mapping, recording, and photographing the traces of the 1986 camp on the surface. The positions of the tents were very clear, and they would have been easily detectable,

activities, the principal evidence consisted of architectural traces. The western tent area consisted of a relatively stoneless surface, with two partially levelled sections created by excavating shallow terraces. The whole was enclosed by two or more shallow ditches on three sides. The ditches on the southern, uphill end and both long sides served, as noted in ancient Arabic poetry (anNabighah 1968:2-5;Zuhair 1893:3.5), to divert surface water in case of a sudden rain, and remained the principal physical features that defined the tent's location. Within the area that the ditches demarcated were four ash concentrations in two clusters, possibly representing the use of two hearths during two separate camping episodes on this same spot. The only evidence for the tent's superstructure consisted of an iron tent peg, still inserted in the ground, and various scraps of cloth, some of which, because they were woven from goat hair, we identified as tent cloth. The eastern tent area was much smaller, with two shallow ditches on the southwest, uphill side and rows of stones on the northeast and south-

even if we had not seen the tents in situ the previous year, by the shallow drainage ditches and stone alignments that marked the tents' edges. In addition, since the bayt sha3arhad been oriented perpendicular to the slope, its inhabitants had excavated shallow terraces for each of the three tent sections, thus providing each with a somewhat more level floor. There were also numerous ash concentrations, hearth pits, and postholes. Although the artifact density Ted Banning received on the surface was his Ph.D. in Near low relative to that EasternStudiesat the found on many vilUniversityof Toronto in 1985and is now lage sites with AssistantProfessorof which Near Eastern archaeologists Archaeologyin the Anthropology are familiar, Departmentof that portable material Since 1981 university. culture was still he has been directing fairly abundant on survey and excavathe surface. There tions in WadiZiqlab, were many artinorthernJordan.He facts related to was a seniorstaffmemberof the 'Ain Ghazalexcavations from 1982to 1989and, with Ilse Kohler-Rollefson,codomestic, agricultural, and pastoral investigatorin the BeidhaEthnoarchaeological Surveyof 1982.His publicationsinclude "Peasants,Pastoralistsand activities, some Pax Romana:Mutualismin the SouthernHighlandsof home-made and BASOR261 and, with Ilse Kohler-Rollefson, Jordan," others store-bought Lessonsfor the PastoralPast:Camp "Ethnographic or even imported Locationsand MaterialRemainsNear Beidha,Southern from abroad. in Jordan,"in O. Bar-Yosefand A. Khazanov,Pastoralism Among the the Levant:ArchaeologicalMaterials in Anthropological material culture Madison,WI:PrehistoryPress. Perspective. related to domestic


213

WZ 200: recording material culture near the east tent area

WZ 200: drainage ditches mark the former location of a

on the surfaceof the site in 1987.Note the stones markingthe tent outlineat lowerright.PhotobyE.Banning.

tent on the site in 1987.PhotobyE.Banning.

WZ 200: ash concentration at the site, markingthe location

WZ 200: a shallow pit at the site, undoubtedlyrepresentinga

Photo hearth. ofaformer byE.Banning.

east sides demarcating a roughly square area. The interior floor was roughly levelled by excavation along the southwest edge and heaping of soil to the northeast. Three clear postholes, each only a few centimeters across, were distributed along one axis of the tent area, indicating that the tent was of the center-ridge variety, probably one of the canvas "army tents" that sometimes supplements the bayt shalar.Although the floor area was clear of large objects, various stones about 20-30 cm in length that lay around the perimeter may have helped to weigh down tent flaps, in addition to the more substantial rows of stones that helped to 214


Photo former hearth. byE.Banning.

stabilize the low terrace on the northeast edge of the floor. Other domestic material culture included textile pieces and other items of clothing (principally shoes), items related to food preparation and consumption, such as hearth-stones, bones, empty food cans (principally for hommos, corned beef, or sardines) and jerry cans, and a number of items related to the care of infants and small children, such as the lids of powdered-milk cans, and a bottle nipple. Batteries found on the site had probably served to power small tape-players. Among the most common items of material culture were small bundles of plant stems which,

as we were later able to observe, served as brooms. There was also a sponge located close to the area that likely served as the cooking and sleeping area of the bayt sha'ar. Residues related to agriculture were few in number and restricted, as far as we could ascertain, to concentrations of spilled grain. In fact, it is a reasonable assumption that this grain served as feed for livestock, and so is more relevant to pastoral activities at the site. The principal evidence for the presence of livestock on the site consisted of a large, rectangular patch of packed dung surrounded by 17 small post-holes. Scattered on the periph-

-

4

...i

WZ 200: one of several small bundles

of plant stems, whichapparentlyfunctioned as brooms,on the surfaceof the site. Photo by E. Banning.

ery of this patch were two strips of metal, a piece of wire, and some cloth strips which probably had been used to attach a fence to 17 wooden and metal posts. On the northern edge of the patch was a heap of organic chips of unknown function, in the location where the previous year we had observed a sheet-metal water trough fed by a hose from 40-gallon drums. Interestingly, two segments of hose also occurred on the surface of the site, although some 10 to 15 m east of the dung-covered area. A small heap of grain, probably the residue of animal feed, occurred about 10 m west of dung, just outside the northeast corner of the west tent area. In our next season, in 1990, we were also able to study the residues of another type of pastoral feature in the rock shelter immediately north of site WZ 200. Here we sunk a narrow trench that we hoped would disclose evidence for the pre-historic use of the shelter by shepherds and others. Instead the probe revealed beautifully stratified lenses of recent shepherds' hearths. While this was not our original goal in excavating the shelter, the deposits did provide a rich sample of the kinds of plant remains that can occur in such temporary stations in this region. Analysis of the charred plant fossils by Joy McCorriston, one of our palaeoeth-

nobotanists, provided a signature of a grazed batha-low, shrubless vegetational cover-similar in character to the low, shrubless vegetational cover around the rock shelter today. This signature included abundant wood charcoal, many glume bases and awn fragments, and seeds of vetch (Viciaervilia), charlock (Sinapis) and chamomile (Anthemis)or Matricaria, and smaller numbers of poppy (Papaver),mignonette (Reseda),mallow (Malva), hawksbeard (Crepis), black medick (Medicagopolymorpha), pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), and others.

Modern Tent-Dwellers in Wadi Ziqlib Soon after our work on the site began in 1987, two members of the Tubna family returned to the site and erected a small burlap tent. We now had a site guard. Throughout the remainder of our excavations in 1987 and our whole season of 1990, we had abundant opportunity to view the activities of three different households on the site, and so to gain some small understanding of the formation and use of features like the ones we had recorded. The first of these households consisted of our guard, aged about 55 or 60, and his wife, who was in her 40s. This household was regionally renowned for its cheese-making, although we had no opportunity to observe this during their stay at the site in the summer of 1987. Since their children were adults with children of their own, the guard and his wife constituted the smallest household we saw at the site. Presumably, many of the household activities we would normally have observed, particularly those associated with childrearing, were not going on. The small, poor tent was located some distance east of a fenced animal corral, and was constructed from a combination of burlap, flour sacks, and pieces of corrugated sheet metal. One of the principal activities we were able to learn about was hospitality. The guard had an outdoor madifa, or

guest area, about halfway between the tent and the animal corral. The madifa consisted of mattresses arranged around a mat and a hearth. It was here that he would offer guests, occasionally including one or more of our crew, strong, sweet tea prepared in a Korean-made aluminum pot perched on stones in the fire. It was also here that his friends among our workmen would enjoy their breakfasts, which included yogurt and sometimes some of their host's famous cheese, along with olive oil (poured on the soft cheese) and some combination of bread, hot peppers, cucumbers, and olives. In May of 1990 we found the site already occupied by the woman born in Dayr Abu Sa'id and her small children. Their bayt sha'arwas oriented perpendicular to the slope, much as the 1986 one had been, but directly over the position previously occupied by the canvas army tent. The woman had excavated shallow terraces in three steps down the slope, one for each tent compartment, and shallow ditches to direct any rainwater away from the living floors. The tent's guy ropes were secured by lengths of one-inch steel bar, made for reinforcing concrete, but which had been bent at one end into an eyelet and sharpened at the other. Shortly after our arrival, apparently prompted by our plans to excavate only a short distance from her tent, she moved the tent to the other side of the road. This operation she carried out by herself in about an hour and a half. Before long, the family from Jenin as-Safa arrived and set up its own camp on the site, a little farther west than any we had seen previously. This camp consisted of one very poor tent, pieced together from various materials, which served as living quarters, and another long tent or shack, constructed from lengths of fabric, pieces of wood, and corrugated iron, which served mainly as a storage facility. Within a few days of their arrival, the woman again packed up her tent and departed. We did not see her again


215

until 1992, when she had been rejoined by her Bedouin husband and occupied the foot of a slope some 500 m downstream. The Bedouin's wife neatly demonstrated the use and importance of the bundles of weeds that were one of the most abundant items of material culture we recorded on the site in 1987. Each day a cloud of dust accompanying a sort of thumping sound announced that she was vigorously sweeping inside and around her tent with one of these home-made brooms, a potentially back-breaking activity considering their lack of a broom handle. As a result, despite the rapidity with which sheep-and-goat-dung could accumulate around the tent and become packed down, the tent area was in fact quite clean, and any small objects that had been discarded in the tent's vicinity, including stones and any food scraps that dogs had not already carried off, were swept to the periphery. Only larger rocks, stones imbedded in the soil, relatively large artifacts, and items such as textile scraps that resisted removal through friction rather than weight, were left. One of the most telling signs of a tent's former location, consequently, far from a concentration of artifacts such as might attract an archaeologist's attention, is an area clear of artifacts and stones. This is reminiscent of Charles Doughty's more poetic description of abandoned camps, or "dars": These dars are where the wild stones have been gathered aside, and there is a clear room to build the worsted booths, and for their cattle to lie down in: they remain doubtless from the old generations (Doughty 1936:428-29). Food preparation was another activity that left some evidence. Flour and salt from bags within the tent and a little water from one of the large barrels outside were all that was needed to bake bread. Having kneaded these together and formed them into a flattened ball, the woman

216

Biblical 56:4(1993) Archaeologist

would toss the dough quickly with a another relatively important domesmotion her hands tic activity. Only the woman from between rotating so that gravity and centrifugal force Dayr abu Sa'id had very small chilto stretch it, helped pizza-like, into a very thin disk 40 or 50 cm in tin diameter. She would lay S/flint this over a convex iron 4bone sadj, perched on stones burnt over coals in the hearth, grain old where in only a few old hearth? minutes it would bake tentcloth burnt stone into a delicious, thin, cloth ash shoe and rather elastic bread called shrak.This was the family's staple. Most o loomweight meals consisted of shrak, a .l burntstone tent cloth along with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers stone cloth sponge from one of the village markets, olives, cheese, burnt tent stone and the ever-present stone cloth burnt old hearth olive oil, sometimes sarSbu accompanied by A\p canlid dines, corned beef, or hearth hard-boiled eggs. Relacloth shoe tively rarely would one tent c of the chickens content cloth c plastic irontent pego tribute fresh meat to a tin boiled meal-probably in a yogurt sauce-and in fact we never WestTentArea observed this type of WZ 200: map of the material culture on the surface meal on the site. of the site, Tabaqat al-BOma,during the summer of 1987. we norwere Although Drawingby E.Banningand H. Haines. mally on-site only during the morning and likely failed to observe some types of meals, it is still likely that meat, and especially red meat, was a relatively rare menu item among these families. Child care was z(OLAO

WZ 200: stratified ashy deposits at the north end of trench 1R, in a rockshelter immediately north of the site, are relatively recent and apparently represent the use of the caves by modern shepherds seeking shelter Photo by T Dabney.

200

WZ'"

"l

dren, and their requirements for milk were responsible for the distribution of cans and lids that had formerly

was the one from Jenin as-Safa. Along with the man and his wife were five children. The eldest daughter, about 16, tended the camp and, when necessary, her younger siblings, ExcavationArea A brothers aged about 12 and 7 and sister aged about 7. For the most part, these children wandered about on their own, playing except when they were in school or tending livestock. The older sister only rarely intervened in their activities, most often for interfering in our archaeological work. On EastTentArea special occasions, however, she would scrub her siblings, comb out their hair, and Excavation dress them in their finest Area B clothes. The most obvious furniture found inside this

contained milk powder. The family that occupied the site for the longest period during the summer of 1990

WE

WZ 200: the campsite on the site during the summer of 1987. Note the tent near the center of the terrace, the outdoor madafa, marked by mattresses, to its right, and animal corral still farther right. Photo by H. Kim.

WZ 200: the long tent that occupied the site for a short time in May of 1990. Photo by T Dabney.


217

last family's tent consisted of mattresses which, when not being used either as bedding or arranged in the tent interior as a maddfahfor entertaining, were stacked on top of a small cabinet that appeared to be used to store clothes and valuables. Large aluminum pans and trays would lean against the inner sides of the tent. Some large items occasionally leaned against the outside to help secure the tent against wind. Although the government classifies the households that occupy these camps as "small farmers," their principal economic activity is to raise and pasture livestock. The 1987 summer's occupants of the site tended livestock numbering 132 sheep and 12 goats. Our informants provided some archaeologically relevant information about the management of these livestock. Currently they receive barley from the government as animal feed, typically a "black barley" from Syria or Iraq. The livestock that we observed were not exclusively owned by the families that herded them; typically people in villages hire shepherds, usually with rather low status, for 60 or 100 Jordanian dinars (about $90-$150) a month, so that individual shepherds watch composite flocks with many owners. They divide the livestock into groups pastured in different areas to reduce feeding pressure on the environment. The bedouin and shepherds state a preference for rather sparse, desertic pastures over agricultural land. The flocks we saw would go to pasture each morning, on a winding route up one steep slope and along the ridge near its top. The shepherds would return the animals a little before noon, herding them down a different slope. The woman from Dayr abu Sa'id appeared to supervise a smaller herd than usual, with less than 30 sheep, while the third household had a more diverse menagerie, including some 100 sheep, 12 goats, a few chickens, and 18 ducks. Each household had a donkey-the third camp's donkey had recently given birth so that there was a young one as well218


to carry fuel and other burdens, and a dog to guard the camp. None of the occupants of the site owned a truck, and they relied on a man with a tractor and tank-trailer to fill their rows of 40-gallon drums with water from

'Ayin Ziqlab.

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WZ 200: part of the interior of the main tent on the site in

The families Julyof 1990,and two membersof the household.Mattressesare watered the live- stackedon top of the cabinet(upperleft),a waterjarsitsat right, stock with sheet- and other householdgoods arestationedalong the tent wall. Photo by E. Banning. metal troughs that were placed near these drums, and the children who were not in school pastured the sheep and goats on the surrounding hillsides, moving them each morning up one slope, along it near the top of the ridge, and then back down. In the heat of the afternoon, the sheep and goats often rested in the shade of rockshelters around the site. During the milking and at night, the wife and eldest daughter in the third household restrained about 25 ewes in a neat double row by use of a zirar, basically a long rope with many nooses attached. A disease was spreading among the livestock at the time, so that many of the sheep and goats had a pronounced cough and mucous about their snouts, and, in spite of several visits from a veterinarian, we observed the disposal of several dead A long zirnr, usedto restraintwo rowsof animals over the course of the sumewes while they are milked. mer. In each case this involved dragPhoto by E.Banning. ging the corpse off-site and abandoning it in the stream channel north of the road, where heat, flies and, evendemonstrated. At no time did we observe any of tually, dogs aided in its gradual the site's occupants dispatching, decay and dismemberment. Presumably the following winter rains butchering, or consuming any sheep would carry away most of the suror goats. The livestock constitute valuable capital and, especially when viving bones and redeposit them downstream. Animal bones of any disease is depleting the herd, they are kind were quite rare on the surface of far too valuable to slaughter for the the site itself, as the survey of 1987 household's consumption. It is neces-

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WZ 200: a stone platform, locus 003, in Area D35 of the site,

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lookingwest. Thefeatureis similarto the stone platformsusedto providedrystorageor to supportbeddingin some partsof Jordan

today. Photo by T Dabney.

WZ 200: plan of Area D35, showing the stone platform,

ancient pastoral camps, and an attempt to excavate one of the candidates in 1986 was disapthe dispointing, Drawingby B. Routledge,M. Campbell,and E.Banning. tribution of modem camps along the edges of stream channels sugsary to note, however, that we were not able to observe these households gested two possibilities. One was the during the lambing season. very real possibility that locations While we would not expect these such as these had been popular camp modem camps or the activities persites in the past, just as they were in formed in them to be identical to the present. After all, these stream those of the past, observation of the terraces are well drained, sheltered tent sites has been useful in guiding from wind and sun, generally easy of our research in Wadi Ziqlab, if only access by truck (in fact most are close to the modem roads that tend to folby helping us form questions that low the wadi channels) and, most might not otherwise have come to mind. In general the modem camps importantly, close to a number of have been helpful in our attempts to important springs. While these evaluate problems in our undersprings are now capped by pumping stations to serve the needs of nearby standing of the distribution of archaeological sites in both space and villages, they would once have fed more-or-less permanent ponds in this time, and in identifying features in those sites that might be related to stretch of Wadi Ziqlab that is now the activities of mobile or tentdry for most of the year. It is even dwelling pastoralists. possible that in prehistoric times higher water tables maintained by Archaeological Implications denser vegetation would have When the survey of 1981 failed to allowed these springs to feed permaevidence for nent streams even this far into the turn up convincing locus003, and associatedsurface,locus002. Thestonesthat project throughthe surfacenortheastof the platformarethe tops of two wallsof a Neolithicstructurethat occupiespartsof D35and AreaE35,but whichwas ruinedbythe time the platformwas built,and the platformrestsdirectlyon anothersurface,locus006, that underlies002.

highlands. The second possibility was that these stream-side locations, all being near the bottoms of deep canyons, were also areas that were least likely to yield evidence for ancient sites to archaeologists searching the surface by low-intensity sampling, such as we carried out in 1981. Not only do the canyon bottoms constitute a small proportion of the wadi basin's area, meaning that a survey team walking a sample of systematic transects would spend a lot less time on them than on the more widespread plateau areas, ridges and hilltops, but they also differ geomorphologically. While the hills and ridges have been subject to erosion, which tends to expose archaeological material, most stretches of the canyon bottoms have been accumulating soil that wind, rain, and sheetwash have removed from the hillsides. Except where the stream channel itself cuts through a site, therefore, it seems likely that most sites in the canyon bottoms would be buried and might show no artifacts on the modem surface. In an attempt to address these issues, we began a program of subsurface survey along the stream terraces in 1986. We only had time to BiblicalArchaeologist56:4 (1993)

219

test one such terrace with a narrow test trench that year, and it showed no evidence for ancient occupation. The first test-trench of 1987, however, immediately discovered the Late Neolithic site (WZ 200 or Tabaqat alBilma) that was the focus of our excavations in 1990 and 1992, as well as the main site for the ethnographic observations we have been able to make. During those two years we also continued the sub-surface survey, testing a total of 13 more terraces in a systematic sample of stream meanders both upstream and downstream of the Late Neolithic site at WZ 200. Several of these have shown evidence for ancient occupation. At site WZ 200, where our recent work has concentrated, some of the archaeological evidence is consistent with use of the site by pastoral predecessors of the modern tent-dwellers in the valley. At a minimum, pastoralists appear to have used the site over three episodes; the first was a short time after the collapse of the Neolithic structures there, the second occurred some time from the late third century CEto early fifth century CE,and the third is still in progress. Our earliest evidence for possible use of the site by pastoralists consists of a feature and surfaces that overlie the ruins of the Neolithic house in Areas D35 and E35. The feature is a stone platform measuring 1.2 m by 2 m, dimensions very similar to those of bed platforms found in modern Bedouin tents (e.g., Banning and K6hler-Rollefson 1992). Lying as it does very close to the modern ground level, we were concerned by the possibility that this feature, which seems so similar to the modern platforms, might be modern. The artifacts on the associated surface and even in the deposits that cover it, however, all belong to the latest prehistoric phase on the site (probably ca. 6200 BPor 5200-5100 BCE,calibrated). Most parts of the site show evidence for ephemeral occupation during the Late Roman or Early Byzantine periods. There are crude stone 220


alignments formed from the cobbles of the ruined Neolithic structures in the deposits that immediately underlie the recent, dungrich soil. These deposits contain mixtures of Neolithic and Roman-Byzan20 Z WZ tine sherds as well as occasional pieces of charcoal, one of This clay-lined hearth is strikingly similar to the hearths in which has use in Jordan today for bakinga certainbread.ThoughRomanyielded a radioByzantinepotterywas found in associationwith it, a radiocarbon carbon date of date showwhetherthe hearthcouldonce have been used by ancientpastoralists. 1680+60 BP(calibrated as 254421 CE).In much of the area in which this material nately we do not yet have the results of a radiocarbon date for this feature, occurs, and particularly near the foot but it seems a strong possibility, at of the slope, deposits of Roman date occur directly on top of Neolithic present, that it indeed belongs to use of the site by pastoralists in the floors and only a few inches below fourth century CE. the modern surface. Consequently So far both our evidence for the ruined walls of Neolithic structures were almost certainly visible, at ancient pastoralists in Wadi Ziqlab least in part, even four millennia after and the results of the ethnoarchaeothe structures were abandoned. logical work are very limited, but it now appears that we are on the right There is frequently evidence for the track in our attempts to uncover the incorporation of much earlier architectural remnants into the simple elusive sites of people archaeologists screen walls and low terraces that have more often identified by their absence than by their presence. have been the most enduring elements of later camps. Acknowledgements One feature that warrants particI would like to extend thanks to the memular notice occurred in Area F33. It bers of the Wadi Ziqlab Projectcrew over was a clay-lined hearth filled with last four seasons and to Robin Dods, Joy the small, rounded and blackened stones. McCorriston,and John Field, in particular, This feature is so similar to the kind for sharing their ethnoarchaeologicalobserof hearth used for baking a particular vations of Wadi Ziqlab with me, and Taylor kind of bread in Jordan today-the Dabney and Howard Kim for many of the photos. Thanks are also due to Hikmat dough is slapped onto the hot Ta'ani,our representativefrom the Departstones-that we suspected that the ment of Antiquities of Jordan,whose feature might be modern, especially knowledge of the area has always been a in view of its proximity to the surgreat asset to us, and to Dr. Adnan Hadidi, Dr. Ghazi Bisheh, and Dr. Safwan Tell,sucface. The associated deposits contain cessive directorsof the Department of Roman-Byzantine pottery and no Antiquities during our fieldwork there. The modern material, although clearly work was supported by the Social Sciences this does not rule out the possibility and Humanities ResearchCouncil of that the feature is modem. UnfortuCanada, with additional support from the WAIVOA

University of Toronto,Royal Ontario Museum, American Schools of Oriental Research,ACOR, and Friends of Archaeology. Radiocarbondates are by IsoTrace, Toronto.My warmest thanks go to the people of al-Kuraregion, Jordan,including our workmen from Tubnaand the tent-dwellers themselves.

Bibliography Banning,E.B. 1982 TheResearchDesignof the Wadi ZiqlabSurvey,1981.American SchoolsofOriental Research Newsletter8:48. andAgricultural LandUsein 1985 Pastoral anArchaeotheWadiZiqlab, Jordan: logicalandEcological Survey.UnpublishedPh.D.dissertation,University of Toronto. Banning,E.B.,Dods,R.R.,et al. 1989 WadiZiqlabProject1987:A Preliminary Report.Annualof the Departmentof Antiquitiesof Jordan33:43-58.

n.d. Trabaqat al-Buma1990Excavations at a KebaranandLateNeolithicSite in Wadi Ziqldb.Annualof the Departmentof Antiquitiesof Jordan 36: in press. Banning, E.B.and Fawcett, C. 1983 Man-land Relationships in the Ancient Wadi Ziqlab:Report of the 1981 Survey.Annualof the Departmentof Antiquitiesof Jordan27:291309. Banning, E.B.and Kbhler-Rollefson,I.

1992 Ethnographic Lessonsforthe PastoralPast:CampLocationsand MaterialRemainsnearBeidha,

SouthernJordan.Pp. 181-201in Pastoralismin theLevant:Archaeological Materialsin Anthropological Perspectives,edited by O. Bar-Yosefand A.

Khazanov.Madison:Prehistory Press.

Doughty, C.M. 1936 Travelsin ArabiaDeserta.London:

JonathanCapeLtd. Musil,A. Itin1927 ArabiaDeserta,A Topographical erary.New York:American Geographical Society. an-Nabighah adh-Dhubyani 1968 Diwanan-Nabighahadh-Dhubyani. Beirut:Dar al-Fikr(originally writ-

ten ca 550CE).

Zuhair bin Abu Sulma al-Muzani 1893 The Third Poem. Pp 67-75 in The SevenPoems,Suspendedin the Temple at Mecca,edited by F.E.Johnson. Byculla, Bombay:Education Society's Steam Press.

The New Alexandria Library:An Update eaders of the BiblicalArchaeoloR gist may recall the short article on the Alexandria library project published in the June issue (56:2 [1993] 106). In that note I drew attention to the possible threat to a very important archaeological site posed by the apparent lack of provision for scientific excavation in the plans for the building on the site of the library, one that is intended as a revival of the famed Alexandrian library of old. It gives me great pleasure to provide the following update on this project. In May of this year the Arab Company for Foundations "VIBRO"began preparations for the foundation of the new building which involved the mechanical removal of massive amounts of soil and debris from the site. As the resulting hole became bigger and bigger, representatives of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization succeeded in bringing the operations to a temporary halt. EAO teams of archaeologists began work at the site, and the archaeological work was then put under the direction of Dr. Mieczyslaw ("Mike") Rodziewicz. Dr. Rodziewicz was for many years, until 1984, Director of the Polish excavations at Kom el Dikka in downtown Alexandria (where the restored Roman theater discovered in 1964 is the feature attraction of an archaeological park). Since 1984 he has been in the employ of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and has conducted other excavations in and around Alexandria. Dr. Rodziewicz is probably the leading expert in the world on the archaeology of Alexandria. I was in Alexandria in late August of this year. By that time the excavations had reached Ptolemaic (Hellenistic) levels in some of the squares. Findings thus far include two mosaic floors, Ptolemaic and early Roman coins, and

fragmentary sculptures, including heads of Ptolemy III and queen Berenike II (both 3rd century BCE). Pottery finds include imported Attic ware of the 4th century BCE. Archaeology evidently confirms what the literary sources had suggested as to the abandonment of that area in the late Roman period and the lack of habitation there until after the Napoleonic invasion of 1798. According to my latest information (a telephone conversation with Dr. Rodziewicz in mid-October) work is proceeding apace, with the full support of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, the General Organization of the Alexandria Library (GOAL), and other governmental agencies. This work will secure a complete stratigraphy of the site, with morphology and reliable dating of the deposits in each level. Provision is being made for a museum to be included in the new building that will house artifacts found at the site and present to visitors a full account of the archaeological record. Dr. Rodziewicz is in charge of the excavation report, which will be published as soon as possible by the Egyptian Antiquities Organization. Thus it now appears that the project to revive the ancient Alexandrian Mouseion/Library is moving forward in a manner that fully respects the archaeological importance of the site on which it is being constructed. While the construction itself is being temporarily delayed, there is every reason to expect that the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina will fulfill the hopes and aspirations of its Egyptian planners. It is a project that richly deserves the international support that it is receiving. BirgerA. Pearson University of California, Santa Barbara


221

10 AIJ

Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspectives Editedby OferBar-Yosef andAnatoly Khazanov. in Monographs World vol 10. 269 pp.Madison, Archaeology, WI:Prehistory Press,1992;$30.00 (paper). his collectionof studies includes

T contributions by most of the

major scholars involved in pastoralism research. They are archaeologists and ethnologists who have done extensive field work and excavation throughout the Middle East. Coverage in this volume includes the full range of materials available in current research: examination of megalithic cemeteries (M. Zohar), ceramics (M. Haiman and Y. Goren), linguistics (M. Zohar), ethnoarchaeology (J. Zarins), anthropological methods (I. K6hler-Rollefson) and theories (E. Marx), and historical studies (W. Dever). Some of these articles take a diachronic approach while tracing the stages of pastoral activity in antiquity (T. Levy). Others examine a smaller period, such as the Middle Bronze I (R. Cohen), or site, Beidha (T. Banning), establishing site types and the range of activity within them (I. Eldar, Y. Nir, and D. Nahlieli). The point is well made in the introduction (p. 6) that it is no longer enough to simply report archaeological findings. Sterile data produces sterile results. These materials must be integrated into a systematic attempt to reconstruct settlement patterns, as well as to trace the diffusion of herding techniques, language, and social customs. These studies demonstrate this point, providing technical, but lucid descriptions of a wide variety of pastoral settlements, herding styles, and the influence of pastoral nomadic groups within their regions. Another particularly helpful aspect of this volume is the numerous diagrams, aerial photos, draw222


ings, and bibliographies found in the articles. Reports of symposia such as this, which collect the most up-to-date findings and publish them quickly, help promote additional research, establish a ready data base, and provide a convenient teaching tool. However, collections like this one also seldom contain indices. A subject and an author index would have been valuable to any reader. Despite this flaw, this volume should be included in any library collection which wishes to provide scholars and students with short studies demonstrating the integration of archaeological and anthropological methods in the examination of ancient pastoralism.

overlap in content. The initial section is composed of background material. After an introduction to his theory and method in chapter 1, Cribb reviews the ethnographic literature concerned with pastoral nomadism in chapters 2-4. The reading can be heavy at times and is not for the beginner. Included here are useful discussions featuring topics such as nomadic origins, modes of subsistence, domestic economy, and social organization. Chapters 5-8 examine the widelyheld view that nomads are an "invisible culture." In Cribb's opinion, the real question is not whether nomads leave remains (which he concludes VictorH. Matthews they do), but rather, given the overSouthwest Missouri State lap between nomadic and permanent settlement types, how can we distinUniversity guish nomadic structures from permanent settlements (p. 67). Topics examined in these pages include maNomads in Archaeology terial culture, architecture, household By RogerCribb,xiv + 253pp. Camstructure, and locational strategies. bridge:Cambridge UniversityPress, Chapters 9-10 are based on sev1991;$59.95. eral case studies which investigate ars of study have produced an the underlying organization of ever increasing body of literature nomadic camps in the hopes that disdedicated to the phenomenon of pascernible patterns will emerge which toral nomadism. In the past, nomads can be exploited by those studying were often thought to be imperceptiancient nomadic sites. Of particular ble in the archaeological record, a beinterest is the discussion centered lief that turned the attention of scholaround the "domestic complex" (p. ars interested in nomadism to the 170). Lessons from these pages could written sources. In Nomads in Archaeprove insightful in the interpretation Cribb to offset this of spatial patterning at other ology, attempts imbalance by examining nomadic life nomadic sites. A question mark for from a more empirical point of view. me in this section, however, lies in As such, this volume is a welcomed the distribution analyses of discarded addition to the literature on 'nomad materials at Sarlyadm Yayla. The bulk of the materials consisted of archaeology', though it should be noted that the title suggests a more modem refuse such as glass, plastic, of nomadic life than and rubber, materials that would not general coverage is actually offered. Instead of the uniappear in an ancient context, and one the is book based is forced to consider how this would versality implied, on evidence from Anatolia and Iran, impact the utility of his theory when a decision that excludes a large part the material remains are far less subof the nomadic world. stantial. Nomadsin Archaeology can be broThe weakest part of Cribb's book ken down into four parts which often lies in its final summation (chapter

. --t-4k 11) and his conclusions (chapter 12). In these pages Cribb attempts to apply the lessons he proposed in the preceding pages to nomadic cultures of the past. This attempt ultimately proves less than satisfactory because nothing new is presented here. While Tepe Tula'i proves that nomadic sites can be identified and excavated, this is old news. Other sites that are mentioned as possible nomadic settlements are cited only in the most speculative of terms and offer little in the way of true 'nomad archaeology'. What would be valuable here is a thorough analysis of an ancient nomadic settlement. Unfortunately, as the author points out, the bulk of recent archaeological excavation in Turkey has taken place in areas where nomadic campsites are not expected to be found (p. 224). In summary, I would say that this book is a solid effort that deserves a great deal of credit. Mechanically, it is well conceived and executed, though details in some of the black-andwhite photographs are difficult to discern. The numerous charts and diagrams are very helpful and the author displays a good grasp of the bibliographic material. A useful book that was published after Cribb's vol-

ume is Pastoralism in theLevant: Materials in AnthropoArchaeological logical Perspective,edited by O. BarYosef and A. Khazanov (reviewed above in this issue of BA). Cribb's purpose in writing

Nomadsin Archaeology is to develop

observable criteria from the archaeological record that will aid in identifying and excavating nomadic sites (pp. 123 and 227). By showing "that nomad campsites are structured in a distinctive way" (p. 228) he has added a measure of "predictability" to such investigations and attained a measure of success in pursuit of his primary objective. As a caution, however, I would stress that (even as the author frequently points out) great

variability exists within the nomadic system, a fact that may limit the overall force of his observations. Beyond this, the ultimate value of Nomads in Archaeologymay be, as the author notes, "to enliven the archaeology of small settlements" (p. 229), thereby providing a catalyst for the development of new ideas and a stimulus for further exploration in the realm of nomad archaeology.

the other hand, from the time of the biblical prophets to contemporary administrators and planners, nomads are condemned as excessively savage, wild and unruly people who at best should be pacified, sedentarised, and civilized, and at worst simply exterminated. In the past, the nomads were often viewed as the "scourge of God" or were included in the register of such natural disasters RonaldL. Gorny as cholera, plague, or earthquake. About ten years ago, I suggested University of Chicago a narrow and, in my opinion, more precise understanding of nomads. In my view, neither wandering hunters The Nomadic Alternative and gatherers nor other mobile By ThomasJ. Barfield,x + 230 pp. groups, except the pastoralists, EnglewoodCliffs,NJ:PrenticeHall, whether ethno-professional popula1993;$1735. tions like gypsies, or shifting hortiSllthosewho are interestedin the culturalists, or certain categories of biblical lands sooner or later industrial workers, can be called come to the problem of nomads and nomads. In order to escape confutheir role in the history of the region. sion, sometimes with far-reaching historical and anthropological conseUnfortunately, numerous misconceptions about the nomads still pervade quences, nomadism should be the public's mind and even some defined as a distinct form of a foodscholarly publications. The biblical producing economy in which extensive mobile pastoralism is the prepatriarchs are sometimes erroneously conceived as the Arab Sheikhs, the dominant activity, and in which the ancient Jews as the 19th century Bedmajority of the population is drawn into periodic migrations connected ouin, and there are those who still view Israelite monotheism as an with a necessity to fodder stock on the grass. I am glad that Barfield is indigenous product of desert nomadism. Even the very question of following my steps. My vanity is also who may be considered a nomad pleased with the author's acceptance sensu stricto has become almost as of many other findings and conclueternal as who is a Jew. sions of my own book, Nomads and the Outside World(Cambridge UniNomads, in the imagination of their sedentary counterparts, ranged versity Press, 1984), such as the from objects of romantic admiration nomads' dependency on their sedento utter disdain and contempt, or tary counterparts, the ecological/culeven deep hatred. On the one hand, tural areas of pastoral nomadism, there were and still are those who are and conditions for political centralfascinated by the poor but proud and ization in nomadic societies. The fact that Barfield not always overtly fiercely independent nomads, seemadmits this is much less important to ingly free from the yoke of society and state, whose way of life is in such me, particularly because he often a striking nonconformity with the makes valuable contributions of his vices of civilization. The Hollywood own concerning many such quesideal of the cowboy is a direct or tions. Still, I think that even in a book indirect offspring of this image. On which serves primarily non-profes-


223

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sionals, the references on the works and ideas of other scholars should be specific and precise. What really matters, however, is that books on the nomads for the general public are very few in number, and Barfield's book, which is good and reliable, will certainly fill the gap. His description of pastoralists' ways of life in different parts of the world, their everyday activities, their various contacts with sedentary people, as well as the economic specificity and peculiarities of the social and political organization of the nomads is precise and in most cases convincing. Unfortunately, the origin of pastoral nomadism and its early stages, which are particularly interesting to archaeologists, are not treated properly in the book. At the same time, his description of the current positions of the nomads in the modem world and his insights about their future are up-to-date and perspicacious. Barfield's style is clear and devoid of pseudo-scientific jargon. Occasional sparks of good humor make his book even more readable. I sincerely recommend it to everybody who wishes to get a basic knowledge of the nomads. Personally, I am certainly going to recommend it to my students as the best introduction to the subject.

Along with a number of other researchers concerned with rural life in ancient Palestine, I have come to the conclusion that over the centuries, a substantial proportion of the rural population in this part of the world depended for their survival on being able to convert back and forth between practicing pastoral nomadism and village agriculture. Thus, as I read Worldof Pastoralism (henceforth WP), I was particularly keen to see what it had to say that might either add more weight to this conclusion or challenge it. Of course, WP was not written primarily in order to address this specific concern. Its aim is much broader, namely to "facilitate comparison between pastoral systems on a global scale and represent texts for potentially rich and open-ended reading about the world's cultures of pastoralism" (p. 5). To this end, the editors have solicited contributions from an international group of experts, including anthropologists, animal scientists, development practitioners, a geographer, and a rural sociologist. Their contributions have been presented in three sections: four chapters devoted to pastoralism of the plains; five chapters dealing with pastoralism of the desert and tundra; and four chapters focusing on mountain pastoralism. AnatolyM. Khazanov WP opens with an introduction University of Wisconsin-Madison by Galaty and Johnson in which they offer a welcome framework for the comparative study of pastoral sysThe World of Pastoralism: tems worldwide. This framework Herding Systems in Comparainvolves analyzing pastoral systems tive Perspective two interrelated measures. The EditedbyJohnG. GalatyandDouglasL. using first assesses "pastoral intensity" by Johnson,x + 436 pp.New York,NY: measuring the relative emphasis 1990;$45.00. GuilfordPublications, given to human labor or capital in Ihave read Galatyand Johnson's production. The second assesses volume about pastoralism from "livestock density" by measuring the the perspective of someone who has animal population per land area. had a specific interest in understandGalaty and Johnson's framework is welcome for three reasons. First, it ing the processes of sedentarization and nomadization in the Levant. provides an objective basis for assess224


-:

ing the contribution of animal production to food systems worldwide-be these commercial ranching operations, modem dairy farming, mixed agro-pastoral farming systems, or traditional pastoralism. Second, it makes clear how pastoral systems differ from other food production systems in that pastoral systems represent "relatively lowdensity, low-intensity systems, based on extensive use of land and, in the absence of capital improvements, relatively intensive use of labor" (p. 16). Third, it explicitly acknowledges the dynamic relationship between the density and intensity of pastoral production and the degree to which people are sedentary (p. 26). While the Introduction to WP strives to develop a general framework for classifying pastoral systems around the world, subsequent chapters in the volume offer deeper insight into the flexible ways of pastoralists. The first example of this is found in Chapter One, which is a study of two African tribes from the country of Mali: the Fulbe, who are pastoralists, and the Bamana, who are agriculturalists. After distinguishing the traditional ways of these two separate ethnic groups, the author, John A. Grayzel, shows how it is possible, for example, for individual cattle-rich Bamana agriculturalists to switch their ethnic identity and become members of the pastoralist Fulbe (p. 62). In this instance ethnic identity is really "a facade" behind which individuals rearrange their roles depending on economic circumstances. In Chapter Two, Louise Sperling and John G. Galaty are expressly concerned with demonstrating the "fluidity" of East African pastoralism. Their analysis of the Massai and related tribes concerns the linkage between economic practices and ethnic identification. Along with other anthropologists, they end up positing

Ism-

the existence of a "pastoral continuum" along which there are a variety of different cultural repertoires and ethnic specializations. As individuals and households seek to gain access to resources and legitimate economic practices, they may be forced to switch their ethnic identities and become assimilated by another ethnic group. Thus, "ethnic flexibility" is a "strategic guise" essential for survival among East African tribes (p. 74). The examples which WP offers of ethnic flexibility and economic fluidity in the world of pastoralism are all the more understandable when the symbiotic interaction of pastoralists with agriculturalists and/or the state is reckoned with. As it turns out, this interaction is dealt with in one way or another in almost every chapter of WP. Indeed, it makes one wonder, whether, in fact, there really is a "world of pastoralism." To the extent that it exists, it is certainly not a world that exists unto itself, but a world that is deeply enmeshed in relations with agriculturalists, urban elite, and international markets. For the biblical scholar who has a broad interest in the comparative study of pastoralism, WP is a worthwhile volume to read. It is a "must read" especially for persons concerned with how the world of pastoralism is being changed as a result of international development initiatives and efforts by local governments to make traditional pastoralists more compliant with national economic and political goals. Three chapters deserve special notice because of the geographic areas they deal with, namely William and Fidelity Lancaster's chapter dealing with the Rwala Bedouin of Jordan and North Arabia; John Shoup's piece on Middle Eastern sheep pastoralism which deals mostly with Syria; and Jean Boyazoglu and Jean-Claude Flamant's article about Mediterranean systems of animal production.

Personally, I found The Worldof Pastoralismto be helpful because of the specific examples it offered from around the world of ethnic flexibility and economic fluidity among pastoralists and agriculturalists enmeshed in symbiotic relations with each other. Oystein S. LaBianca Andrews University

Other

Books

I Suffer Not a Woman. Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence andCatherine By RichardClarkKroeger ClarkKroeger, 253 pp.GrandRapids:Baker BookHouse,1992;$12.95.

he book begins with an introduction, composed of homily, exegetical observations, and attacks on traditional ecclesiastical views about the roles of women. Part I attempts to set 1 Tim in its historical context. Part II examines 1 Tim 2:12 and affords Richard and Catherine Kroeger an opportunity to present their conclusions regarding the meaning of teach [didaskein],allow/permit [epitrepo] and usurp authority [authentein].The treatment of authenteinextends for several pages and reveals the authors' thoughts about authenteinand reverse gender roles, ritual castration, sex and murder, sex and death, etc. Part III treats 1 Tim 2:13-15 and allows the authors an opportunity to reconstruct the problem Paul was combating. By using Gnostic, pagan and Hellenistic Jewish sources, the authors create an ancient context consisting of feminine priority, superiority and an exaltation of the maternal. "We suggest," the Kroegers state, "that the writer of the Pastorals was opposing a doctrine which acclaimed motherhood as the ultimate reality" (p. 112). This feminism, surfacing in various disguises in this book, is the

sine qua non for the authors' interpretation of 1 Tim 2:11-15. While I agree with the authors' stated commitment to use ancient sources to understand Scripture (pp. 14-15), their use of these sources is problematic. My evaluation of their work will be organized into three sections: 1) Erroneous information; 2) Problematic evidence; and 3) Methodological fallacies. 1) Erroneous information Pages 54-55 contain several errors. Particularly egregious is the attempt to link the Ephesian Artemis with the early history of the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Contrary to the Kroegers' appeal to the statement of W.M. Ramsay, "that is was no coincidence that the virgin Mary was first called theotokos,bearer of God, at Ephesus" (p. 54), there is both literary (G.W.H. Lampe 1961: s.v. Theotokos; Th. Klauser, 1981:XI.1074-76)and archaeological (Papyrus Rylands no. 470, 3rd-4th) evidence that the term theotokoswas first applied to the mother of Jesus outside of Ephesus and certainly long before the Council of Ephesus in 431 CE. Secondly, in the authors' zeal to find sex, castration, and fertility issues under every stone in Ephesus, they link the cult of the Ephesian Artemis with that of Attis and Cybele (p. 188). In their effort to secure an Ephesian connection with the problem behind the Pastorals and the supposed pervasive influence of the Cybele cult in Ephesus, they write, "a sanctuary of Cybele stood on the northeastern slope of Panajir Dagh (Mount Pion) above Ephesus.... More than seventy inscriptions honoring her have been discovered at Ephesus" (pp. 107-08). The Kroegers appeal to the magisterial work on Attis and Cybele by M.J.Vermaseren (1987:Vol. 1 Asia Minor, 184-203, nos. 612-85). Lamentably, their use of this work is characterized by misunderstanding and a serious inflation of


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.......... the evidence. What one finds in Vermaseren's work is not "more than seventy inscriptions honoring her [Cybele]," but rather approximately twenty (!) inscriptions. In addition, most of these are not datable to a period contemporary with the early Roman Empire, and even a majority of those twenty, regardless of date, were found near one small shrine on the hill Panajir Dagh, hardly proof of pervasive urban influence. The most striking fact about the more than seventy artifacts (not inscriptions) which are given in Vermaseren's catalogue is that of those which are dated by Vermaseren, few come from a time contemporary with the Pastoral Epistles. The Kroegers' thesis about the Pastorals also requires a large and syncretistic Jewish presence in Ephesus. Erroneous information is set forth to buttress this view. The assertion, for example, that "archaeological evidence attests not only the presence of a large settlement of Jews at Ephesus but also to extensive Jewish involvement in magic" (p. 55) is patently false. The Kroegers' reliance upon the work of A.T. Kraabel states that there is little archaeological evidence for Judaism at Ephesus. Regarding "archaeological evidence... [and]... extensive Jewish involvement in magic," the evidence from Ephesus is sparse and late. There is no archaeological evidence from early imperial Ephesus which would indicate significant Jewish participation in magic at that site.

2) Problematicevidence

The notion of "an elaborate system of magic developed upon the Ephesia Grammata,the six mystic words written on the cult statue of the goddess" (p. 53) is problematic. There is no question about the practice of magic in Ephesus (Acts 19), nor is there any reason to doubt the early and widespread use of magical incantations known as "Ephesian Letters." The problem is with locating these incan226


tations on the cult statue of the Ephesian goddess and therebyattempting to implicate her religion in magic and the occult. An important source for the idea that her cult statue was adorned with EphesiaGrammatais a statement of Eustathius, a 12th century Byzantine scholar, who in turn is quoting from a Roman lexicographer whose works are no longer extant. The sentence from Pausanias the lexicographer reads that the Ephesia Grammata"seem to have been written indistinctly and obscurely on the feet, girdle, and crown of Artemis." As C.C. McCown noted, this is "a sentence which reveals principally the author's uncertainty" (1923:129). Moreover, there are no archaeological examples of EphesiaGrammataon any of the examples of the goddess' statues which have been discovered (e.g., Robert Fleischer, 1973:passim and 1978). Finally, there is no cogent evidence for a unique cult for the veneration of serpents at Ephesus (pp. 16769). In Graeco-Roman antiquity the snake was often associated with the veneration of heros and reverence for the dead. The artifacts mentioned by the Kroegers bear witness to widespread beliefs which had nothing to do uniquely with Ephesus, nothing to do with Judeo-Christian imagery about Satan/Devil and the serpent, and were certainly not a possible "allusion to the Garden of Eden story in one form or other" (p. 168). While on the subject of snakes, there are serious difficulties with using the statement of Valerius Maximus that in 139 BCEofficials in Rome "compelled the Jews, who attempted to infect the Roman customs with the cult of Jupiter Sabazius, to return to their homes" (I.3.2-3). Using this statement from Valerius Maximus to support the idea that "a serpent veneration which somehow related to Judaism predates the New Testament" (p. 162) is far more problem-

A,?

atic than the Kroegers acknowledge. It has been over a decade since E.N. Lane highlighted the existence of the significant variant readings at this point in the manuscripts and the attendant problems this presents for those who wish to associate, as the Kroegers do, the Jews with the worship of the Phrygian deity Sabazius (1979:35-38).

3) Methodologicalfallacies The most serious issue of methodology in I SufferNot a Womanis the authors' frequent neglect of primary sources of Ephesian archaeology and history. It is perplexing that the Kroegers' views about Ephesus, about Artemis, and about the role of women in the city's life are so uninformed by the appropriate corporaof inscriptions, coins, and scholarly literature about the city's excavations. Even when the authors do employ primary sources, their methodology is often uncritical. The Kroegers often string sources together even when these are separated by centuries and perhaps hundreds of miles. On occasion ancient literature is cited with little regard for the propensities of the author or the context in which the statements were made. Proof-texting of pagan authors should be just as unacceptable as proof-texting of the Scriptures. They argue, for example, "that the mandate in 1 Timothy 2:12 forbids the usurpation of power by women, especially as in the New Testament period there had been important transferals of religious power at both Ephesus and Sardis" (p. 89). Their proof for this major shift in power is documented, they believe, by the fact that the function of the male priests "had been supplanted" by women priests. Because the Kroegers are so preoccupied with and controlled by modern paradigms and categories of Protestant ordination and religious authority, they do not realize that the issue of priest and priestess in the

religion of the Ephesian Artemis had nothing quintessentially to do with usurping authority. Sometimes being a priest or priestess only meant that you were given the "opportunity" to donate more to the budget and construction fund for the temple. In conclusion, irrespective of one's sympathy for the pain and frustration of women who have been oppressed by the "traditions of men," irrespective of one's sympathy for some of the goals of I SufferNot a Woman,this publication does not present a cogent and defensible way to circumvent or neutralize 1 Tim 2:1115. A judicious use of historical and archaeological data may someday help the Christian community see 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in a better way, but if and when that is accomplished, it will have to be done using better evidence and superior research methods to those found in this work.

Bibliography Fleischer,Robert 1973 Artemisvon Ephesosund verwandte Kultstatuenaus Anatolienund Syrien, EPRO,35. Leiden: E.J.Brill. 1978 Artemis von Ephesos und verwandte Kulstatuen aus Anatolien und Syrien. Supplement. In Studien zur Religionund KulturKleinasiens. Festschrift fiir FriedrichKarlDbrner zum 65. Geburstagam 28, Februar 1976. EPRO,66.1:324-58.Leiden: E.J.Brill.

Klauser,Th.

1981 Gottesgebirerin. In Reallexikon fir Antikeund Christentum.XI.1074-76.

AntonHiersemann. Stuttgart: Krabel,A.T. 1968 Judaism in WesternAsia Minor

underthe RomanEmpire,with a PreliminaryStudy of the Jewish

Communityat Sardis,Lydia.

Unpublished Th.D. thesis, Harvard University. Lampe, G.W.H.

Lexicon. Oxford: 1961 A PatristicGreek Clarendon Press.

Lane,E.N. 1979 Sabazius and the Jews in Valerius

Maximus:A Re-examination. Journal of RomanStudies69:35-38.

McCown, C.C.

in Pop1923 IX.TheEphesiaGrammata

and Proceedular Belief. Transactions ings of theAmericanPhilologicalAsso-

ciation54:128-40. Stern,M.

1976 Greekand LatinAuthorson Jewsand Judaism.Vol. I Herodotus to Plutarch.Jerusalem:Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Vermaseren, M.J. 1987 CorpusCultusCybelaeAttisdique, Vol. 1 Asia Minor.Leiden:E.J.Brill.

RichardOster Harding University School of Religion

Sarcophagi from the Jewish Catacombsof Ancient Rome 58 pp.,16 plates.Revised ByAdiaKonikoff, edition.Stuttgart:Steiner,1990;$42.00.

traditionand burialpatF ntmerary

terns in the ancient Near Eastern world continue to provide critically important data for the reconstruction of social, religious and economic life within various populations. Among the significant materials in burial assemblages are coffins, ossuaries and sarcophagi. While ossuaries provide information on the practice of secondary burials, coffins and sarcophagi contribute to our knowledge of primary burials. Konikoff's goal is not just to provide a carefully documented catalog of Jewish sarcophagi found in Rome's famous catacombs, but also to convey "an impression of the modes of thought which characterized the Jews who, during a decisive period in the spiritual history of their people, lived in the center of the Roman Empire" (page 9). The author succeeds admirably. Three sarcophagi from recorded sources are examined first. This is followed by an analysis of eight found in situ. The final section of the book is devoted to 10 sarcophagi that had been removed from their original burial site, and a funerary couch. All

sections are very readable and are free from typographical errors. The generous bibliography provided with the study of each sarcophagus, along with the 16 plates, make the volume worth its price. The quality plates provide a welcome visual complement to the discussions in the text. The contribution of Konikoff's work to understanding Jewish life in Diaspora communities is significant. Matters relating to ornamentation on the sarcophagi, the identity of prominent families in the Jewish community, work professions, and organization of the synagogue are all examined. The discussions of key terms in various epitaphs are at times too brief, however. One of the valuable contributions of this volume is the focus on the occupations of some of the deceased, as noted in the epitaphs. While rank in the congregation was commonly mentioned in epitaphs, reference to occupations was not. For example, in the epitaph of Eudoxius, he is described as a zographos,or professional painter. Whether Eudoxius was responsible for some of the catacomb frescoes is debatable, but at least (for some writers) a possibility. This may have been the reason his occupation was mentioned on the sarcophagus. Others have suggested that the sarcophagus fragment may have been brought to the catacomb from another location (page 23). Somewhat inadvertently, this book also focuses on the tragedy of both ancient and modem tomb robbery, which results in the destruction or damage of much valuable data. Konikoff's volume is a welcome addition, not only to the study of the Jewish Diaspora in particular, but to our understanding of burial patterns generally during the Roman Empire. JohnJ.Davis Grace Theological Seminary


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