Related Papers
Geoarchaeology
Evolution of water extraction technology (spring tunnels) in the Southern Levant during the last three millennia
2024 •
Azriel Yechezkael, uzi leibner
A spring tunnel is an ancient water installation used to artificially increase the water yield of a spring through a subterranean tunnel. We have developed a database of 216 spring tunnels documented in the central region of the Southern Levant (present‐day Israel), constructed between Iron Age II and the modern era. The study focuses on the evolution of this water installation over a period of 2500 years, examining these constructions from technological, typological, spatial, and cultural perspectives. Within the larger database, 132 spring tunnels have been mapped, from which we present 36 examples selected to outline the typology and chronology of this type of water installation. The findings of the study indicate a diachronic correlation between the distribution of settlement in the mountain region and the number and geographical distribution of spring tunnels. Ethnic and religious changes, and the complexity of the mountain region's population, are also reflected in the use of these water installations. The comprehensive water structure database presented in this article, from a peripheral, yet strategically located region in relation both to the Far East and to West Mediterranean Empires, is used for initial consideration of local initiatives versus the knowledge‐transfer process
Enviromental Archeology
Yechezkel et al.2021.Ancient Spring Tunnels of Jerusalem, Israel: Physical, Spatial, and Human Aspects
2021 •
Azriel Yechezkael, Amos Frumkin
About 210 spring tunnels were developed in Israel, most of them within its central mountain range and especially in the Jerusalem Hills. This phenomenon probably first appeared in Israel during Iron Age II, around the 8th century BCE. Spring tunnels are associated with the development of irrigated agricultural systems, landscape design and the establishment of rural settlements. This study presents for the first time a comprehensive statistical picture of this phenomenon, with particularly emphasis on the Jerusalem Hills. We have analysed statistically 21 different parameters of two types of springs in the Jerusalem Hills: 70 with tunnels and 60 without tunnels. The selected parameters fall into three categories: (1) geological-geomorphological (formation, surface slope and group, dip); (2) physicalhydrological (precipitation, discharge, etc.); (3) spatial (dispersion, springs elevation ASL, etc.). The results of this study emphasise the spatial aspects of this phenomenon, especially the accessibility to the Old City of Jerusalem. In addition, there is a clear connection between the karstic aquifer overlying the Moza geological formation and the spring tunnels. This study highlights the physical advantages of Jerusalem's hinterland at the eastern sections of the Soreq and Refaim river basins, consistent with the rich archaeological record in these areas.
Environmental Archeology
Ancient Spring Tunnels of Jerusalem, Israel: Physical, Spatial, and Human Aspects
2021 •
Azriel Yechezkael
About 210 spring tunnels were developed in Israel, most of them within its central mountain range and especially in the Jerusalem Hills. This phenomenon probably first appeared in Israel during Iron Age II, around the 8th century BCE. Spring tunnels are associated with the development of irrigated agricultural systems, landscape design and the establishment of rural settlements. This study presents for the first time a comprehensive statistical picture of this phenomenon, with particularly emphasis on the Jerusalem Hills. We have analysed statistically 21 different parameters of two types of springs in the Jerusalem Hills: 70 with tunnels and 60 without tunnels. The selected parameters fall into three categories: (1) geological-geomorphological (formation, surface slope and group, dip); (2) physicalhydrological (precipitation, discharge, etc.); (3) spatial (dispersion, springs elevation ASL, etc.). The results of this study emphasise the spatial aspects of this phenomenon, especially the accessibility to the Old City of Jerusalem. In addition, there is a clear connection between the karstic aquifer overlying the Moza geological formation and the spring tunnels. This study highlights the physical advantages of Jerusalem's hinterland at the eastern sections of the Soreq and Refaim river basins, consistent with the rich archaeological record in these areas.
Springs of the Levant and Archaeological Efforts
Carole Telman
In: Ohlig, Chr. (Hrsg.) Jubiläumsband der Deutschen Wasserhistorischen Gesellschaft, Siegburg, Bd. 20-1, S. 29-48, Siegburg, 2012.
Wellbrock et al 2012: The evolution of water management methods in north-western Arabia and the southern Levant from the Neolithic Age through Antiquity. DWhG, Bd. 20/1
2012 •
Kai Wellbrock
In this article, the earliest evidences of water management systems have been reviewed. These are initially considered for the central and southern part of the Levant. Later they have been proved also for northern Arabia and neighbouring areas. The beginning of water management dates back as early as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, i.e. at least to the last 10,000 years. Certain steps of this evolution are elucidated regarding archaeological and palaeo-hydrologic evidence. A clear interaction between these development stages and the environmental setting during early to mid-Holocene is recognizable. In this sense, the term ´water management´ is considered to comprise any influence exerted by humans on the natural hydrological cycle in order to enhance the available amount of water for drinking, irrigation and other purposes. Therefore, the direction of local surface runoff patterns in order to increase the agricultural yield should already be considered to be a water management method. Finally, several sites which have been investigated by the authors are evaluated according to these developmental stages. They are depicted with regard to their hydrological setting. Thus, their dependence on a shift of the environmental setting could be revealed. Generally, one could state, that settlements which are relying on groundwater instead on surface water, are much more enduring than others. Thus, these sites do have a certain advantage with respect to a continuous occupation in times of changing climate circ*mstances.
Levant 51(/3)
Chalcolithic groundwater mining in the southern Levant: open, vertical shafts in the Late Chalcolithic central coastal plain settlement landscape of Israel
2020 •
Edwin C . M . van den Brink, Yehoshua Dray
Levantine adaptive water subsistence and exploitative water management studies concerning late pre-and proto-history have intensified since 2000. This comes in the wake of findings concerning domestic water (e.g., groundwater wells and surface irrigation systems) in particular in the eastern Mediterranean basin. Excavations conducted over the last 15 years on Israel's central coastal plain revealed several clusters of anthropogenic, vertical, narrow, deep shafts, apparently disassociated from contemporary settlement or burial localities. The shafts were cut through local kurkar and/or hamra soils. Despite their seemingly isolated, open-space locations within the settlement landscape, the shaft fills yielded a rich, albeit secondary source of typical settlement waste, consisting mostly of discarded pottery vessels, chipped-and ground-stone tools, and faunal remains. All these remains date exclusively to within the Late Chalcolithic period (LC1), contemporary with and relatable to the Beer Sheva aspect of the period (c. 4200 cal BC-3900 cal BC). This paper reviews the current state of research vis à vis these shafts in the eastern Mediterranean basin, in an attempt to integrate the recently recorded phenomenon of Late Chalcolithic shaft clusters in Israel's central coastal plain, into the framework of artificial groundwater wells from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic through the Late Chalcolithic periods.
Geoarchaeololgy
Junge, A., Lomax, J., Shahack-Gross, R., Finkelstein, I. and Fuchs, M. 2018. Chronology of an Ancient Water Reservoir and the History of Human Activity in the Negev Highlands, Israel, Geoarchaeology: 1–13.
2018 •
Andrea Junge, Israel Finkelstein
Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae
The Ancient Hydraulic Infrastructure of Wādi eṣ-Ṣader near Petra, Southern Jordan
2019 •
hani falahat
UNDERGROUND WATER GALLERIES IN MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA survey of historical documents and archaeological studies
2000 •
Renato Sala
The Central Water Tunnel a New Discovery at Umm Qais Archaeological Site (Jordan)
2021 •
Hussein Al-sababha
This study brought a new data with reference to the water system of Umm Qais during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. One of the most prominent characteristics of Umm Qais (Gadara) is the water supply system that produced a fine example of human ingenuity and skill to react with the available natural resources. The water supply system and its associated installations, such as cisterns, tunnels, channels and pools, collected and stored water from rainwater and the springs surrounding the site or far away from it. The discovered tunnel is located below the Hellenistic temple in the lower part of the city to the north of the Decumanus Maximus. The systematic excavation work sheds light on the nature of the water system and the nature of settlement in this area of the site. Excavation revealed that the hydraulic system consists of a central tunnel associated with several pipelines and cisterns to collect and store water. Confidently according to the nature of the tunnel system, we can ...
