干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Ancient runoff farming and soil aggradation in terraced wadi fields (Negev, Israel): Obliteration of sedimentary strata by ants, scorpions and humans

Arid

DOI	10.1016/j.quaint.2019.11.027
	Ancient runoff farming and soil aggradation in terraced wadi fields (Negev, Israel): Obliteration of sedimentary strata by ants, scorpions and humans
	Bruins, Hendrik J.1,2; Jongmans, Toine 3; van der Plicht, Johannes 4,5
通讯作者	Bruins, Hendrik J.
来源期刊	QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL
ISSN	1040-6182
EISSN	1873-4553
出版年	2020
卷号	545 页码:87-101
英文摘要	Ancient terraced fields in ephemeral stream valleys in the Negev desert enabled farming based on runoff water from local rainfall. The runoff was captured by stone terrace walls, which were built across suitable wadis in various archaeological periods. Runoff floods added not only water to the fields but also fine sediment. However, alluvial stratification is usually absent in such terraced wadi fields. Why? We addressed this question at the rural archaeological site of Horvat Haluqim in the central Negev highlands. Our geoarchaeological excavations in Area 3 of Terraced Field 12 revealed the existence of laminar alluvial stratification, but only in the upper 5 cm. Micromorphology showed a gradual decline in the preservation of laminae with depth. Radiocarbon dating showed that the upper 50 cm of the terrace soil accumulated during the past 1300 years. Therefore, the average aggradation rate seems about 0.4 mm/year, similar to modern sedimentation measurements. We found evidence for bioturbation, particularly by ants and scorpions, in the terraced wadi fields at Horvat Haluqim. Scorpions evict the soil crumbs, excavated from the subsoil, on one side of the crescent -shaped entrance to their burrows. Ants, on the other hand, place the excavated soil crumbs all around the entrance to their underground nest. Besides bioturbation, human soil disturbance by farming is far more destructive to alluvial stratification. Hoeing and ploughing (tillage) can erase alluvial laminae from the surface to a depth of about 10 cm in one farming season. Clear evidence of ancient farming activities in Area 3 was found in darker soil layers from a depth of 45 cm-92 cm. Laminar alluvial strata have not survived in these layers. Micromorphology revealed fine charcoal, bone and pottery fragments, interpreted as kitchen/household refuse added as fertilizer to the aggrading soil surface. In addition, non -burned dung fragments and non -charred spherulites were found, indicating also the use of animal dung as manure. Darker soil layers have a lower bulk density and a high porosity with an extremely large amount of fine pores, probably ancient root channels of barley or wheat. Though runoff flows kept adding laminated alluvial layers to the aggrading terraced wadi fields, the fine laminae ( initial facies ) did not endure the tooth of time. They were gradually obliterated by bioturbation and/or rapidly erased by human farming ac- tivities (tillage and manuring), so that laminae are non-existent in the ultimate facies of the aggrading sediment - soil in agricultural terraced wadi fields.
英文关键词	Runoff farming Terraces Archaeological site formation processes Micromorphology Tillage Bioturbation
类型	Article
语种	英语
国家	Israel ; Netherlands
收录类别	SCI-E ; SSCI
WOS记录号	WOS:000542927400009
WOS关键词	IRON-AGE AGRICULTURE ; HIGHLANDS ; SYSTEMS ; EROSION ; LOESS ; CHRONOLOGY ; RAINFALL ; ORIGIN
WOS类目	Geography, Physical ; Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
WOS研究方向	Physical Geography ; Geology
来源机构	Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/319744
作者单位	1.Ben Gurion Univ Negev, Jacob Blaustein Inst Desert Res, Swiss Inst Dryland Environm & Energy Res, Sede Boker Campus, Beer Sheva, Israel; 2.Jacob Blaustein Inst Desert Res, IL-8410501 Beer Sheva, Israel; 3.Wageningen Univ & Res, Soil Geog & Landscape Grp, Wageningen, Netherlands; 4.Univ Groningen, Ctr Isotope Res, Groningen, Netherlands; 5.Leiden Univ, Fac Archaeol, Leiden, Netherlands
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Bruins, Hendrik J.,Jongmans, Toine,van der Plicht, Johannes. Ancient runoff farming and soil aggradation in terraced wadi fields (Negev, Israel): Obliteration of sedimentary strata by ants, scorpions and humans[J]. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,2020,545:87-101.
APA	Bruins, Hendrik J.,Jongmans, Toine,&van der Plicht, Johannes.(2020).Ancient runoff farming and soil aggradation in terraced wadi fields (Negev, Israel): Obliteration of sedimentary strata by ants, scorpions and humans.QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL,545,87-101.
MLA	Bruins, Hendrik J.,et al."Ancient runoff farming and soil aggradation in terraced wadi fields (Negev, Israel): Obliteration of sedimentary strata by ants, scorpions and humans".QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL 545(2020):87-101.