Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Mapping Changes in Settlement Number and Demography in the South of Israel from the Hellenistic to the Early Islamic Period Cover

Mapping Changes in Settlement Number and Demography in the South of Israel from the Hellenistic to the Early Islamic Period

Open Access
|Dec 2025

References

  1. Abadi-Reiss, Y. (2020). Miẕpe Ramon-final report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excav. Surv. Israel 132.
  2. Adapa, S.R., Hendrix, K., Upadhyay, A., Dutta, S., Vianello, A., O’Corry-Crowe, G., Monroy, J., Ferrer, T., Remily-Wood, E., Ferreira, G.C., et al.. (2025). Genetic evidence of Yersinia pestis from the first pandemic. Genes 16: 926, https://doi.org/10.3390/genes16080926.
  3. Alston, R. (1999). The revolt of the Boukoloi: geography, history and myth. In: Hopwood, K. and Alston, R. (Eds.). Organised crime in antiquity. Duckworth, London, pp. 129–153.
  4. Arjava, A. (2005). The mystery cloud of 536 CE in the Mediterranean sources. Dumbart. Oaks Pap. 59: 73–94, https://doi.org/10.2307/4128751.
  5. Armstrong, G.T. (1967). Imperial church building in the Holy Land in the fourth century. Biblic. Archaeol. 30: 90–102, https://doi.org/10.2307/3210984.
  6. Armstrong, P. (1996). The survey area in the Byzantine and Ottoman periods. In: Cavanagh, W.G. (Ed.). The Laconia survey: continuity and change in a Greek rural landscape. British School at Athens, London, pp. 339–401.
  7. Ashkenazi, E., Avni, Y., and Chen, Y. (2020). The vitality of fruit trees in ancient Bedouin orchards in the Arid Negev Highlands (Israel): implications of climatic change and environmental stability. Quat. Int. 545: 73–86, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2019.09.039.
  8. Avi-Yonah, M. (1956). The Samaritan Revolts against the Byzantine Empire. Erets-Yiśraʼel 4: 127–132.
  9. Avi-Yonah, M. (1958). The economics of Byzantine Palestine. Isr. Explor. J. 8: 39–51.
  10. Avi-Yonah, M. (1980). During the days of Rome and Byzantium. Mossad Bialik, Jerusalem.
  11. Avner, U., Ginat, H., Shalev, S., Shilstine, S., Langford, B., Frumkin, A., Shem-Tov, R., Filin, S., Arav, R., Basson, U., et al.. (2018). Ancient copper mines at Nahal ‘Amram, Southern Arabah. In: Ben-Yosef, E. (Ed.). Mining for ancient copper: essays in memory of Beno Rothenberg. Eisenbrauns, Pennsylvania, pp. 147–177.
  12. Avni, G. (2010). The Persian conquest of Jerusalem (614 C.E.) – an archaeological assessment. Bull. Am. Sch. Orient. Res. 357: 35–48, https://doi.org/10.1086/basor27805159.
  13. Avni, G., Bar-Oz, G., and Gambash, G. (2023). When “the Sweet Gifts of Bacchus” ended – new archaeological evidence for settlement changes and the decline of wine production in late Antique Southern Palestine. Bull. Am. Soc. Overseas Res. 389: 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1086/724060.
  14. Avni, G., Porat, N., and Avni, Y. (2013). Byzantine-Early Islamic agricultural systems in the Negev Highlands: stages of development as interpreted through OSL dating. J. Field Archaeol. 38: 332–346, https://doi.org/10.1179/0093469013Z.00000000052.
  15. Avni, Y., Porat, N., Plakht, J., and Avni, G. (2006). Geomorphic changes leading to natural desertification versus anthropogenic land conservation in an arid environment, the Negev Highlands, Israel. Geomorphology 82: 177–200, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.05.002.
  16. Bailey, M. (1989). A marginal economy? East Anglian Breckland in the later middle Ages, 1st ed. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  17. Bar-Oz, G., Weissbrod, L., Erickson-Gini, T., Tepper, Y., Malkinson, D., Benzaquen, M., Langgut, D., Dunseth, Z.C., Butler, D.H., Shahack-Gross, R., et al.. (2019). Ancient trash mounds unravel urban collapse a century before the end of Byzantine hegemony in the Southern Levant. PNAS 116: 8239–8248, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1900233116.
  18. Bar, D. (2003). The Christianisation of rural Palestine during late antiquity. J. Eccles. Hist. 54: 401–421, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046903007309.
  19. Bar, D. (2005). Rural monasticism as a key element in the Christianization of Byzantine Palestine. Harv. Theol. Rev. 98: 49–65, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816005000854.
  20. Beit-Arieh, I. and Cresson, B.C. (1991). Horvat Uza, a fortified outpost on the Eastern Negev border. Biblic. Archaeol. 54: 126–135, https://doi.org/10.2307/3210261.
  21. Benovitz, N. (2014). The Justinianic plague: evidence from the dated Greek epitaphs of Byzantine Palestine and Arabia. J. Rom. Archaeol. 27: 487–498, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759414001378.
  22. Bintliff, J.L. and Snodgrass, A.M. (1985). The Cambridge/Bradford Boeotian expedition: the first four years. J. Field Archaeol. 12: 123–161, https://doi.org/10.1179/009346985791169490.
  23. Blanton, R.E. (2000). Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine settlement patterns of the coast lands of the Western Rough Cilicia. Archaeopress, Oxford.
  24. Bonifay, M., Carre, M.B., and Rigoir, Y. (1998). Fouilles À Marseille: Les Mobiliers, Ier-Viie Siècles Ap. J.C. Errance, ADAM, Paris.
  25. Bonifay, M. and Pieri, D. (1995). Amphores Du Ve Au Viie S. À Marseille: Nouvelles Données Sur La Typologie Et Le Contenu. J. Rom. Archaeol. 8: 94–120, https://doi.org/10.1017/s1047759400015993.
  26. Bonifay, M. and Pieri, D. (2020). Merovingian Gaul and the Mediterranean: ceramics and trade. In: Effros, B. and Moreira, I. (Eds.). The Oxford handbook of the Merovingian world. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 861–882.
  27. Bowden, H. and Gill, D. (1997a). Late Roman Methana. In: Mee, C., Forbes, H.A., and Atherton, M.P. (Eds.). A rough and rocky place: the landscape and settlement history of the Methana Peninsula, Greece. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, pp. 84–91.
  28. Bowden, H. and Gill, D. (1997b). Roman Methana. In: Mee, C., Forbes, H.A., and Atherton, M.P. (Eds.). A rough and rocky place: the landscape and settlement history of the Methana Peninsula, Greece. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, pp. 77–83.
  29. Brown, M.P. (2017). The bridge in the desert: towards establishing an historical context for the newly discovered Latin manuscripts of St Catherine’s Sinai. Rivista degli studi orientali 90: 73–98, https://doi.org/10.19272/201703814004.
  30. Bruins, H.J. (2012). Ancient desert agriculture in the Negev and climate-zone boundary changes during average, wet and drought years. J. Arid Environ. 86: 28–42, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2012.01.015.
  31. Büntgen, U., Myglan, V.S., Ljungqvist, F.C., McCormick, M., Di Cosmo, N., Sigl, M., Jungclaus, J., Wagner, S., Krusic, P.J., Esper, J., et al.. (2016). Cooling and societal change during the late Antique little ice age from 536 to around 660 A.D. Nat. Geosci. 9: 231–236, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2652.
  32. Cameron, D. (2018). Towards a re-dating of Pompey’s conquest of Jerusalem. J. Jew Stud. 69: 225–247, https://doi.org/10.18647/3370/jjs-2018.
  33. Caputo, C. (2019). Egyptian and imported Amphoras at Amheida. In: Bagnall, R.S. and Tallet, G. (Eds.). The Great Oasis of Egypt. The Kharga and Dakhla Oases in antiquity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 168–191.
  34. Cherry, J.F. (2005). Survey. In: Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P.G. (Eds.). Archaeology: the key concepts. Routledge, London, pp. 248–254.
  35. Cook, J.M. (1973). The troad: an archaeological and topographical study. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
  36. Cosijns, L. and Olshanetsky, H. (2022). Did the Byzantine Negev settlements exhaust the surrounding environment? A response to “Environment and horticulture in the Byzantine Negev Desert, Israel: sustainability, prosperity and enigmatic decline”. Graeco-Latina Brunensia 27: 5–14, https://doi.org/10.5817/GLB2022-2-1.
  37. Cosijns, L.S. (2024). Am I my children’s keeper? Evidence for infanticide in the Roman Empire. J. Anc. Hist. Archaeol. 11: 23–39, https://doi.org/10.14795/j.v11i3.1024.
  38. Dagan, Y. (2014). The survey project in the Judean Shephela: an intermediate summary. Qadmoniot 47: 90–96.
  39. Dahari, U. and Sion, O. (2017). Ruheiba – Rehovot in the Negev as a model desert town. Qadmoniot: J. Antiq. Eretz-Israel Bible Lands 50: 66–77.
  40. David, C.B. and Isaac, B. (2020). Six milestone stations and new inscriptions discovered in the Negev along the Petra-Gaza Incense Route. Palest. Explor. Q. 152: 234–247, https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2019.1694789.
  41. Davies, G. and Magness, J. (2015). The 2003–2007 excavations in the Late Roman fort at Yotvata. Eisenbrauns, Ann Arbor.
  42. De Barros Damgaard, P., Marchi, N., Rasmussen, S., Peyrot, M., Renaud, G., Korneliussen, T., Moreno-Mayar, J.V., Pedersen, M.W., Goldberg, A., Usmanova, E., et al.. (2018). 137 Ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes. Nature 557: 369–374, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2.
  43. De Vos Raaijmakers, M. and Attoui, R. (2013). Rus Africum – le Paysage Rural Antique Autour De Dougga Et Téboursouk: cartographie, Relevés Et Chronologie Des Établissements, Vol. 1. Edipuglia, Bari.
  44. De Vos Raaijmakers, M., Attoui, R., and Battisti, A. (2013). Rus Africum – Le Paysage Rural Antique Autour De Dougga: L’aqueduc Aïn Hammam-Thugga, Cartographie Et Relevés, Vol. 2. Edipuglia, Bari.
  45. Eisenberg, M. and Mordechai, L. (2019). The Justinianic plague: an interdisciplinary review. Byzantine Mod. Greek Stud. 43: 156–180, https://doi.org/10.1017/byz.2019.10.
  46. Eisenberg, M. and Mordechai, L. (2020). The Justinianic plague and global pandemics: the making of the plague concept. Am. Hist. Rev. 125: 1632–1667, https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhaa510.
  47. Elton, H. (2018). The Roman Empire in late antiquity: a political and military history. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  48. Erdkamp, P. (2019). War, food, climate change, and the decline of the Roman Empire. J. Late Antiq. 12: 422–465, https://doi.org/10.1353/jla.2019.0021.
  49. Erdkamp, P. (2021). Climate change and the productive landscape in the Mediterranean region in the Roman period. In: Climate change and ancient societies in Europe and the near East: diversity in collapse and resilience. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 411–442.
  50. Erickson-Gini, T. (2010). Nabataean settlement and self-organized economy in the central Negev: crisis and renewal. Archaeopress, Oxford.
  51. Erickson-Gini, T. (2015). Horbat Bor-final report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excav. Surv. Israel 127.
  52. Erickson-Gini, T. (2021). Problems and solutions in dating Nabataean pottery of the post-annexation period. Pol. Archaeol. Mediterr. 30: 681–706, https://doi.org/10.31338/uw.2083-537X.pam30.2.01.
  53. Erickson-Gini, T. and Bekes, K.M. (2019). En Hazeva-final report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excav. Surv. Israel 131.
  54. Erickson-Gini, T., Lifshitz, V., and Alajem, E. (2018). Horvat Sa’adon – excavations in the Roman tomb and Byzantine church. Strata 36: 37–56.
  55. Erickson-Gini, T. and Mamalya, H. (2022). A Late Roman Caravanserai and Early Byzantine Winepress near Be’er Mash’abim (Bir ‘Asluj) in the central Negev. In: Golani, A., Varga, D., Tchekhanovets, Y., and Birkenfeld, M. (Eds.). Archaeological excavations and research studies in Southern Israel. Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, pp. 139–167.
  56. Fabian, P. and Goren, Y. (2002). A new type of Late roman storage jar from the Negev. In: Humphrey, J.H. (Ed.). The Roman and Byzantine near East: some recent archaeological research, Vol. 3. Journal of Roman Archaeology, Ann Arbor, MI, pp. 145–153.
  57. Faust, A. and Safrai, Z. (2015). Settlement history of ancient Israel: a quantitative analysis. Ingeborg Renert Centre for the Study of Jerusalem, Ramat Gan.
  58. Faust, A. and Safrai, Z.e. (2005). Salvage excavations as a source for reconstructing settlement history in ancient Israel. Palest. Explor. Q. 137: 139–158, https://doi.org/10.1179/003103205x62981.
  59. Ferrill, A. (1986). The fall of the Roman Empire: the military explanation. Thames and Hudson, London.
  60. Forsén, B. (2003). The Archaic-Hellenistic periods – conclusions. In: Forsén, J. and Forsén, B. (Eds.). The Asea Valley survey : an Arcadian Mountain Valley from the Paleolithic period until modern times. Svenska Institutet i Athen, Stockholm, pp. 247–271.
  61. Forsén, B. and Karivieri, A. (2003). The roman-early modern periods – conclusions. In: Forsén, J. and Forsén, B. (Eds.). The Asea Valley survey: an Arcadian Mountain Valley from the Paleolithic period until modern times. Svenska Institutet i Athen, Stockholm, pp. 307–331.
  62. Forsyth, G.H. (1968). The monastery of St. Catherine at Mount Sinai: the church and fortress of Justinian. Dumbart. Oaks Pap. 22: 1–19, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291273.
  63. Foss, C. (2003). The Persians in the Roman near East (602–630 AD). J. Roman Archaeol. Suppl. Ser. 13: 149–170, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186303003055.
  64. Franḳel, R. (2001). Settlement dynamics and regional diversity in ancient Upper Galilee: archaeological survey of Upper Galilee. Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem.
  65. Fuks, D., Ackermann, O., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Bar-Oz, G., Levi, Y., Maeir, A.M., Weiss, E., Zilberman, T., and Safrai, Z. (2017). Dust clouds, climate change and coins: consiliences of palaeoclimate and economy in the late antique Southern Levant. Levant 49: 205–223, https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2017.1379181.
  66. Fuks, D., Avni, G., and Bar-Oz, G. (2021). The debate on Negev viticulture and Gaza wine in late antiquity. Tel Aviv 48: 143–170, https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2021.1968626.
  67. Fuks, D., Bar-Oz, G., Tepper, Y., Erickson-Gini, T., Langgut, D., Weissbrod, L., and Weiss, E. (2020). The rise and fall of viticulture in the late antique Negev Highlands reconstructed from archaeobotanical and ceramic data. PNAS 117: 19780–19791, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1922200117.
  68. Goldreich, Y. (2003). The climate of Israel: observation, research and application. Springer, New York.
  69. Harper, K. (2017). The fate of Rome: climate, disease, and the end of an empire. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
  70. Hawting, G.R. (2000). The first dynasty of Islam: the Umayyad caliphate AD 661–750, 2nd ed. Routledge, London.
  71. Heather, P.J. (2018). Rome resurgent: war and empire in the age of Justinian. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  72. Heinzelmann, M., Schöne, C., Schröder, A., Wozniok, D., Jordan, F., Erickson-Gini, T., Kühn, M., Langgut, D., and Lehnig, S. (2022). Elusa–from Nabatean trading post to late antique desert metropolis. Results of the 2015− 2020 seasons. Archäologischer Anzeiger 1: 237–297.
  73. Helama, S., Jones, P.D., and Briffa, K.R. (2017). Dark ages cold period: a literature review and directions for future research. Holocene 27: 1600–1606, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683617693898.
  74. Hirschfeld, Y. (1997). Farms and villages in Byzantine Palestine. Dumbart. Oaks Pap. 51: 33–71, https://doi.org/10.2307/1291761.
  75. Holmqvist, E. (2009). Ceramic production traditions in the late Byzantine-Early Islamic transition: a comparative analytical study of ceramics from Palaestina Tertia. In: Biró, K.T., Szilágyi, V., and Kreiter, A. (Eds.). Vessels: inside and outside. Proceedings of the conference Emac ‘07. 9th European meeting on ancient ceramics, pp. 91–96.
  76. Holmqvist, E. (2019). Ceramics in transition: production and exchange of late Byzantine-Early Islamic pottery in Southern Transjordan and the Negev. Archaeopress, Oxford.
  77. Ibrahim, M.M. and El Mahi, A.T. (2000). Metallurgy in Oman during the Early Islamic period. In: The archaeology of Jordan and beyond. Brill, Leiden, pp. 207–220.
  78. Issar, A. and Tsoar, H. (1987). Who is to blame for the desertification of the Negev, Israel. In: Solomon, S.I., Beran, M., and Hogg, W. (Eds.). The influence of climate change and climatic variability on the hydrologic regime and water resources (Proceedings of the Vancouver symposium, August 1987). International Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford, pp. 577–583.
  79. Izdebski, A., Pickett, J., Roberts, N., and Waliszewski, T. (2016). The environmental, archaeological and historical evidence for regional climatic changes and their societal impacts in the Eastern Mediterranean in late antiquity. Quat. Sci. Rev. 136: 189–208, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.07.022.
  80. Jameson, M.H., Munn, M.H., Runnels, C.N., and Van Andel, T.H. (1994). A Greek countryside: the Southern Argolid from prehistory to the present day. Stanford University Press, Stanford, Calif.
  81. Junge, A., Dunseth, Z.C., Shahack-Gross, R., Finkelstein, I., and Fuchs, M. (2021). Construction and use of rock-cut cisterns: a chronological OSL approach in the arid Negev Highlands, Israel. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 13: 150, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01366-5.
  82. Keller, M., Spyrou, M.A., Scheib, C.L., Neumann, G.U., Kröpelin, A., Haas-Gebhard, B., Päffgen, B., Haberstroh, J., Lacombai, A.R.I., Raynaud, C., et al.. (2019). Ancient Yersinia Pestis genomes from across Western Europe reveal early diversification during the first pandemic (541–750). PNAS 116: 12363–12372, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1820447116.
  83. Kenawi, M. (2014). Alexandria’s Hinterland: archaeology of the Western Nile Delta. Archaeopress, Oxford.
  84. Kennedy, D. (1997). The special command of M. Valerius Lollianus. In: Amicitiae, Donum (Ed.). Studies in ancient history. Jagiellonian University Press, Krakow, pp. 69–81.
  85. Kennedy, H. (1985). From Polis to Madina: urban change in late antique and Early Islamic Syria. Past Present 106: 3–27, https://doi.org/10.1093/past/106.1.3.
  86. Kennedy, H. (1986). The Early Abbasid caliphate: a political history, Paperback ed. Croom Helm, London.
  87. Kingsley, S.A. (2004). Shipwreck archaeology of the Holy Land: processes and parameters. Duckworth, London.
  88. Korzhenkov, A.M. and Mazor, E. (2014). Archaeoseismological damage patterns at the ancient Ruins at Rehovot-Ba-Negev, Israel. Archaeologischer Anzeiger 1: 75–92.
  89. Kouki, P. (2013). Problems of relating environmental history to human settlement in the classical and late classical periods – The example of Southern Jordan. In: Harris, W.V. (Ed.). The ancient Mediterranean environment between science and history. Brill, Leiden, pp. 213–231.
  90. Koukoulis, T. (1997). Medieval Methana. In: Mee, C., Forbes, H.A., and Atherton, M.P. (Eds.). A rough and rocky place: the landscape and settlement history of the Methana Peninsula, Greece. Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, pp. 92–100.
  91. Langgut, D., Tepper, Y., Benzaquen, M., Erickson-Gini, T., and Bar-Oz, G. (2020). Environment and horticulture in the Byzantine Negev desert, Israel: sustainability, prosperity and enigmatic decline. Quat. Int. 593: 160–177, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.08.056.
  92. Lantos, S., Bar-Oz, G., and Gambash, G. (2020). Wine from the desert: late-antique Negev viniculture and the famous Gaza wine. Near E. Archaeol. 83: 56–64, https://doi.org/10.1086/707483.
  93. Leibner, U. (2009). Settlement and history in Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Galilee: an archaeological survey of the Eastern Galilee. Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen.
  94. Leidwanger, J. (2020). Roman Seas: a maritime archaeology of Eastern Mediterranean economies. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  95. Liebeschuetz, J.H.W.G. (2015). East and West in late antiquity: invasion, settlement, ethnogenesis and conflicts of religion. Brill, Leiden.
  96. Liphschitz, N. and Waisel, Y. (1976). Dendroarchaeological investigations in Israel (St. Catherine’s monastery in Southern Sinai). Isr. Explor. J. 26: 39–44.
  97. Magness, J. (2003). The archaeology of the Early Islamic settlement in Palestine. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana.
  98. Majcherek, G. (1995). Gazan amphorae: typology reconsidered. In: Meyza, H. and Młynarczyk, Y. (Eds.). Hellenistic and Roman pottery in the Eastern mediterranean: advances in scientific studies-acts of the II Nieborów pottery workshop, Nieborów, 18–20 December 1993. Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, pp. 163–178.
  99. Mango, M.M. (2001). Beyond the Amphora: non-ceramic evidence for late antique industry and trade. In: Decker, M. and Kingsley, S.A. (Eds.). Economy and exchange in the East Mediterranean during late antiquity: proceedings of a conference at Somerville College, Oxford-29th May, 1999. Oxbow Books, Oxford, pp. 87–106.
  100. Margulis, M. and Rosen, S.A. (2025). Nabatean tent sites on the Ruhot plain, central Negev, and nomadic visibility. Bull. Am. Soc. Overseas Res. 393: 1–22, https://doi.org/10.1086/734106.
  101. Mayerson, P. (1982). The pilgrim routes to Mount Sinai and the Armenians. Isr. Explor. J. 32: 44–57.
  102. Mayerson, P. (1989). Saracens and Romans: micro-macro relationships. Bull. Am. Sch. Orient. Res. 274: 71–79, https://doi.org/10.2307/1357054.
  103. Mayerson, P. (1992). The Gaza wine jar (Gazition) and the lost Ashkelon jar (Askalonion). Isr. Explor. J. 42: 76–80.
  104. McCormick, M. (2015). Tracking mass death during the fall of Rome’s empire (I). J. Rom. Archaeol. 28: 325–358, https://doi.org/10.1017/s1047759415002512.
  105. McCormick, M. (2016). Tracking mass death during the fall of Rome’s empire (II): a first inventory of mass graves. J. Rom. Archaeol. 29: 1004–1007, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1047759400073190.
  106. McCormick, M. (2021). Gregory of tours on sixth-century plague and other epidemics. Speculum 96: 38–96, https://doi.org/10.1086/711721.
  107. McCormick, M., Büntgen, U., Cane, M.A., Cook, E.R., Harper, K., Huybers, P., Litt, T., Manning, S.W., Mayewski, P.A., More, A.F.M., et al.. (2012). Climate change during and after the Roman Empire: reconstructing the past from scientific and historical evidence. J. Interdiscipl. Hist. 43: 169–220, https://doi.org/10.1162/JINH_a_00379.
  108. Meyers, E.M. (1981). Excavations at ancient Meiron, Upper Galilee, Israel, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1977. American Schools of Oriental Research, Cambridge, Mass.
  109. Michael, N.D. (2022). Settlement patterns in the Northern Negev from the Hellenistic through the Early Islamic periods. Propylaeum, Heidelberg.
  110. Michael, N.D. and Tepper, Y. (2021). Be’er Sheva’, Maẕliaẖ intersection. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excav. Surv. Israel 133, https://doi.org/10.69704/jhaesi.116.2004.26050.
  111. Micheau, F. (2008). Baghdad in the Abbasid Era: a cosmopolitan and multi-confessional capital. In: Jayyusi, S.K., Holod, R., Petruccioli, A., and Raymond, A. (Eds.). The city in the Islamic world. Brill, Leiden, pp. 219–245.
  112. Migowski, C., Stein, M., Prasad, S., Negendank, J.F.W., and Agnon, A. (2006). Holocene climate variability and cultural evolution in the near East from the Dead Sea sedimentary record. Quat. Res. 66: 421–431, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2006.06.010.
  113. Mordechai, L. and Eisenberg, M. (2019). Rejecting catastrophe: the case of the Justinianic plague. Past Present 244: 3–48, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtz009.
  114. Mordechai, L., Eisenberg, M., Newfield, T.P., Izdebski, A., Kay, J.E., and Poinar, H. (2019). The Justinianic plague: an inconsequential pandemic? PNAS 116: 25546–25554, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1903797116.
  115. Murdoch, A. (2006). The Last Roman: Romulus Augustulus and the decline of the West. Sutton, Stroud.
  116. Nathanson, B.G. (1986). Jews, Christians, and the Gallus revolt in fourth-century Palestine. Biblic. Archaeol. 49: 26–36, https://doi.org/10.2307/3209979.
  117. Negev, A. (1977). The inscriptions of Wadi Haggag, Sinai. Qedem 6.
  118. Negev, A. (1988). The Nabatean cities of the Negev. Ariel, Jerusalem.
  119. Negev, A. and Gibson, S. (2001). Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land, New, rev., and updated ed. Continuum, New York.
  120. Niewöhner, P. (2011). The riddle of the market gate: Miletus and the character and date of earlier Byzantine fortifications in Anatolia. In: Dally, O. and Ratté, C.J. (Eds.). Archaeology and the cities of Asia minor in late antiquity. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Ann Arbor, Mich., pp. 103–122.
  121. Niewöhner, P. (2013). Phrygian marble and stonaemasonry as markers of regional distinctiveness in late antiquity. In: Thonemann, P. (Ed.). Roman phrygia: culture and society. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 215–248.
  122. Nol, H. (2015). The fertile desert: agriculture and copper industry in Early Islamic Arava (Arabah). Palest. Explor. Q. 147: 49–68, https://doi.org/10.1179/1743130114Y.0000000012.
  123. Olshanetsky, H. (2024). The identity of the leaders of the second Jewish revolt and Bar Koseba’s true role in the insurrection. Palest. Explor. Q.: 1–21, https://doi.org/10.1080/00310328.2024.2435788.
  124. Olshanetsky, H. and Cosijns, L. (2021). The Persian invasion of 614 A.D. as a possible catalyst for the decline and fall of the Negev settlements. Diogenes 12: 4–25.
  125. Olshanetsky, H. and Cosijns, L. (2022). Did they influence at all? A re-analysis of the effects of the late antique little ice age and the Justinianic plague on the Eastern Roman Empire during the 6th and 7th centuries CE. Muza 5: 24–41.
  126. Olshanetsky, H. and Cosijns, L. (2023). Did we stop throwing away the garbage? Negating urban collapse at Elusa in the sixth century CE. Isr. Explor. J. 73: 88–104.
  127. Olshanetsky, H. and Cosijns, L. (2024). Challenging the significance of the Lalia and the Justinianic plague: a reanalysis of the archaeological record. Klio 106: 721–759, https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2023-0031.
  128. Orland, I.J., Bar-Matthews, M., Kita, N.T., Ayalon, A., Matthews, A., and Valley, J.W. (2009). Climate deterioration in the Eastern Mediterranean as revealed by ion microprobe analysis of a Speleothem that Grew from 2.2 to 0.9 ka in Soreq Cave, Israel. Quat. Res. 71: 27–35, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2008.08.005.
  129. Parker, S.T. (1986). Romans and Saracens: a history of the Arabian Frontier. American Schools of Oriental Research, s.l.
  130. Parker, S.T. (1999). An empire’s new Holy Land: the Byzantine period. Near E. Archaeol. 62: 134–180, https://doi.org/10.2307/3210712.
  131. Passi, S., Rothschild-Boros, M.C., Fasella, P., Nazzaro-Porro, M., and Whitehouse, D. (1981). An application of high performance liquid chromatography to analysis of lipids in archaeological samples. J. Lipid Res. 22: 778–784, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-2275(20)37349-1.
  132. Pasternak, M.D. and Karkovsky, M. (2022). ‘Ar’Ara in the Negev. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excav. Surv. Israel 134.
  133. Patrich, J. (2012). Caravan trade: the ‘Nabataean’ fortresses in the ‘Aravah re-examined. Ḳatedrah be-toldot Erets-Yiśraʼel ṿe-yishuvah 146: 7–26.
  134. Patrich, J. (2019). Recent archaeological research on monasteries in Palæstina Byzantina: an update on distribution. In: Delouis, O., and Mossakowska-Gaubert, M. (Eds.). La Vie Quotidienne Des Moines En Orient Et En Occident (Ive-Xe Siècle) Volume II: questions Transversales. l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale IFAO, Caire, pp. 77–106.
  135. Patrich, J., Backner, T., Burger, S., and Tarkhanova, S. (2020). Churches of the Holy Land. A new digital corpus: introduction and some preliminary results. In: Coniglio, A., and Ricco, A. (Eds.). Holy Land: archaeology on either side. Archaeological essays in Honour of Eugenio Alliata, Ofm. Edizioni Terra Santa, Milan, pp. 11–32.
  136. Pecci, A., Salvini, L., and Cantini, F. (2010). Residue analysis of some Late Roman Amphora coming from the excavations of the historical centre of Florence. In: Gurt Esparraguera, J.M., Buxeda i Garrigós, J., and Cau Ontiveros, M.A. (Eds.). LRCW I: Late Roman coarse wares, cooking wares and amphorae in the Mediterranean: archaeology and archaeometry. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 363–367.
  137. Peregrine, P.N. (2020). Climate and social change at the start of the late antique little ice age. Holocene 30: 1643–1648, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683620941079.
  138. Pieri, D. (2005). Le Commerce Du Vin Oriental À L’époque Byzantine ∼(Ve-VIIe Siècles): Le Témoignage Des Amphores En Gaule. Institut français du Proche-Orient, Beyrouth.
  139. Porath, Y., Liphschitz, N., Wiesel, Y., and Sharon, M. (2016). Tunnel-well (Qanat) systems and settlements from the Early Islamic period in the ‘Arava. ‘Atiqot 86: 1–81.
  140. Rautman, M. (2021). Valley and village in Late Roman Cyprus. In: Bowden, W., Lavan, L., and Machado, C. (Eds.). Recent research on the late Antique countryside. Brill, Leiden, pp. 189–218.
  141. Reynolds, P. (1995). Trade in the Western Mediterranean, A.D. 400–700: the ceramic evidence. Tempus Reparatum, Oxford.
  142. Reynolds, P. (2005). Levantine Amphorae from Cilicia to Gaza: a typology and analysis of regional production trends from the 1st to 7th centuries. In: Gurt Esparraguera, J.M., Buxeda i Garrigós, J., and Cau Ontiveros, M.A. (Eds.). LRCW I: Late Roman coarse wares, cooking wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: archaeology and archaeometry. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 563–611.
  143. Riley, J.A. (1975). The pottery from the first session of excavations in the Caesarea Hippodrome. Bull. Am. Sch. Orient. Res. 218: 25–63, https://doi.org/10.2307/1356166.
  144. Roberts, N., Cassis, M., Doonan, O., Eastwood, W., Elton, H., Haldon, J., Izdebski, A., and Newhard, J. (2018). Not the end of the world? Post-classical decline and recovery in rural Anatolia. Hum. Ecol. 46: 305–322, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-9973-2.
  145. Romanus, K., Baeten, J., Poblome, J., Accardo, S., Degryse, P., Jacobs, P., De Vos, D., and Waelkens, M. (2009). Wine and olive oil permeation in pitched and non-pitched ceramics: relation with results from archaeological amphorae from Sagalassos, Turkey. J. Archaeol. Sci. 36: 900–909, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2008.11.024.
  146. Römer, C. and Bailey, D.M. (2019). The Fayoum survey project: the Themistou Meris. Peeters, Leuven.
  147. Rose, C.B. (2011). Troy and the Granicus River Valley in late antiquity. In: Dally, O. and Ratté, C.J. (Eds.). Archaeology and the cities of Asia minor in late antiquity. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, Ann Arbor, Mich., pp. 151–171.
  148. Rosen, S.A. (2011). The desert and the pastoralist: an archaeological perspective on human-landscape interaction in the Negev over the Millennia. Ann. Arid Zone 50: 1–15.
  149. Rosen, S.A. (2017). Basic instabilities? Climate and culture in the Negev over the long term. Geoarchaeology 32: 6–22, https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.21572.
  150. Rubin, R. (1996). Urbanization, settlement and agriculture in the Negev desert – the impact of the Roman-Byzantine Empire on the Frontier. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 112: 49–60.
  151. Rubin, R. (1998). The Roman-Byzantine Empire and its desert Frontiers: the Negev Vs Tripolitania: a comparative study. Cathedra: 63–82.
  152. Ruffini, G. (2011). Village life and family power in late antique Nessana. TAPA 141: 201–225, https://doi.org/10.1353/apa.2011.0002.
  153. Sarris, P. (2002). The Justinianic plague: origins and effects. Continuity Change 17: 169–182, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0268416002004137.
  154. Sarris, P. (2020). Climate and disease. In: Hermans, E. (Ed.). A companion to the global early middle ages. Arc Humanities Press, Leeds, pp. 511–537.
  155. Sarris, P. (2022). Viewpoint new approaches to the ‘Plague of Justinian’. Past Present 254: 315–346, https://doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtab024.
  156. Sazanov, A. (2017). Les Amophores Lra 4: Problèmes De Typologie Et De Chronologie. In: Dixneuf, D. (Ed.). LRCW 5: late roman coarse wares, cooking wares and amphorae in the mediterranean: archaeology and archaeometry, Vol. 2. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 629–650.
  157. Schöne, C., Heinzelmann, M., Erickson-Gini, T., and Wozniok, D. (2019). Elusa–urban development and economy of a city in the desert. In: Lichtenberger, A., Tal, O., and Weiss, Z. (Eds.). Judaea/Palaestina and Arabia: cities and hinterlands in roman and Byzantine times. Propylaeum, Heidelberg, pp. 141–154.
  158. Schwartz, D.R. (1990). Agrippa I: the last king of Judaea. J.C.B. Mohr, Tübingen.
  159. Seligman, J. (2020). Creating economic capacity for pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Byzantine period. In: Daim, F., Pahlitzsch, J., Patrich, J., Rapp, C., and Seligman, J. (Eds.). Pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Journeys, destinations, experiences across times and cultures: proceedings of the conference held in Jerusalem, 5th to 7th December 2017. Propylaeum, Heidelberg, pp. 31–39.
  160. Shipley, G. (1996). The survey area in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. In: Cavanagh, W.G. (Ed.). The Laconia survey: continuity and change in a Greek rural landscape. British School at Athens, London, pp. 257–337.
  161. Sigl, M., Winstrup, M., Mcconnell, J.R., Welten, K.C., Plunkett, G., Ludlow, F., Büntgen, U., Caffee, M., Chellman, N., Dahl-Jensen, D., et al.. (2015). Timing and climate forcing of volcanic eruptions for the past 2,500 years. Nature 523: 543–549, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14565.
  162. Singer-Avitz, L. and Ayalon, E. (2023). Yotvata the Ze’ev Meshel excavations (1974–1980): the iron I “Fortress” and the Early Islamic settlement. Penn State University Press, University Park, USA.
  163. Singer, A. (2007). The Soils of Israel. Springer, New York.
  164. Sion, O. (2014). The archaeological survey of Israel. Qadmoniot 47: 58–66.
  165. Sion, O., Ashkenazi, E., and Erickson-Gini, T. (2022). Byzantine Oboda/Avda and the surrounding agricultural regime. In: Golani, A., Varga, D., Tchekhanovets, Y., and Birkenfeld, M. (Eds.). Archaeological excavations and research studies in Southern Israel, collected papers: volume 5, 18th annual Southern conference. Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, pp. 27–58.
  166. Sivan, H. (2008). Palestine in late antiquity. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
  167. Stavi, I., Ragolsky, G., Haiman, M., and Porat, N. (2021). Ancient to recent-past runoff harvesting agriculture in the hyper-arid Arava Valley: OSL dating and insights. Holocene 31: 1047–1054, https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683621994641.
  168. Stoffel, M., Khodri, M., Corona, C., Guillet, S., Poulain, V., Bekki, S., Guiot, J., Luckman, B.H., Oppenheimer, C., Lebas, N., et al.. (2015). Estimates of volcanic-induced cooling in the Northern hemisphere over the past 1,500 years. Nat. Geosci. 8: 784–788, https://doi.org/10.1038/NGEO2526.
  169. Stone, M.E. (2015). The rock inscriptions and Graffiti project of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Comp. Orient. Manuscr. Stud. Bull. 1: 52–57.
  170. Stone, M.E., Tchekhanovets, Y., and Pogorelsky, O. (2019). Armenians in the Negev: evidence from Nessana. Le Muséon 132: 123–137, https://doi.org/10.2143/MUS.132.1.3286536.
  171. Tartaron, T.F. (2003). The archaeological survey: sampling strategies and field methods. Hesperia 32: 23–45, https://doi.org/10.2307/1354045.
  172. Tchekhanovets, Y., Rasiuk, A., Levi, A., Peretz, A., and Pogorelsky, O. (2023). The renewed excavations at Nessana. In: Eisenberg-Degen, D., Rosen, S.A., Golani, A., and Sasson, A. (Eds.). Archaeological excavations and research studies in Southern Israel, Vol. 19. Ariel Publishing Israeli Institute of Archaeology, Jerusalem, pp. 103–114.
  173. Tepper, Y. and Bar-Oz, G. (2020). Shivta-preliminary report. Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excav. Surv. Israel 132.
  174. Tepper, Y., Erickson-Gini, T., Farhi, Y., and Bar-Oz, G. (2018a). Probing the Byzantine/Early Islamic transition in the Negev: the renewed Shivta excavations, 2015–2016. Tel Aviv 45: 120–152, https://doi.org/10.1080/03344355.2018.1412058.
  175. Tepper, Y., Porat, N., and Bar-Oz, G. (2020). Sustainable farming in the Roman-Byzantine period: dating an advanced agriculture system near the site of Shivta, Negev desert, Israel. J. Arid Environ. 177: 104–134, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104134.
  176. Tepper, Y., Weissbrod, L., Fried, T., Marom, N., Ramsay, J., Weinstein-Evron, M., Aharonovich, S., Liphschitz, N., Farhi, Y., Yan, X., et al.. (2018b). Pigeon-raising and sustainable agriculture at the fringe of the desert: a view from the Byzantine village of Sa’adon, Negev, Israel. Levant 50: 91–113, https://doi.org/10.1080/00758914.2018.1528532.
  177. Thonemann, P. (2011). The Maeander Valley: a historical geography from antiquity to Byzantium. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
  178. Todd, I.A. (2013). Vasilikos Valley project 12: the field survey of the Vasilikos Valley, Vol. 3. Paul Åströms förlag, Sävedalen.
  179. Tomber, R.S. (1996). Provisioning the desert: pottery supply to Mons Claudianus. In: Bailey, D.M. (Ed.). Archaeological research in Roman Egypt: the proceedings of the seventeenth classical colloquium of the department of Greek and Roman antiquities, British Museum held on 1–4 December, 1993. Journal of Roman Archaeology, Ann Arbor, MI, p. 39.
  180. Toohey, M., Kruger, K., Sigl, M., Stordal, F., and Svensen, H. (2016). Climatic and societal impacts of a volcanic double event at the dawn of the Middle Ages. Clim. Change 136: 401–413, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1648-7.
  181. Tsafrir, Y. (1986). The transfer of the Negev, Sinai and Southern Transjordan from “Arabia” to “Palaestina”. Isr. Explor. J. 36: 77–86.
  182. Tsafrir, Y. and Foerster, G. (1992). The dating of the ‘Earthquake of the Sabbatical Year’ of 749 C.E. in Palestine. Bull. Sch. Orient Afr. Stud. 55: 151–702, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00004584.
  183. Tsafrir, Y. and Holum, K.G. (1988). Reḥovot-in-the-Negev preliminary report, 1986. Isr. Explor. J. 38: 117–127.
  184. Urman, D. (2004). Nessana : excavations and studies. I. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, Beer-Sheva.
  185. Urman, D. (2007). New excavations at Nitzana. Qadmoniot: J. Antiq. Eretz-Israel Bible Lands 40: 113–124.
  186. Vaiglova, P., Hartman, G., Marom, N., Ayalon, A., Bar-Matthews, M., Zilberman, T., Yasur, G., Buckley, M., Bernstein, R., Tepper, Y., et al.. (2020). Climate stability and societal decline on the margins of the Byzantine empire in the Negev desert. Sci. Rep. 10: 1512, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58360-5.
  187. Vanhaverbeke, H., Martens, F., Waelkens, M., and Poblome, J. (2021). Late antiquity in the territory of Sagalassos. In: Bowden, W., Lavan, L., and Machado, C. (Eds.). Recent research on the late Antique countryside. Brill, Leiden, pp. 247–279.
  188. Voltaggio, M. (2011). “Xenodochia” and “Hospitia” in sixth-century Jerusalem: indicators for the Byzantine pilgrimage to the holy places. Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins (1953) 127: 197–210.
  189. Wacławik, M. (2017). Why did they need so many churches? In: Miszk, L. and Wacławik, M. (Eds.). The land of fertility II: the South-East Mediterranean since the Bronze age to the Muslim conquest. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, pp. 105–113.
  190. Whiting, M. (2020). Braided networks: pilgrimage and the economics of travel infrastructure in the late antique Holy Land. In: Kristensen, T.M., and Collar, A. (Eds.). Pilgrimage and economy in the ancient mediterranean. Brill, Leiden, pp. 62–90.
  191. Wilson, P. and Grigoropoulos, D. (2009). The West Nile Delta regional survey, Beheira and Kafr El-Sheikh Provinces. Egypt Exploration Society, London.
  192. Yan, X., Tepper, Y., Bar-Oz, G., and Boaretto, E. (2021). Ftir bone characterization and radiocarbon dating: timing the abandonment of Byzantine Pigeon Towers in the Negev desert, Israel. Radiocarbon 63: 1715–1735, https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2021.85.
  193. Zeichmann, C.B. (2015). Herodian kings and their soldiers in the acts of the apostles: a response to Craig Keener. J. Greco-Roman Christ. Jud. 11: 178–190.
  194. Zias, J. (1991). Current archaeological research in Israel: death and disease in ancient Israel. Biblic. Archaeol. 54: 147–159, https://doi.org/10.2307/3210263.
Language: English
Submitted on: Apr 14, 2025
Accepted on: Sep 25, 2025
Published on: Dec 4, 2025
Published by: Sciendo
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2025 Lev Cosijns, Haggai Olshanetsky, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.