Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T14:46:30.428Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Walls, ramps and pits: the construction of the Samar Desert kites, southern Negev, Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2010

Dani Nadel ,
Guy Bar-Oz ,
Uzi Avner ,
Elisabetta Boaretto  and
Dan Malkinson
Dani Nadel*
Affiliation:
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel (Email: dnadel@research.haifa.ac.il; guybar@research.haifa.ac.il)
Guy Bar-Oz
Affiliation:
Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel (Email: dnadel@research.haifa.ac.il; guybar@research.haifa.ac.il)
Uzi Avner
Affiliation:
Ben-Gurion University, Arava Institute and the Dead Sea-Arava Research Centre, Eilat 88133, Israel (Email: uzia@012.net.il)
Elisabetta Boaretto
Affiliation:
Radiocarbon Dating and Cosmogenic Isotopes Lab., The Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel; Kimmel Center for Archaeological Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel (Email: Elisabetta.Boaretto@weizmann.ac.il)
Dan Malkinson
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel (Email: dmalk@geo.haifa.ac.il)
*
Author for correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Archaeological investigations of ‘desert kites’ in south Israel show them to have been animal traps of considerable sophistication and capacity, constructed in the Early Bronze Age or earlier. Extensive stone-wall arms gather in gazelles from their habitual trails and canalise them into a sunken enclosure, cunningly hidden from view of the galloping herd until it was too late…

Keywords

IsraelLevantEarly Bronze Agehuntingtrappinganimal management
Type
Research articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 326 , December 2010 , pp. 976 - 992
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aharoni, I. 1946. Memories of a Hebrew zoologist. Tel-Aviv: Am Oved Publishers (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1972. Desert kites. Sal'it 1: 217–22 (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1982. Samar, excavation of a desert kite. Excavations and Surveys in Israel 1: 103–104.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1984. Ancient cult sites in the Negev and Sinai deserts. Tel Aviv 11: 115–31.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 1998. Settlement, agriculture, and paleoclimate in the ‘Uvda Valley, southern Negev desert, 6th–3rd millennia BC, in Issar, A. & Brown, N. (ed.) Water, environment and society in times of climate change: 147–202. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 2001. Sacred stones in the desert. Biblical Archaeology Review 27: 30–41.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 2002. Studies in the material and spiritual culture of the Negev and Sinai populations, during the 6th–3rd millennia BC. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 2006. Settlement pattern in the ‘Araba Valley and the adjacent desert areas, a view from the Eilat region, in Bienkowski, P. & Galor, K. (ed.) Crossing the Rift: 51–74. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Avner, U. 2008. Eilat region, in Stern, A. (ed.) The new encyclopedia of archaeological excavation in the Holy Land, Volume 5: 1704–711. Winona Lake (IN): Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
Babenko, A. & Khassanov, B.. 2007. The absolute chronology of the zoogenic deposits from the Negev Desert (Israel). Geochronometria 28: 47–53.Google Scholar
Bar-Oz, G., Avner, U., Malkinson, D. & Nadel, D.. 2009. The Negev (southern Levant) desert kites: a preliminary report. Antiquity: http://www.antiquity. ac.uk/projgall/bar-oz319/ (accessed 20 August 2010).Google Scholar
Barth, E.K. 1983. Trapping reindeer in south Norway. Antiquity 57: 109–115.Google Scholar
Betts, A.V.G. 1998. Dhuweilla: area survey, in Betts, A.V.G. (ed.) The Harra and the Hamad: excavations and surveys in eastern Jordan: 191–205. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press.Google Scholar
Betts, A.V.G. & Yagodin, V.N.. 2000. A new look at desert kites, in Stager, L.E., Greene, J.A. & Cogan, M.D. (ed.) The archaeology of Jordan and beyond: essays in honor to James A. Sauer: 31–43. Winona Lake (IN): Eisenbrauns.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: the OxCal Program. Radiocarbon (2): 425–30.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2001. Development of the radiocarbon program OxCal. Radiocarbon (2A): 355–63.Google Scholar
Bruner, U. 2009. Les piéges de chasse antiques au Yémen. Chroniques Yéménites 15: 29–34.Google Scholar
Burckhardt, J.L. 1831. Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys. London: Kessinger.Google Scholar
Coon, C.S. 1976. The hunting people. London: Nick Lyons.Google Scholar
Danin, A. 1995. Man and the natural environment, in Levy, T.E. (ed.) The archaeology of society in the Holy Land: 24–40. London & Washington (DC): Leicester University Press.Google Scholar
Dolev, A. & Perevolotsky, A.. 2004. Vertebrates in Israel: the red book. Jerusalem: Gefen.Google Scholar
Echallier, J.C. & Braemer, F.. 1995. Nature et functions des ‘desert kites’, donées et hypothéses. Paléorient 21: 35–63.Google Scholar
Frison, G.C. (ed.) 1991. Prehistoric hunters of the high plains. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Frison, G.C. 2004. Survival by hunting: prehistoric human predators and animal prey. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.Google Scholar
Frumkin, A. & Elitzur, Y.. 2002. Historic Dead Sea level fluctuation calibrated with geological and archaeological evidence. Quaternary Research 57: 334–42.Google Scholar
Goldreich, Y. 2003. The climate of Israel: observation, research and application. New York: Kluwer Academic.Google Scholar
Helms, S. & Betts, A.V.G.. 1987. The desert ‘kites’ of the Badiyat Esh-Sham and north Arabia. Paléorient 13: 41–67.Google Scholar
Hocket, B. & Murphy, T.W.. 2009 Antiquity of communal hunting in the north-central Great Basin. American Antiquity 74: 708–734.Google Scholar
Holzer, A. & Avner, U. 2000. Har Shahmon (desert kite). Excavations and Surveys in Israel 109: 165.Google Scholar
Holzer, A., Avner, U., Porat, N. & Kolska-Horwitz, L.. 2010. Desert kites in the Negev and northeast Sinai: their function, chronology and ecology. ournal of Arid Environments 74(7): 806–817.Google Scholar
Kobusiewicz, M. 1999. Excavations at Sinai-10: the kite site, Romythi locality, in Eddy, F.W. & Wendorf, F. (ed.) An archaeological investigation of the Central Sinai, Egypt: 173–80. Boulder (CO): University of Colorado Press.Google Scholar
Legge, A.J. & Rowley-Conwy, P.A. 1987. Gazelle killing in Stone Age Syria. Scientific American 257: 76–83.Google Scholar
Legge, A.J. 2000. The exploitation of animals, in Moore, A.M.T., Hillman, G.C. & Legge, A.J. (ed.) Village on the Euphrates: 423–71. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Levy, T.E., Adams, R.B., Hauptmann, A., Prange, M., Schmitt-Strecker, S. & Najjar, M.. 2002. Early copper age metallurgy: a newly discovered copper manufactory in southern Jordan. Antiquity 76: 425–37.Google Scholar
Maitland, F. Lt. 1927. The ‘works of the old men’ in Arabia. Antiquity 1: 197–203.Google Scholar
Mendelssohn, H. & Yom-Tov, Y.. 1999. Fauna Palestina: mammalia of Israel. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Science and Humanities.Google Scholar
Meshel, Z. 1974. New data about the ‘desert kites’. Tel-Aviv 1: 129–43.Google Scholar
Meshel, Z. 2000. Desert kites in Sinai and southern Negev, in Meshel, Z. (ed.) Sinai: excavations and studies (British Archaeological Reports International series 876): 121–42. Oxford: Archaeopress.Google Scholar
Migowski, C., Stine, M., Prasad, S., Negendank, J. & Agnon, A.. 2006. Holocene climate variability and cultural evolution in the Near East from the Dead Sea sedimentary record. Quaternary Research 66: 421–31.Google Scholar
Musil, A. 1928. The manners and customs of the Rwala Beduins. London: Ams Pr Inc.Google Scholar
O'SHEA, J.M. & Meadows, G.A.. 2009. Evidence for early hunters beneath the Great Lakes. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 106: 10120–23.Google Scholar
Porat, N., Avner, U., Bar-Oz, G., Malkinson, D. & Nadel, D.. 2009. OSL dating of desert kites at Samar, southern Negev, Israel. Paper presented at the UK luminescence and ESR dating research meeting, 26-28 August 2009, London.Google Scholar
Perevolotsky, A. & Baharav, D.. 1991. The distribution of ‘desert kites’ in eastern Sinai and sub-regional carrying capacity. Journal of Arid Environments 20: 239–49.Google Scholar
Rees, L.W.B. 1929. The Transjordan desert. Antiquity 3: 389–407.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., Mccormac, F.G., Manning, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., Van Der Plicht, J. & Weyhenmeyer, C.E.. 2004. IntCal04: Calibration issue. Radiocarbon 3: 1029–58.Google Scholar
Rosen, B. & Perevolotsky, A.. 1998. The function of ‘desert kites’ – hunting or livestock husbandry? Paléorient 24: 107–111.Google Scholar
Rosen, S.A., Savinetsky, A.B., Plakht, Y., Kissleva, N.K., Khassanov, B.F., Pereladov, A.M. & Haiman, M.. 2005. Dung in the desert: preliminary results of the Negev Holocene Ecology Project. Current Anthropology 46: 317–27.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, B. 1967. Archaeological sites in the southern ‘Araba and the Eilat Mountain, in Ron, Z. (ed.) Survey of the Eiloth region: 283–331. Eiloth (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Rothenberg, B. (ed.) 1990. The ancient metallurgy of copper: researches in the Araba 1959-1984, Volume 2. London: Intl Specialized Book Service Inc.Google Scholar
Rothenberg, B. 1995. A summary of thirty years of archaeological and archaeometallurgical field and research concerning the Timna Valley and its surroundings, in Aviram, Y. (ed.) Eilat: studies In the archaeology, history and geography of Eilat and the ‘Araba: 1–45. Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Van Berg, P.-L., Vander Linden, M., Lemaitre, S., Cauwe, N. & Picalause, V.. 2004. Desert-kites of the Hemma Plateau (Hassake, Syria). Paléorient 30: 89–99.Google Scholar
Yagodin, V.N. 1998. ‘Arrow-shaped’ structures in the Aralo-Caspian steppe, in Betts, A.V.G. (ed.) The Harra and the Hamad: excavations and surveys in eastern Jordan: 207–223. Sheffield: Continuum International Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Yizhaq, M., Mintz, G., Khalaily, H., Weiner, S. & Boaretto, E.. 2005. Quality controlled radiocarbon dating of bones and charcoal from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) of Motza (Israel). Radiocarbon 47(2): 193–206.Google Scholar