HISTORY OF RESEARCH. Occasional reports of prehistoric sites in the Negev and of adjacent areas of. Sinai were first documented in the 1920s, although it ...
NEGEV THE PREHISTORIC PERIODS HISTORY OF RESEARCH Occasional reports of prehistoric sites in the Negev and of adjacent areas of Sinai were first documented in the 1920s, although it was generally held that the semiarid and arid deserts of the southern Levant were peripheral to mainstream developments in the prehistory of the Near East. This view was dispelled only following the instigation of a systematic, long-term, multidisciplinary research project between 1969 and 1980 by an expedition from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, under the direction of A. E. Marks. The original impetus for the project was aimed at documenting connections between the earlier investigated prehistoric record of the Mediterranean regions of the Levant and the more recently documented and complex events in Nubian Egypt, to which the Negev and Sinai form a natural land bridge. For a combination of pragmatic and other reasons, Marks focused on two areas in the central Negev highlands: on 'Avdat, in the area around Nahal Zin, where the major springs in the Negev are concentrated ('En Mor, 'En 'Avdat, 'En 'Aqev, and 'En Ziq); and on the highest elevations in the Negev highlands, at Mount Harif (1,012 m above sea level) and on the surrounding plateaus. The project, which continued for a dozen years, provided conclusive evidence for intensive and repeated occupation of the area throughout much of prehistory, most particularly the Middle Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, and Pre-Pottery Neolithic periods. Many of the sites provided materials datable by carbon-14, making thechronological framework sound. Several sites have provided a series of discrete occupation horizons to enhance the chronological sequence further, without the inherent dangers of mixed levels. In particular, the nature of the site complex at Boqer Tahtit enabled documentation of the transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic by means of the first systematic application of lithic conjoins in the Levant. The site remains central to understanding the nature of this major shift in human lifeways. The project also reflected the potential for locating prehistoric sites in such sparsely vegetated areas, where subsequent anthropogenic disturbances to the landscape were minimal. It contributed, furthermore, to debunking thewidely held notion that prehistoric occupations were commonly limited to caves o r rock shelters. The associated geomorphological and palynological studies documented considerable climatic fluctuations in the course of the later Quaternary. At about the same time, reconnaissance surveys were undertaken by T. Noy, F. Burian, E. Friedman, 0 . Bar-Yosef, and J. L. Phillips in various areas of the western Negev lowland dunes, resulting in the discovery of numerous Epipaleolithic and Neolithic sites. A major project was subsequently initiated at Gebel Maghara in northern Sinai, where Upper Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic sites were documented in abundance. Somewhat later, the lower reaches of Nahal Besor were also investigated by I. Gilead. In the northern Negev, parts of Nahal Shiqma were systematically surveyed by M. Lamdan and A. Ronen, as was the area around Kissufim. Another team also studied the Kadesh-Barnea area. Parts of the western Negev lowlands were surveyed by A. H. Simmons, while W. Taute surveyed and tested sites in the northern Arabah. A survey was conducted in the Yattirarea, directed by F. A. Valla and 0. Bar-Yosef and later by I. Gilead in the Lahav region. Theredeployment of the Israel Defense Forcesin thewakeofthe 1979peace agreement with Egypt provided afurther impetus to research. The Prehistory Unit of the Emergency Archaeological Survey of the Negev, under the direction of A. N. Goring-Morris and in cooperation with A. Gopher, I. Gilead, and S. A. Rosen, conducted systematic surveys and numerous salvage excavations in the following areas: Nahal Nessana-Nahal Lavan; Holot Shunera and Nahal Sekher; the Nahal Besor-Nahal Beersheba confluence (Hamifgash); Ramat Matred; H a r Qeren and the upper reaches of Nahal Besor and Nahal Lavan; Mount Harif (Har Harif); and 'Ein Qadis. Other units of the Emergency Survey have also systematically surveyed for prehistoric sites-in the Makhtesh Ramon area, and farther south in the 'Uvda Valley.
RESEARCH RESULTS The analysis and interpretation of the vast quantities of data that have been gathered in the last fifteen to twenty years are only partial; most publications are only preliminary reports. Nevertheless, although the various interpretations of the material remain subject to considerable debate, a more or less comprehensive picture of developments emerges. In general, for much of the prehistoric record, the Negev and large areas of the Sinai Peninsula operated as part of a single province. At times this appears to have been self-contained; at others, connections with areas to the more northerly Mediterranean regions and/or to the east with Transjordan are discernible. The evidence for connections with North Africafor most periods is rare and, at best, equivocal.
Unfortunately, organic materials are often poorly preserved: so thar environmental studies in the region must be based primarily on geomorphological evidence, which has focused most particularly on the 'Avdat area of Nahal Zin, the western Negev dunes, and neighboring areas of Sinai. .I general picture of alternating drier and more humid episodes is document& in the course of the Pleistocene, with phases of major wadi agg-radation and downcutting, spring activity, paleosols, the accumulation of aeolian l e s s . and, more recently, large dune fields.
LOWER PALEOLITHIC Although the Negev and Sinai remain the most likely routes for early connections between Africa and Eurasia, subsequent geomorphological dew!opments have made only a few such exposures available. Chopping roo!
