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Fieldwork details and information by Dr Claire Rambeau - Palaeoenvironmental sub-project

Reconstructing palaeoenvironmental conditions (climate change, water availability, sedimentary features) in Jordan during the past ~20 000 years, in relation with human occupation (sedentarism versus nomadism). My work includes datations (mostly U-series ), isotopic composition of carbonates (C, O) and general sedimentological observations. I am currently focusing on four sub-topics:

- travertine series from the Dead Sea eastern shore (past ~20 000 years): changes in environmental conditions (rainfall, Tº), present-day travertine systems

- Beidha travertines (<16 550 - ~ 8 450 years BP; in the vicinity of Nabatean and PPNB settlements)

- Wadi Faynan travertines (in the vicinity of with PPNA to Byzantine settlements)

- carbonate precipitations in archaeological buildings (all over Jordan, Roman to Islamic archaeological sites).

Field work

8-13 July 2006

Sites: Ain Ghazal, Jerash, Beidha, Wadi Faynan, Dead Sea shore, Jordan River

Topic: Overview of fieldwork possibilities

11-28 October 2006

Sites: Dead Sea shore (1,2), Jilat (3,5), Beidha (1,5), Humayma (3,4), Ma'an (3,4), Bshir (3), Ziza (3), Qastal (3,4), Fadayn (3), Hallabat (3)

Topic:

(1) Sampling of travertine series

(2) Sampling of modern carbonate precipitations in springs

(3) Sampling of carbonate crusts, mortar and plaster inside cisterns, aqueducts, reservoirs, dams (archaeological sites, Nabatean to Islamic periods)

(4) Sampling of carbonate precipitations inside aqueducts, water channels, gutter shoots (archaeological sites, Nabatean to Islamic periods)

(5) Sampling of other sediments related to archaeological sites - sedimentological history

Conferences

4-8 December 2006

RST 2006, Dijon, France

Title: Quaternary environmental conditions of Jordan and adjacent areas

(~20 000 BCE - present day): a multi-proxy reconstruction (poster)

Authors: Claire M.C Rambeau, Stuart Black, Bruce W. Sellwood

Abstract

Water supply is a key resource for any living being, and the proximity of water sources has most probably played a major role in the development of early human settlement. A general change towards drier conditions, in semi-arid environments, can cause springs and streams to periodically or definitively dry up, ultimately forcing population to abandon permanent settlements and to turn towards a nomadic way of life. Wetter conditions, may have enhanced the development of farming communities and further social and economic developments. At present, water supply and management are still of the uttermost importance in the Middle East, and are at the centre of economic, political and health concerns.

The Levant, and more particularly the Jordan Valley, represents an ideal context for studying the impact of late Quaternary climate change, and triggered variations in water supplies, on past human settlements. The Levant is crossed by the boundary between arid and semi-arid environmental conditions. This boundary has moved throughout the past, and the succession of different climatic conditions is likely to be registered in sediments deposited along the Jordan Valley and in adjacent areas during Quaternary times. Therefore, a detailed study of such sediments, using appropriate methods, will allow us to reconstruct past variations in environmental conditions.

A particular focus is given to travertine deposits outcropping in various sites in Jordan, especially along the Dead Sea shore. Travertine deposits document the intermittent activity of springs. They are composed of laminated carbonates, each lamination corresponding to a short period (maybe a year) of deposition. A selection of samples was collected from major groups of travertine deposits, which probably cover most of the Late Quaternary period. These carbonates are currently being dated and analysed for their isotopic (C, O) composition. Stable isotope ratios from the laminites will help to reconstruct variations in environmental conditions (e.g., identification of drier and wetter periods).

Information obtained from these carbonates will be integrated with other available data sets (e.g. sedimentological and botanical studies, marine records, lake levels, paleosols evidences) on a broader regional scale. This review will allow us to draw palaeo-climatic maps of the Levant area for selected time periods (e.g., periods of major changes in human settlements), therefore helping to refine palaeo-climatic models.

Fieldwork details and information by Dr Sam Smith - Archaeological sub-project

The primary focus of my work has been to develop methodologies for relating palaeoclimate data from observed proxy records and General Circulation Models (GCMs) to changes in palaeo-hydrological systems. From here, the task is to assess the likely impact of any such changes on the potential for prehistoric human settlement and activity in Jordan. A key feature of this work is to examine the variety of human responses to climatic and hydrological change in a range of differing social, technological and economic settings.

Working closely with other sub projects of WLC, particularly hydrology, we are attempting to apply these methodologies to several archaeological ‘case studies’. Presently, we are concentrating in three key areas:

1) The Early Bronze Age 1 (5600-5000BP) settlement of Jawa.

2) Long terms trends in the Holocene settlement of Wadi Faynan.

3) The potential role of climatic change on the earliest (Pre Pottery Neolithic) farming communities.

Field work

In April/May 2006 I undertook a month long field season in Jordan with various members of the WLC team. This involved:

- Visit to Jawa

- Study of the present day hydrological regime in Wadi Faynan

- Excavation of 10 small trenches in a archaeological field system in Wadi Faynan. The aim of this work was to collect sediment samples for geochemical analyses and to collect samples for phytolith analysis. We hope that these analyses will provide new insights into the methods of irrigation employed in Wadi Faynan, allowing us to develop models of potential population levels which the field system could have supported.

Field work was made possible through the help and support of the Council for British Research in the Levant, the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. Work in Wadi Faynan was undertaken with the kind cooperation of Prof. G. Barker ( University of Cambridge), Dr P. Newson ( University of Durham) and, as always, the help and support of the local Bedouin people.

Conferences

British Association of Near Eastern Archaeologists (BANEA) conference. January 2006

Papers presented

‘Recent research in the Wadi Faynan’ invited paper presented as part of Current Archaeological Research Seminar Series, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University.

Publications

BANEA newsletter

WLC newsletter

Whitehead et al. in prep. Modelling of Hydrology and Population Levels at Bronze Age Jawa, Northern Jordan: A Monte Carlo Approach to Cope with Uncertainty.

Fieldwork details and information by Dr Andrew Wade - Hydrology sub-project

I am working on the development and application of hydrological models to assess water availability and requirement in three catchments under present-day conditions, 100 years hence and for key archaeological periods throughout the Holocene. The three catchments are: Wadi Hasa, Wadi Faynan and Wadi Ragil, which encompasses Jawa. The assessment is made within the context of climate and land management change, and the results are integrated into the work of the archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, meteorological and development sub-projects.

Field work

23 – 27 October 2004. The purpose of the visit, made at the start of the project, was familiarisation with the potential study sites and other sites of general relevance to the project. The sites were located in the north-west and south-west of Jordan and included Jerash, King Telah Dam, the Dead Sea and Wadi Faynan. A link with the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation was also established at a reception hosted by CBRL in Amman.

22-27 April 2006. The purpose of this field trip to Jordan was to visit the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, Amman to maintain links and to undertake hydrological fieldwork in Wadi Faynan. Specifically the baseflow in Wadi Ghuywar was gauged and estimates of flood flows in the Wadis Ghuywar and Dana were made using open-channel methods.

Conferences

Whitehead PG, Smith SJ, Wade AJ, Sellwood BW. Hydrology and Climate Change at Jawa: A Preliminary Stochastic Modelling Study to link Historic Water Resources and Population Levels. British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology. Edinburgh, January, 2006.

Publications

Whitehead PG et al. Modelling of Hydrology and Population Levels at Bronze Age Jawa, Northern Jordan: A Monte Carlo Approach to Cope with Uncertainty. J. Archaeological Science.