Valley in Jordan inhabited and irrigated for 13,000 years

PhysOrg ^ | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 | Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research

[SunkenCiv]

Dutch researcher Eva Kaptijn succeeded in discovering -- based on 100,000 finds -- that the Zerqa Valley in Jordan had been successively inhabited and irrigated for more than 13,000 years. But it was not just communities that built irrigation systems: the irrigation systems also built communities... she has been applying an intensive field exploration technique: 15 metres apart, the researchers would walk forward for 50 metres. On the outward leg, they'd pick up all the earthenware and, on the way back, all of the other material. This resulted in more than 100,000 finds, varying from about 13,000 years to just a few decades old... The area where she undertook her research is also called the Zerqa Triangle; it is bounded by the River Zerqa and forms part of the Jordan Valley. The area covers roughly 72 square kilometres. Kaptijn discovered that the triangle had been inhabited, on and off, for thousands of years, but that this habitation was always highly dependent on the irrigation methods used by those who lived there. While the soil in the valley is very rich, there was usually not enough rainfall to cultivate plants without some additional irrigation... Kaptijn discovered that the type of irrigation system could result in a community of internally egalitarian tribes, with these tribes being linked to each other in a strict, hierarchical order. At other times, the valley was actually dominated by a large-scale, almost capitalist cultivation of sugar cane.

[SunkenCiv]

• Digital map reveals Israeli archaeology November 20, 2009

[SunkenCiv]

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[dog breath]

Interesting post as usual. It is intriguing how our technology invents who we are, as much as we invent the technology.

[Uncle Miltie]

Hey, Muslims! Love what you've done with the place!

[Fred Nerks]

In recent years, five enclosures were found in the Jordan Valley and excavated, all designed in the shape of a human foot. The sites are believed to date back to the outset of the Iron Age I (the 13th-12th centuries BCE). (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Haifa)

Archaeological Discovery In Jordan Valley

[bunkerhill7]

13,000 years of pot

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[SunkenCiv]

That’s why the Arabs are so hot to get the Land of Israel back — they want it to look like that.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, civilization was made possible by agriculture.