The Ancient Agricultural Remains of the Central Negeb: Methodology and Dating Criteria

In BULLETIN 153 the present writer ventured a more plausible theory regarding the teleildt el-'anab than previously suggested: namely, that the conical heaps and gravel mounds were the result of excavations of pits and ditches in which vines were mainly planted and that the " flowerpot" heaps found on the very stony hammadas were built to put a sterile area to the same use.1 He supported this theory by citing possible analogies in the Mediterranean region; of particular significance were the citations from Apulia where aerial photographs revealed patterns similar to those found in the Negeb. He also entered demurrers against the theories for which parallels could not be found elsewhere in the ancient or modern world and against those views which pictured the desert farmer as a soil and hydrographical engineer. President Glueck in BULLETIN 155 continued to support the efficientrunoff theory advanced by a team of scientists from the Hebrew University. This theory maintains that the ancient farmer cleared stone from the surface of the hammada-covered slopes so as to decrease the rate of infiltration and to increase surface runoff to the terraced lands and cisterns below.2 Early in 1959, members of the Hebrew University and of the Israeli Soil Conservation Department conducted a series of experiments to prove the validity of the efficient-runoff theory. Although the results have not yet been published, a communication reached me in July of 1959 from