This paper explores long-term trends in human population and vegetation change in the Levant from the early to the late Holocene in order to assess when and how human impact has shaped the region’s landscapes over the millennia. To do so, we employed multiple proxies and compared archaeological, pollen and palaeoclimate data within a multi-scalar approach in order to assess how Holocene landscape dynamics change at different geographical scales. We based our analysis on 14 fossil pollen sequences and applied a hierarchical agglomerative clustering and community classification in order to define groups of vegetation types (e.g. grassland, wetland, woodland, etc.). Human impact on the landscape has been assessed by the analysis of pollen indicator groups. Archaeological settlement data and Summed Probability Distribution (SPD) of radiocarbon dates have been used to reconstruct long-term demographic trends. In this study, for the first time, the evolution of the human population is estimated statistically and compared with environmental proxies for assessing the interplay of biotic and abiotic factors in shaping the Holocene landscapes in the Levant.
AlcockSE (2007) The Eastern Mediterranean. In: ScheidelWMorrisISallerRP (eds) The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 671–697.
2.
AliN (2014) Olive oil production in a semi-arid area: Evidence from Roman Tell es-Sukhnah, Jordan. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 14: 337–348.
3.
AsoutiEFullerDQ (2012) From foraging to farming in the Southern Levant: The development of Epipalaeolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic plant management strategies. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany21(2): 149–162.
4.
AsoutiEKabukcuCWhiteCEet al. (2015) Early Holocene woodland vegetation and human impacts in the arid zone of the southern Levant. The Holocene25(10): 1565–1580.
5.
BarD (2004) Population, settlement and economy in Late Roman and Byzantine Palestine (70–641 AD). Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies67(3): 307–320.
6.
Bar-MatthewsMAyalonAGilmourMet al. (2003) Sea–land oxygen isotopic relationships from planktonic foraminifera and speleothems in the Eastern Mediterranean region and their implication for paleorainfall during interglacial intervals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta67(17): 3181–3199.
7.
Bar-MatthewsMAyalonAKaufmanAet al. (1999) The Eastern Mediterranean paleoclimate as a reflection of regional events: Soreq cave, Israel. Earth and Planetary Science Letters166(1–2): 85–95.
8.
Bar-YosefO (2002) The Natufian culture and the early Neolithic: Social and economic trends in southwestern Asia. In: BelwoodPRenfrewC (eds) Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis. Cambridge: University of Cambridge, pp. 113–126.
9.
Bar-YosefOBelfer-CohenA (2002) Facing environmental crisis: Societal and cultural changes at the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Holocene in the Levant. In: CappersTJBottemaS (eds) The Dawn of Farming in the Near East. Berlin: Ex Oriente, pp. 55–66.
10.
BesnardGKhadariBNavascuésMet al. (2013) The complex history of the olive tree: From Late Quaternary diversification of Mediterranean lineages to primary domestication in the northern Levant. Proceedings of the Royal Society B280(1756): 20122833.
11.
BettsA (2013) The Southern Levant (Transjordan) during the Neolithic Period. In: SteinerMLKillebrewAE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 171–182.
12.
BevanAColledgeSFullerDet al. (2017) Holocene fluctuations in human population demonstrate repeated links to food production and climate. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences114: E10524–E10531.
BienertHD (2004) The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) in Jordan: First steps towards proto-urban societies? In: BienertH-DGebelH-GKNeefR (eds) Central Settlements in Neolithic Jordan: Proceedings of a Symposium held in Wadi Musa, Jordan, 21st–25th of July, 1997. Berlin: Ex Oriente, pp. 21–40.
15.
BorrellFJunnoABarcelóJA (2015) Synchronous environmental and cultural change in the emergence of agricultural economies 10,000 years ago in the Levant. PLoS ONE10(8): e0134810.
16.
BraunE (2012) On some south Levantine Early Bronze Age ceramic ‘wares’ and styles. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly144: 4–31.
17.
BroshiM (1979) The population of western Palestine in the Roman-Byzantine period. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research236: 1–10.
18.
ButlinRARobertsN (eds) (1995) Ecological Relations in Historical Times: Human Impact and Adaptation. Oxford: Blackwell.
19.
CheddadiRKhaterC (2016) Climate change since the last glacial period in Lebanon and the persistence of Mediterranean species. Quaternary Science Reviews150: 146–157.
20.
ChengHSinhaAVerheydenSet al. (2015) The climate variability in northern Levant over the past 20,000 years. Geophysical Research Letters42(20): 8641–8650.
21.
ClarkeJBrooksNBanningEBet al. (2016) Climatic changes and social transformations in the Near East and North Africa during the ‘long’ 4th millennium BC: A comparative study of environmental and archaeological evidence. Quaternary Science Reviews136: 96–121.
22.
ColledgeS (1998) Identifying pre-domestication cultivation using multivariate analysis. In: DamaniaABValkounJWillcoxGet al. (eds) The Origins of Agriculture and Crop Domestication. Rome: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, pp. 121–131.
23.
ColledgeSConollyJShennanSet al. (2004) Archaeobotanical evidence for the spread of farming in the Eastern Mediterranean. Current Anthropology45(S4): 35–58.
24.
CordovaC (2007) Millennial Landscape Change in Jordan: Geoarchaeology and Cultural Ecology. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
25.
CremaER (2012) Modelling temporal uncertainty in archaeological analysis. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory19(3): 440–461.
26.
CremaERBevanALakeM (2010) A probabilistic framework for assessing spatio-temporal point patterns in the archaeological record. Journal of Archaeological Science37: 1118–1130.
27.
CremaERHabuJKobayashiKet al. (2016) Summed probability distribution of 14C dates suggests regional divergences in the population dynamics of the Jomon Period in Eastern Japan. PLoS ONE11(4): e0154809.
28.
DaninA (1988) Flora and vegetation of Israel and adjacent areas. In: Yom TovYTchernovE (eds) The Zoogeography of Israel. Dordrecht: Junk Publishers, pp. 129–159.
29.
DavisBASZanonMCollinsPet al. (2013) The European modern pollen database (EMPD) project. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany22: 521–530.
30.
DjamaliMAkhaniHAndrieu-PonelVet al. (2010) Indian Summer Monsoon variations could have affected the early Holocene woodland expansion in the Near East. The Holocene20: 813–820.
31.
DrennanRDBerreyCAPetersonCE (2015) Regional Settlement Demography in Archaeology. New York: Eliot Werner Publications.
32.
EnzelYBar-YosefO (eds) (2017) Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change, and Humans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
FalconerSESavageSH (2009) The Bronze Age political landscape of the Southern Levant. In: FalconerSERedmanCL (eds) Polities and Power: Archaeological Perspectives on the Landscapes of Early States. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, pp. 125–151.
34.
FallPLSoto-BerelovMRidderEet al. (2018) Toward a grand narrative of Bronze Age vegetation change and social dynamics in the Southern Levant. In: LevyTEJonesI (eds) Cyber-Archaeology and Grand Narratives: Digital Technology and Deep-Time Perspectives on Culture Change in the Middle East. New York: Springer, pp. 91–110.
35.
FinkelsteinI (1993) Environmental archaeology and social history: Demographic and economic aspects of the monarchic period. In: BiranAAviramJParis-ShadurA (eds) Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990: Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Biblical Archaeology. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, pp. 56–66.
36.
FinkelsteinI (1994) The emergence of Israel: A phase in the cyclic history of Canaan in the third and second millennia BCE. In: FinkelstenINa’amanN (eds) From Nomadism to Monarchy: Archaeological and Historical Aspects of Early Israel. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, pp. 150–178.
37.
FinkelsteinI (1995) The great transformation: The ‘conquest’ of the highlands frontiers and the rise of the territorial states. In: LevyTE (ed.) The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. Leicester: Leicester University Press, pp. 349–365.
38.
FinkelsteinI (1996) Ethnicity and origin of the Iron I settlers in the highlands of Canaan: Can the real Israel stand up?The Biblical Archaeologist59(4): 198–212.
39.
FinkelsteinI (1998) The rise of early Israel archaeology and long-term history. In: ShmuelAOrenED (eds) The Origin of Early Israel, Current Debate. Jerusalem: Posner & Sons Ltd., pp. 7–39.
40.
FinkelsteinI (2013) The Forgotten Kingdom. The Archaeology and History of Northern Israel. Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature.
41.
FinkelsteinIGophnaR (1993) Settlement, demographic, and economic patterns in the highlands of Palestine in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze periods and the beginning of urbanism. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research289: 1–22.
42.
FinkelsteinILanggutD (2014) Dry climate in the Middle Bronze I and its impact on settlement patterns in the Levant and beyond: New pollen evidence. Journal of Near Eastern Studies73(2): 219–234.
43.
FinkelsteinILanggutD (2018) Climate, settlement history, and olive cultivation in the Iron Age Southern Levant. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research379: 153–169.
44.
FinkelsteinIPiasetzkyE (2010) The Iron I/IIA transition in the Levant: A reply to Mazar and Bronk Ramsey and a new perspective. Radiocarbon52(4): 1667–1680.
45.
FinkelsteinIPiasetzkyE (2011) The Iron Age chronology debate: Is the gap narrowing?Near Eastern Archaeology74(1): 50–54.
46.
FinlaysonB (2013) Introduction to the Levant during the Neolithic Period. In: SteinerMLKillebrewAE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 124–133.
47.
FinlaysonBWarrenG (2010) Changing Natures: Hunter-Gatherers, First Farmers, and the Modern World. London: Duckworth.
48.
FyfeRMWoodbridgeJRobertsN (2018) Trajectories of change in Mediterranean Holocene vegetation through classification of pollen data. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany27: 351–364.
49.
GaliliEStanleyDJSharvitJet al. (1997) Evidence for earliest olive-oil production in submerged settlements off the Carmel coast, Israel. Journal of Archaeological Science24(12): 1141–1150.
50.
GaliliEWeinstein-EvronMZoharyD (1989) Appearance of olives in submerged Neolithic sites along the Carmel coast. Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society22: 95–97.
51.
GevaH (2014) Jerusalem’s population in antiquity: A minimalist view. Tel Aviv41(2): 131–160.
52.
GieseckeTDavisBBrewerSet al. (2014) Towards mapping the late Quaternary vegetation change of Europe. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany23(1): 75–86.
53.
GophnaRPortugaliJ (1988) Settlement and demographic processes in Israel’s coastal plain from the Chalcolithic to the Middle Bronze Age. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research269: 11–28.
54.
Goring-MorrisANBelfer-CohenA (2010) ‘Great expectations’, or, the inevitable collapse of the Early Neolithic in the Near East. In: BandyMSFoxJR (eds) Becoming Villagers: Comparing Early Village Societies. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, pp. 62–77.
55.
Goring-MorrisANBelfer-CohenA (2013) The Southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Neolithic period. In: SteinerMLKillebrewAE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 148–169.
56.
GreenbergR (2002) Early Urbanizations in the Levant: A Regional Narrative. London: Leicester University Press.
57.
GreenbergR (2017) No collapse: Transmutations of Early Bronze Age urbanism in the Southern Levant. In: HöflmayerF (ed.) The Late Third Millennium in the Ancient Near East: Chronology, C14 and Climate Change; Papers from the Oriental Institute Seminar Held at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 7–8 March 2014. Chicago, IL: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, pp. 33–60.
58.
GreenbergRKeinanA (2009) Israeli Archaeological Activity in the West Bank 1967–2007: A Sourcebook. Jerusalem: Ostracon.
59.
HajarLHaïdar-BoustaniMKhaterCet al. (2010) Environmental changes in Lebanon during the Holocene: Man vs. climate impacts. Journal of Arid Environments74(7): 746–755.
60.
HajarLKhaterCCheddadiR (2008) Vegetation changes during the late Pleistocene and Holocene in Lebanon: A pollen record from the Bekaa Valley. The Holocene18(7): 1089–1099.
61.
HorwitzLK (1989) Sedentism in the Early Bronze IV: A faunal perspective. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research275: 15–25.
62.
HorwitzLKTchernovEDucosPet al. (2000) Animal domestication in the southern Levant. Paléorient25: 63–80.
63.
IssarASZoharM (2004) Climate Change: Environment and Civilization in the Middle East. Berlin: Springer.
64.
IzdebskiAHolmgrenKWeibergEet al. (2016a) Realising consilience: How better communication between archaeologists, historians and natural scientists can transform the study of past climate change in the Mediterranean. Quaternary Science Reviews136: 5–22.
65.
IzdebskiAPickettJRobertsNet al. (2016b) The environmental, archaeological and historical evidence for regional climatic changes and their societal impacts in the Eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity. Quaternary Science Reviews136: 189–208.
66.
KadoshDSivanDKutielHet al. (2004) A late quaternary paleoenvironmental sequence from Dor, Carmel coastal plain, Israel. Palynology28(1): 143–157.
67.
KaniewskiDGuiotJVan CampoE (2015) Drought and societal collapse 3200 years ago in the Eastern Mediterranean: A review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change6(4): 369–382.
68.
KaniewskiDMarrinerNIlanDet al. (2017) Climate change and water management in the biblical city of Dan. Science Advances3(11): e1700954.
69.
KaniewskiDPaulissenEVan CampoEet al. (2008) Middle East coastal ecosystem response to middle-to-Late-Holocene abrupt climate changes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences105(37): 13941–13946.
70.
KaniewskiDPaulissenEVan CampoEet al. (2010) Late second–early first millennium BC abrupt climate changes in coastal Syria and their possible significance for the history of the Eastern Mediterranean. Quaternary Research74(2): 207–215.
71.
KaniewskiDVan CampoEBoiyTet al. (2012) Primary domestication and early uses of the emblematic olive tree: Palaeobotanical, historical and molecular evidence from the Middle East. Biological Reviews87(4): 885–899.
72.
KaniewskiDVan CampoEMorhangeCet al. (2013) Early urban impact on Mediterranean coastal environments. Scientific Reports3: 3540.
73.
KaniewskiDVan CampoEMorhangeCet al. (2014) Vulnerability of Mediterranean ecosystems to long-term changes along the coast of Israel. PLoS ONE9(7): e102090.
74.
KolářJMacekMTkáčPet al. (2016) Spatio-temporal modelling as a way to reconstruct patterns of past human activities. Archaeometry58(3): 513–528.
75.
KuijtIGoring-MorrisN (2002) Foraging, farming, and social complexity in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant: A review and synthesis. Journal of World Prehistory16(4): 361–440.
76.
LanggutD (2018) Late Quaternary Nile flows as recorded in the Levantine Basin: The palynological evidence. Quaternary International464: 273–284.
77.
LanggutDAdamsMJFinkelsteinI (2016) Climate, settlement patterns and olive horticulture in the Southern Levant during the Early Bronze and Intermediate Bronze Ages (c. 3600–1950 BC). Levant48(2): 117–134.
78.
LanggutDAlmogi-LabinABar-MatthewsMet al. (2011) Vegetation and climate changes in the South Eastern Mediterranean during the Last Glacial-Interglacial cycle (86 ka): New marine pollen record. Quaternary Science Reviews30(27–28): 3960–3972.
79.
LanggutDLipschitsO (2017) Dry Climate during the Babylonian and the Early Persian Period and Its Impact on the Creation of Idumea. Transeuphraténe49: 141–172.
80.
LanggutDFinkelsteinILittT (2013) Climate and the Late Bronze collapse: New evidence from the Southern Levant. Tel Aviv40: 149–175.
81.
LanggutDFinkelsteinILittTet al. (2015) Vegetation and climate changes during the Bronze and Iron Ages (~3600–600 BCE) in the Southern Levant based on palynological records. Radiocarbon57: 217–235.
82.
LanggutDNeumannFHSteinMet al. (2014) Dead Sea pollen record and history of human activity in the Judean Highlands (Israel) from the Intermediate Bronze into the Iron Ages (~2500–500 BCE). Palynology38: 280–302.
83.
LawrenceDPhilipGHuntHet al. (2016) Long term population, city size and climate trends in the Fertile Crescent: A first approximation. PLoS ONE11(3): e0152563.
84.
LeroySA (2006) From natural hazard to environmental catastrophe: Past and present. Quaternary International158(1): 4–12.
85.
LeroySA (2010) Pollen analysis of core DS7–1SC (Dead Sea) showing intertwined effects of climatic change and human activities in the Late-Holocene. Journal of Archaeological Science37(2): 306–316.
LeroySAMarcoSBookmanRet al. (2010) Impact of earthquakes on agriculture during the Roman–Byzantine period from pollen records of the Dead Sea laminated sediment. Quaternary Research73(2): 191–200.
88.
LevyTE (1992) Transhumance, subsistence, and social evolution. In: Bar-YosefOKhazanovAM (eds) Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspectives. Madison, WI: Prehistory Press, pp. 65–82.
89.
LevyTE (1998) Cult, metallurgy and rank societies: Chalcolithic Period (ca. 4500–3500 BCE). In: LevyTE (ed.) The Archaeology of Society in the Holy Land. London: Leicester University Press, pp. 227–244.
90.
LevyTEBurtonMRowanYM (2006) Chalcolithic hamlet excavations near Shiqmim, Negev Desert, Israel. Journal of Field Archaeology31: 41–60.
LittTOhlweinCNeumannFHet al. (2012) Holocene climate variability in the Levant from the Dead Sea pollen record. Quaternary Science Reviews49: 95–105.
93.
LuYWaldmannNNadelDet al. (2017) Increased sedimentation following the Neolithic Revolution in the Southern Levant. Global and Planetary Change152: 199–208.
94.
MaherLABanningEBChazanM (2011) Oasis or Mirage? Assessing the role of abrupt climate change in the prehistory of the southern Levant. Cambridge Archaeological Journal21(1): 1–30.
95.
MazarABronk RamseyC (2008) 14C dates and the Iron Age chronology of Israel: A response. Radiocarbon50(2): 159–180.
96.
MazarABronk RamseyC (2010) A response to Finkelstein and Piasetzky’s Criticism and ‘New Perspective’. Radiocarbon52: 1681–1688.
97.
MazierFGalopDBrunCet al. (2006) Modern pollen assemblages from grazed vegetation in the western Pyrenees, France: A numerical tool for more precise reconstruction of past cultural landscapes. The Holocene16: 91–103.
98.
MazierFGalopDGaillardM-Jet al. (2009) Multidisciplinary approach to reconstruct pastoral activities. An example from the Pyrenean Mountains (Pays Basque). The Holocene19: 171–178.
99.
MercuriAMBandini MazzantiMFlorenzanoAet al. (2013a) Anthropogenic pollen indicators (API) from archaeological sites as local evidence of human-induced environments in the Italian Peninsula. Annali di Botanica3: 143–153.
100.
MercuriAMBandini MazzantiMFlorenzanoAet al. (2013b) Olea, Juglans and Castanea: The OJC group as pollen evidence of the development of human-induced environments in the Italian peninsula. Quaternary International303: 24–42.
101.
MichczyńskaDJPazdurA (2004) Shape analysis of cumulative probability density function of radiocarbon dates set in the study of climate change in late glacial and Holocene. Radiocarbon46(2): 733–744.
102.
MichczyńskaDJMichczyńskiAPazdurA (2007) Frequency distribution of radiocarbon dates as a tool for reconstructing environmental changes. Radiocarbon49(2): 799–806.
103.
MiroschedjiPD (2009) Rise and collapse in the Southern Levant in the Early Bronze Age. Scienze dell’Antichità15: 101–129.
104.
MorrisEKCarusoTBuscotFet al. (2014) Choosing and using diversity indices: Insights for ecological applications from the German Biodiversity Exploratories. Ecology and Evolution4(18): 3514–3524.
105.
NeumannFHKaganEJSchwabMJet al. (2007) Palynology, sedimentology and palaeoecology of the Late-Holocene Dead Sea. Quaternary Science Reviews 26(11–12): 1476–1498.
106.
OferA (1994) ‘All the hill country of Judah’: From settlement fringe to a prosperous monarchy. In: FinkelsteinINa’amanN (eds) From Nomadism to Monarchy: Archaeolgoical and Historical Aspects of Early Israel. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, pp. 92–121.
107.
OrtonDMorrisJPipeA (2017) Catch per unit research effort: Sampling intensity, chronological uncertainty, and the onset of marine fish consumption in historic London. Open Quaternary3(1): 1–20.
108.
PalmisanoABevanAShennanS (2017) Comparing archaeological proxies for long-term population patterns: An example from central Italy. Journal of Archaeological Science87: 59–72.
109.
PhilipG (2003) The Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant: A landscape approach. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology16(1): 103–132.
110.
PhilipG (2011) The later prehistory of the Southern Levant: Issues of practice and context. In: RowanYMLovellJL (eds) Culture, Chronology and the Chalcolithic: Theory and Transition (Levant Supplementary Series 9). Oxford: CBRL Monographs, pp. 189–206.
111.
PorterBW (2016) Assembling the Iron Age Levant: The archaeology of communities, polities, and imperial peripheries. Journal of Archaeological Research24(4): 373–420.
112.
RambeauCM (2010) Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the Southern Levant: Synthesis, challenges, recent developments and perspectives. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences368(1931): 5225–5248.
113.
RegevJDe MiroschedjiPGreenbergRet al. (2012) Chronology of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant: New analysis for a high chronology. Radiocarbon 54(3–4): 525–566.
114.
ReimerPJBardEBaylissAet al. (2013) IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon55(4): 1869–1887.
115.
RobertsNEastwoodWJKuzucuoğluCet al. (2011) Climatic, vegetation and cultural change in the eastern Mediterranean during the mid-Holocene environmental transition. The Holocene21(1): 147–162.
116.
RobertsNWoodbridgeJBevanAet al. (2018) Human responses and non-responses to climatic variations during the last glacial-interglacial transition in the eastern Mediterranean. Quaternary Science Reviews184: 47–67.
117.
RobertsNWoodbridgeJPalmisanoAet al. (2019) Mediterranean landscape change during the Holocene: Synthesis, comparison and regional trends in population, land cover and climate. The Holocene29(5): 923–937.
118.
RollefsonGO (2001) The Neolithic period. In: MacDonaldBAdamsRBienkowskiP (eds) The Archaeology of Jordan. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, pp. 67–105.
119.
RosenAM (2007) Civilizing Climate: Social Responses to Climate Change in the Ancient Near East. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.
120.
RosenAMRosenSA (2017) Environmental change and society in Holocene prehistory. In: EnzelYBar-YosefO (eds) Quaternary of the Levant: Environments, Climate Change and Humans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1405–1422.
121.
RowanYM (2013) The Southern Levant (Cisjordan) during the Chalcolithic Period. In: SteinerMLKillebrewAE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 224–236.
122.
SafraiZE (2003 [1994]) The Economy of Roman Palestine. New York: Routledge.
123.
SavageSHLevyTE (2014) DAAHL – The digital archaeological atlas of the holy land: A model for Mediterranean and world archaeology. Near Eastern Archaeology77(3): 243–247.
124.
SavageSHFalconerSEHarrisonT (2007) The Early Bronze Age city states of Southern Levant. Neither cities nor states. In: LevyTEMichèle DaviauPMYounkerRWet al. (eds) Crossing Jordan: North American Contributions to the Archaeology of Jordan. London: Equinox, pp. 285–297.
125.
ScheidelW (2007) Demography. In: ScheidelWMorrisISallerRP (eds) The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 38–86.
126.
SchiebelVLittT (2018) Holocene vegetation history of the Southern Levant based on a pollen record from Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), Israel. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany27: 577–590.
127.
SchwabMJNeumannFLittTet al. (2004) Holocene palaeoecology of the Golan Heights (Near East): Investigation of lacustrine sediments from Birkat Ram crater lake. Quaternary Science Reviews23: 1723–1731.
128.
SharonI (2013) Levantine chronology. In: SteinerMLKillebrewAE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 44–65.
129.
StaubwasserMWeissH (2006) Holocene climate and cultural evolution in late prehistoric–early historic West Asia. Quaternary Research66(3): 372–387.
130.
SteinMTorfsteinAGavrieliIet al. (2010) Abrupt aridities and salt deposition in the post-glacial Dead Sea and their North Atlantic connection. Quaternary Science Reviews29: 567–575.
131.
SurianoM (2013) Historical geography of the ancient Levant. In: SteinerMLKillebrewAE (eds) The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant: C. 8000–332 BCE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 9–23.
132.
TimpsonAColledgeSCremaEet al. (2014) Reconstructing regional population fluctuations in the European Neolithic using radiocarbon dates: A new case-study using an improved method. Journal of Archaeological Science52: 549–557.
133.
TurchinP (2001) Does population ecology have general laws?Oikos94(1): 17–26.
134.
Van ZeistWBottemaS (1991) Late Quaternary Vegetation of the Near East. Wiesbaden: Dr Ludwig Reichert Verlag.
135.
Van ZeistWBaruchUBottemaS (2009) Holocene palaeoecology of the Hula area, northeastern Israel. In: KaptijnEPetitLP (eds) A Timeless Vale. Archaeological and Related Essays on the Jordan Valley in Honour of Gerrit Van Der Kooij on the Occasion of His Sixty-Fifth Birthday. Leiden: Leiden University Press, pp. 29–64.
136.
VrydaghsLDenhamT (2007) Rethinking agriculture: Introductory thoughts. In: DenhamTIriarteJVrydaghsL (eds) Rethinking Agriculture: Archaeological and Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, pp. 1–15.
137.
WaliszewskiT (2014) Elaion: Olive Oil Production in Roman and Byzantine Syria-Palestine. Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press.
138.
WeissHCourtyMAWetterstromWet al. (1993) The genesis and collapse of third millennium north Mesopotamian civilization. Science261(5124): 995–1004.
139.
WeningerBClareLJörisOet al. (2015) Quantum theory of radiocarbon calibration. World Archaeology47(4): 543–566.
140.
WeningerBClareLRohlingEet al. (2009) The impact of rapid climate change on prehistoric societies during the Holocene in the Eastern Mediterranean. Documenta Praehistorica36: 7–59.
141.
WilkinsonTJRayneL (2010) Hydraulic landscapes and imperial power in the Near East. Water History2(2): 115–144.
142.
WilkinsonTJPhilipGBradburyJet al. (2014) Contextualizing early urbanization: Settlement cores, early states and agro-pastoral strategies in the Fertile Crescent during the fourth and third millennia BC. Journal of World Prehistory27(1): 43–109.
143.
WilliamsAN (2012) The use of summed radiocarbon probability distributions in archaeology: A review of methods. Journal of Archaeological Science39(3): 578–589.
144.
WoodbridgeJRobertsNFyfeR (2018) Pan-Mediterranean Holocene vegetation and land-cover dynamics from synthesised pollen data. Journal of Biogeography45(9): 2159–2174.
145.
ZivBDayanUKushnirYet al. (2006) Regional and global atmospheric patterns governing rainfall in the Southern Levant. International Journal of Climatology26: 55–73.
146.
ZoharyDHopfMWeissE (2012) Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
147.
ZoharyM (1962) Plant Life of Palestine. New York: Ronald Press Co.
148.
ZoharyM (1973) Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East. Stuttgart: Fischer.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
