Ancient Agriculture in the Negev

Abstract

Archeological studies of ancient techniques of water utilization (exploitation of run-off from small and large watersheds and chain-well systems) led the authors to conclude that some of the principles on which the ancient Negev civilizations developed their desert agriculture could be applied today. Two ancient run-off farms, 1 near Shivtah and 1 near Avdat, were reconstructed. Work on the Shivtah farm was started in the summer of 1958. In Feb. 1959, after the 1st flood, 250 fruit trees and vines were planted (grape, plum, almond, apricot, peach, carob, olive, pomegranate, and fig). During the summer of 1959 the young trees received small supplementary amounts of irrigation to ensure their establishment; thereafter, they received only run-off water from the small watersheds. By Aug. 1960 the young saplings had grown from a height of 40-50 cm to 2-2.5 m high in spite of the fact that the 1959-1960 season was the driest since meteorological statistics have been kept. Reconstruction at Avodat was started in July 1959 after a careful topographic and soil survey. The soil (as also at Shivtah) is the typical aeolian-fluviatile loess of the Negev; it is uniformly 1.5-2.5 m deep. After the 1st rain of 16-22 mm in Nov. 1959, a heavy flood wetted the farm to a depth of 1-2.5 m. Barley of the Beacher variety was sown, sprouted quickly, and was harvested in May 1960. In some of the areas the yield was 500 kg/A., a remarkable yield for a severe drought year with only 50 mm of rain, especially when barley crops in the more northern part of Israel with 80 mm and more of rain (but no run-off) failed completely. It is planned to establish additional growing plots a variety of field crops, pastures, and more fruit trees.