Itamar Taxel

• Head of Department at Israel Antiquities Authority

Our study seeks to explore the beginnings and spread of glazed ceramic technologies across Islamic lands by focusing on the evidence from the southern Levantine coast. We selected 98 glazed ceramic samples recovered through stratified excavations of four sites along the southern Levantine coast. These ceramic samples include glazed tableware (espec...

The article presents an exceptional late Ottoman-period funerary assemblage excavated in 2001 at the former Arab village of Zarnūqa, on Israel's southern coastal plain. The assemblage, which formed part of a small cemetery in which mostly children were buried, included three storage jars covered by a stone surface-one contained the remains of a new...

In order to date and interpret the natural and anthropogenic forces influencing the evolution of the Early Islamic Plot-and-Berm (P&B) agroecosystem in the sandy coastal hinterlands of ancient Caesarea we integrated historical , archaeological, sedimentological, mineralogical, and meteorological findings with 165 Portable OSL (port-OSL) samples and...

This article discusses the archaeological, geoarchaeogical and chronological finds of our 2020-2022 fieldwork south of Caesarea, along with several archaeological and geomorphological surveys of altogether three innovative agroecosystems in the coastal sand bodies of the southeastern Mediterranean coast in Israel. The finds are hypothesised to be t...

By reviewing traditional, sunken, groundwater-harvesting agroecosystems (SGHAS) in coastal and inland aeolian sand situated in Iran, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Algeria and Iberia, coupled with image interpretation and geospatial analysis, we study the innovation and function of recently excavated Early Islamic (EI; tenth-twelfth century), Plot-and-Berm agr...

This article explores the history of Hamama, an Arab village in the Gaza Sub-District during the Late Ottoman and British Mandate period c. 1750–1948 CE, combining the often disparate fields of Ottoman/Levantine archaeology and Ottoman/Palestinian history for tracing its rise from an ordinary village into the Sub-District’s third largest settlement...

Since the late Spanish Enlightenment, the agroecosystem of the Atlantic coast of Andalusia, through which coastal dune systems are cultivated via sunken gardens between sand berms, have attracted scholarly attention. The environmental history of these systems, known as Navazo, is the focus of this article. Through analysis of historical aerial phot...

Based on the abundant evidence of funerary archaeology, this article examines the changing patterns from family/multiple to individual burial practices among non-Muslim and Muslim urban and rural societies of early Islamic Palestine, particularly between the seventh and ninth centuries as a possible mirror of changes in kin-ship dynamics. The trans...

Gaza Ware, one of the hallmarks of Palestinian pottery in Late Islamic/Ottoman times, was produced in the southern Coastal Plain and is characterised by dark-coloured fabric and a large variety of vessel forms. Although most scholars agree that Gaza Ware was already in use in the 18th century and continued into the 20th century, the earliest appear...

This study provides an updated picture of the seventh-to eleventh-century CE production and distribution of local and imported wine jars and amphorae across Palestine, which-together with selected data on pottery production sites and winepresses-reflect changes in habits of wine consumption by the country's population. Beginning in the seventh cent...

Archaeological fieldwork in Israel has testified to the presence of a variety of imported glazed table wares of the 19th and first half of the 20th century-notably from the northeast Mediterranean, Europe and the Far East-in numerous locations, including in rural sites of various ranks. The influx of import of these ceramics to the southern Levant...

The presentation was given by Dr. Lotem Robins on April 17, 2024 in session GM9.2 https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU24/session/48147

The presentation was given by Prof. Joel Roskin on April 17, 2024 in session GM5.5 https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU24/session/48073

During the Early Islamic period, several emerging agricultural innovations enabled the cultivation of summer crops in unproductive Mediterranean lands. This necessitated the development of water harvesting methods. This study delves into the creation of the Plot-and-Berm (P&B) agroecosystem along the sandy coast of Caesarea, Israel. From the early...

Limekilns, common throughout the southern Levant in carbonate rock highlands, were rare in aeolian sand terrains. This study presents for the first time a limekiln within an archaeological landscape of an Early Islamic groundwater harvesting Plot-and-Berm agroecosystem, in an anthropogenically modified Mediterranean coastal dunefield near the ancie...

בתקופה האסלאמית הקדומה המאות ה 11-10- התפתחה חקלאות יחודית בחולות קיסריה המבוססת על אקוויפר רדוד, שננטשה בתקופה הצלבנית ומאז לא עובדה מחדש. חלקות חקלאיות רבועות מוקפות סוללות נבנו ותוחזקו מחומר אשפתות עתיר ממצאים אנתרופוגניים מהעיר קיסריה 1,3 . פני החלקות והסוללות עורבבו עם כמות גדולה של חומר האשפתות, ליצירת קרקע חולית אפורה כהה – אנתרוסול (קרקע שמ...

Many remains of the Muslim pilgrimage road from Cairo to Mecca, the Darb al-Hajj al-Maṣri are preserved in the Eilat region of southern Israel. These include sections of the road, camps, and other associated structures. Most of these remains date to the Mamluk and Ottoman periods. In one camp (Netafim 2), an assemblage of unusual objects was found,...

Abstract book from Workshop on: Continuity and Discontinuity of Agrotechnological Transfer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region between Late Antiquity and Early Modern Times – Plot-and-Berm Agroecosystems as a Case Study 6-8/2/2023

his study reviews Plot-and-Berm (P&B) agroecosystems other than those along the southeastern Mediteranean coast (Roskin and Taxel, 2021), highlighting similarities and differences between them, and speculates on their origins and distribution.

Partial presentation of 2 seasons of excavations and some interpretations

Based on the mostly unpublished finds of a 1970s excavation and the initial results of a 2020 survey and excavation of the remains of an Early Islamic Plot-and-Berm (P&B) agroecosystem south of ancient Caesarea/Qaysāriyya, this study discusses the agricultural incorporation of refuse in a pristine aeolian sand environment. The P&B agroecosystem, ch...

This study presents new evidence about a class of Early Islamic ceramics that have been largely overlooked; namely, crude handmade ware, sometimes previously referred to as 'Negebite' Ware, typical of the southern portions of what is now modern-day Israel and Jordan. A large array of handmade vessels retrieved in excavations of an Early Islamic set...

This study presents new evidence about a class of Early Islamic ceramics that have been largely overlooked; namely, crude handmade ware, sometimes previously referred to as ‘Negebite’ Ware, typical of the southern portions of what is now modern‐day Israel and Jordan. A large array of handmade vessels retrieved in excavations of an Early Islamic set...

Plot-and-Berm agroecosystems agriculturally utilized marginal lands in a sophisticated fashion, where a high-water table existed within loose, aeolian sand sheets, in semi-arid to Mediterranean climates. The agroecosystems consist of polygonal (~10 4 m 2) agricultural plots sunken between~5 m high berms. Here we focus on the role of sandy anthrosed...

A monumental building at the coastal site of Tel ‘Afar, on the Via Maris—the road linking Antioch and Alexandria, was previously identified as the villa of a wealthy citizen of Caesarea. A new geological and archaeological survey at the site and re-examination of the findings from previous excavations, provide a new interpretation of the function a...

Based on the mostly unpublished finds of a 1970s excavation and the initial results of a 2020 sur-vey and excavation of the remains of an Early Islamic Plot-and-Berm (P&B) agroecosystem south of ancient Caesarea/Qaysāriyya, this study discusses the agricultural incorporation of refuse ina pristine aeolian sand environment. The P&B agroecosystem, ch...

Recent excavations at the site of Moẓa, in the western outskirts of Jerusalem, revealed the remains of a large, planned Roman and Byzantine periods settlement. The site is identified with a settlement established by Vespasian after the Great (First) Jewish Revolt (AD 70) for 800 Roman veterans, which was later known as Colonia. The first phase of t...

This research constitutes a first attempt to discuss a Muslim pilgrimage site from a holistic, in-depth archaeological perspective. Our case study is Nabi Rubin, on the southern coastal plain of Israel, which was active from at least the early 15th century until the late British Mandate period and was one of the major foci of Muslim pilgrimage in h...

This study addresses the post-occupational history of Arsuf (Apollonia-Arsuf) on the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Archaeological excavations at the site have revealed its continuous occupation from the late sixth century BCE through to the mid-thirteenth century CE, when it was destroyed by the Mamluks and never properly reset-tled since. Althoug...

During the Early Islamic period, groundwater-harvesting agroecosystems in sand appeared along the southeastern Mediterranean coast in the form of plot and berm (P&B) agroecosystems. P&B agroecosystems are agricultural utilizations of shallow, perched rainfall-fed groundwater tables within loose aeolian sand sheets of agricultural hinterlands. These...

The concept of more-than-human agency maintains that objects, animals and plants can act as agents with various effects on people and that trees specifically may play a role in shaping and changing spaces (hence constituting a ‘planty agency’). Also, trees usually outlive several human generations and can therefore be termed ‘historical trees.’ Alt...

Pottery kilns are usually recognizable in the archaeological record based on their prominent and characteristic architectural features, evidence of exposure to high temperatures and associated waste products. Here we describe how we identified a kiln that has no readily recognizable architectural features, but does have an upper chamber full of bro...

This study provides an original cross-period theoretical perspective on the unique regional phenomenon of storage jar stamping in Judea between the Iron Age 2 and the Early Islamic period (eighth century BC to ninth/tenth century AD). A six century-long tradition of jar stamping for economic and administrative (and possibly religious) purposes unde...

This study investigates how the technology of Coptic Glazed Ware (CGW) – which is one of the earliest examples of Islamic glazed pottery – was developed, allowing for an insight into the mechanisms that contributed to the making of early Islamic material culture. The range of technologies of 20 CGW samples recovered from different sites in Israel w...

This study discusses a new type of Late Antique (second half of seventh century ad) Palestinian commercial amphora. Archaeological finds from surveys and excavations, along with petrographic analysis, indicate that this amphora type was produced in and/or around the town of Yavneh, on the southern coastal plain of historical Palestine. The morpholo...

This book is the first comprehensive synthesis of the life cycle of ceramics and of refuse management in ancient Palestine during the later Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods (4 th to 11 th centuries CE). The study sheds light on selected material culture-related behavioral practices of the people who produced, used and manipulated ceramics...

This study examines the remains of an agricultural complex found in the Yavneh coastal dunefield, central Israel. Known as a plot-and-berm agroecosystem, the complex consisted of earthworks in a crisscross pattern of sand berms and sunken agricultural plots that were used for groundwater harvesting. The plots, which provided easy access to the high...

This article discusses two near-complete ceramic vessels—a deep, cup-shaped bowl and a shallow bowl/plate—found in recent excavations carried out at the rural site of el-Khirba/Nes Ziyyona in central Israel, in an early Abbasid context dated to the ninth century. The vessels bear unusual painted decorations on their exterior and interior. The decor...

This article provides the first comprehensive synthesis of one of the least studied styles of column capitals—the Ionic order—in the countryside of the central Palestinian hill country in Late Antiquity. In this study a suggested typology and chronology of the documented finds of Ionic capitals—all are made of local limestone—is presented, while ta...

Overcoming the agricultural liabilities of the properties of loose sand remains a challenge and necessity for increasing global food production. Several historical societies have attempted agriculture in dunefields. They include 19th-20th century A.D. Arab peasant/Bedouin interdune plantations in coastal Israel and Hopi Indian maize and bean farms...

In 2016 another excavation season was carried out at Majdal Yaba, concentrating on three rooms (02, 03 and 22) in the ground floor of the Ottoman-Mandatory manor house. Rooms 02 and 03 are large, adjacent halls apparently designated as storage and working areas, while Room 22 is a smaller living quarter. Each of the rooms revealed evidence for at l...