RESEARCH PAPER
The Absolute Chronology of the Zoogenic Deposits From the Negev Desert (Israel)
1
A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology, Evolution of Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky Prt., 33 119071 Moscow, Russia
Online publication date: 2007-10-29
Publication date: 2007-12-01
Geochronometria 2007;28:47-53
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Zoogenic deposits are one of the most important sources of the information on the history of arid ecosystems. Different organic materials form the deposit thus offering an opportunity for palaeobotanic analysis as well as for radiocarbon dating. However, many obstacles arise while dating zoogenic deposits. Some layers can be readily dated by radiocarbon as dung layers, but some of them do not contain any organic material preserved.
Three zoogenic deposits from the central part of the Negev Desert (Israel) were investigated. Azmaut deposit was accumulated more then 5000 years. This deposit is a key object of this research. The Ramon I deposit was accumulated for the last 8000 years.
The observed coincidence of the changes of the deposits and the pollen spectra testifies the presence of common causes driving them. It allows us to compare the spectrum of sufficiently dated Azmaut deposit with that of the poorly dated Bsor one. The bottom layers of the Ramon I deposit were formed 2000 years earlier than that of Azmaut. Combining the results of the pollen analysis and the radiocarbon dating of the three deposits enables us to reconstruct the vegetation history of the region during the last 8000 years.
REFERENCES (38)
1.
Andrews P, 1990. Owls, caves and fossils: Predation, preservation and accumulation of small mammal bones in caves, with an analysis of the Pleistocene cave faunas from Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset, UK. London. Natural History Museum and University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 231pp.
2.
Asouti E, 2003. Woodland vegetation and fuel exploitation at the prehistoric campsite of Pinarbai, south-central Anatolia, Turkey: the evidence from the wood charcoal macro-remains. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(9): 1185-1201, DOI 10.1016/S0305-4403(03)00015-3.10.1016/S0305-4403(03)00015-3.
3.
Babaev AG, Drozdov NN, Zonn IS and Freikin ZG, 1986. Pustyni (Deserts). Moscow, Misl': 318pp (in Russian).
4.
Bailey C, 1985. Dating the Arrival of the Bedouin Tribes in Sinai and the Negev. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 28: 20-49.10.1163/156852085X00091.
5.
Bar-Matthews M, Ayalon A and Kaufman A, 1998. Middle to Late Holocene (6500 Yr. period) Paleoclimate in the Eastern Mediter-ranian region from stable isotopic composition of speleothems from Soreq Cave, Israel. In: Issar AS and Brown N, eds., Water, environment and society in times of climatic change. Netherlands: 203-214.10.1007/978-94-017-3659-6_9.
6.
Benninghoff WS, 1962. Calculation of pollen and density in sediments by addition of exotic pollen in known amounts. Pollen et Spores 6: 332-333.
7.
Bronk Ramsey C, 1995. Radiocarbon calibration and analysis of stratigraphy: The OxCal Program. Radiocarbon37: 425-430.10.1017/S0033822200030903.
8.
Brooks J and Shaw G, 1972. Geochemistry of sporopollenin. Chemical Geology 10(1): 69-87, DOI 10.1016/0009-2541(72)90078-2.10.1016/0009-2541(72)90078-2.
9.
Cowling RM, Cartwright CR, Parkington JE and Allsopp JC, 1999. Fossil wood charcoal assemblages from Elands Bay Cave, South Africa: implications for Late Quaternary vegetation and climates in the winter-rainfall fynbos biome. Journal of Biogeography 26(2): 367-378, DOI 10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00275.x.10.1046/j.1365-2699.1999.00275.x.
10.
Danin A, 1983. Desert vegetation of Israel and Sinai. Jerusalem, Cana Pablishing House: 133pp.
11.
Dinesman LG, Kiseleva NK and Knyazev AV, 1989. Istoriya stepnyh ekosistem Mongol'skoi Narodnoi Respubliki (History of steppe ecosystems of Mongolia). Moscow, Nauka: 215pp (in Russian).
12.
El-Moslimany AP, 1990. Ecological significance of common nonarboreal pollen: examples from drylands of the Middle East. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 64(1-4): 343-350, DOI 10.1016/0034-6667(90)90150-H.10.1016/0034-6667(90)90150-H.
13.
Faegri K and Iversen J, 1989. Textbook of pollen analysis. 4th ed. by K. FÆgri, P.E. Kaland & K. Krzywinski. Chichester, John Wiley & Sons: 328pp.
14.
Gamkrelidze BV, 1986. Iz istorii skotovodstva gornoi Ingushetii (From the stock-breeding history of the Ingushetia mountain). In: Kavkazskiy etnograficheskii sbornik (Caucasian ethnographical articles). Tbilisi, Micniereba2: 237-247.
15.
Grimm EC, 1987. CONISS: A FORTRAN 77 program for stratigraphically constrained cluster analysis by the method of incremental sum of squares. Computers and Geosciences 13(1): 13-35, DOI 10.1016/0098-3004(87)90022-7.10.1016/0098-3004(87)90022-7.
16.
Grimm E, 1991. TILIA-GRAPH 1.25 (computer software) Illinois State University Research and Collection Center.
17.
Grimm E, 1991-1993. TILIA 2.0 (computer software) Illinois State University Research and Collection Center.
18.
Hansen J, 2001. Macroscopic plant remains from Mediterranean caves and rock shelters: Avenues of interpretation. Geoarchaeology 16(4): 401-432, DOI 10.1002/gea.1010.10.1002/gea.1010.
19.
Hillel D, 1982. Negev: Land, Water and Life in a Desert Environment. New York, Praeger Scientific: 269pp.
20.
Holmgren CA, Betancourt JL, Rylander KA, Roque J, Tovar O, Zeballos H, Linares E and Quade J, 2001. Holocene Vegetation History from Fossil Rodent Middens near Arequipa, Peru. Quaternary Research 56(2): 242-251, DOI 10.1006/qres.2001.2262.10.1006/qres.2001.2262.
21.
Hua Q and Barbetti M, 2004. Review of Tropospheric Bomb 14C Data for Carbon Cycle Modeling and Age Calibration Purposes. Radiocarbon 46: 1273-1298.10.1017/S0033822200033142.
22.
Knyazev AV, 1979. Investigation of caves zoogenic deposits to ascertain of biogeocenoses history (Issledovanie zoogennyh otlozheniy pescher dlya vyyasneniya istorii biogeocenozov). In: Sokolov VE and Dinesman LG, eds., Obshie metody izucheniya istorii sovremennyh ekosistem (General methods of study of modern ecosystems history). Moscow, Nauka: 129-141 (in Russian).
23.
Migowski C, Stein M, Prasad S, Negendank JFW and Agnon A, 2006. Holocene climate variability and cultural evolution in the Middle East from the Dead Sea sedimentary record. Quaternary Research 66(3): 421-431, DOI 10.1016/j.yqres.2006.06.010.10.1016/j.yqres.2006.06.010.
24.
Mirkin BM, Naumova LG and Solomeshch AI, 2001. Sovremennaya nauka o rastitel'nosti (Modern vegetation science). Moscow, Logos: 264pp (in Russian).
25.
Navarro Camacho C, Carrion JS, Navarro J, Munuera M and Prieto AR, 2000. An experimental approach to the palynology of cave deposits. Journal of Quaternary Science 15(6): 603-619, DOI 10.1002/1099-1417(200009)15:6<603::AID-JQS544>3.0.CO;2-F.10.1002/1099-1417(200009)15:6<603::AID-JQS544>3.0.CO;2-F.
26.
Navarro C, Carrion JS, Munuera M and Prieto AR, 2001. Cave surface pollen and the palynological potential of karstic cave sediments in palaeoecology. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 117(4): 245-265, DOI 10.1016/S0034-6667(01)00095-1.10.1016/S0034-6667(01)00095-1.
27.
Reimer PJ, Baillie MGL, Bard E, Bayliss A, Beck JW, Bertrand C, Blackwell PG, Buck CE, Burr G, Cutler KB, Damon PE, Edwards RL, Fairbanks RG, Friedrich M, Guilderson TP, Hughen KA, Kromer B, McCormac FG, Manning S, Bronk Ramsey C, Reimer RW, Remmele S, Southon JR, Stuiver M, Talamo S, Taylor FW, van der Plicht J and Weyhenmeyer CE, 2004a. IntCal04 Terrestrial Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 0-26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon46: 1029-1058.10.1017/S0033822200033002.
28.
Reimer PJ, Brown TA and Reimer RW, 2004b. Discussion: Reporting and Calibration of Post-Bomb14C Data. Radiocarbon46: 1299-1304.10.1017/S0033822200033154.
29.
Rosen SA, Savinetsky AB, Plakht Y, Kisseleva NK, Khassanov BF, Pereladov AM and Haiman M, 2005. Dung in the Desert: Preliminary Results of the Negev Holocene Ecology Project. Current Anthropology 46(2): 317-327.10.1086/428789.
30.
Scott L, 2002. Grassland development under glacial and interglacial conditions in southern Africa: review of pollen, phytolith and isotope evidence. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 177(1-2): 47-57, DOI 10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00351-0.10.1016/S0031-0182(01)00351-0.
31.
Scott L, Bousman CB and Nyakale M, 2005. Holocene pollen from swamp, cave and hyrax dung deposits at Blydefontein (Kikvorsberge), Karoo, South Africa. Quaternary International 129(1):49-59, DOI 10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.006.10.1016/j.quaint.2004.04.006.
32.
Shenbrot G, 2004. Habitat selection in a seasonally variable environment: test of the isodar theory with the fat sand rat, Psammomys obesus, in the Negev Desert, Israel. Oikos 106(2): 359-365.10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.13123.x.
33.
Simms SR and Russell KW, 1997. Tur Imdai Rockshelter: Archaeology of Recent Pastoralists in Jordan. Journal of Field Archaeology24: 459-472.10.1179/jfa.1997.24.4.459.
34.
Staubwasser M and Weiss H, 2006. Holocene climate and cultural evolution in late prehistoric-early historic West Asia. Quaternary Research 66(3): 372-387, DOI 10.1016/j.yqres.2006.09.001.10.1016/j.yqres.2006.09.001.
35.
Tomek T and Bocheński Z, 2005. Weichselian and Holocene bird remains from Komarowa Cave, Central Poland. Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia48A(1-2): 43-65.10.3409/173491505783995743.
36.
Wallis LA, 2001. Environmental history of northwest Australia based on phytolith analysis at Carpenter's Gap 1. Quaternary International83-85: 103-117, DOI 10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00033-7.10.1016/S1040-6182(01)00033-7.
37.
Ward D and Olsvig-Whittaker L, 1993. Plant species diversity at the junction of two desert biogeographic zones. Biodiversity Research 1(6): 172-185, DOI 10.2307/2999742.10.2307/2999742.
38.
Zaady E, Yonatan R, Shachak M and Perevolotsky A, 2001. The effects of grazing on abiotic and biotic parameters in a semiarid ecosystem: A case study from the Northern Negev Desert, Israel. Arid Land Research and Management 15(3): 245-261.10.1080/15324980152119801.
Share
RELATED ARTICLE
| eISSN: | 1897-1695 |
| ISSN: | 1733-8387 |
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.
