Vegetation History and Human Impact on the Environs of Tel Megiddo in the Bronze and Iron Ages: A Dendroarchaeological Analysis

Abstract

A substantial amount of macro-botanical remains has been recorded at Tel Megiddo since the initiation of the renewed excavations in 1992. We constructed a database with 1,162 identified samples and analysed them diachronically. This dataset enables us to trace environmental trends and human impact on the vegetation in the vicinity of the site during the Bronze and Iron Ages (∼3,500–500 BCE). The earlier periods in the studied sequence are characterised by a higher availability of common natural arboreal elements (oak, conifers and terebinth) and the later periods by a dramatically reduced presence of these elements, with a much stronger occurrence of anthropogenically dependent species (olive), foreign species (cedar of Lebanon, sycamore fig), and less prevalent forest/maquis elements. Our investigation also provides some context for the appearance of both horticultural and rare/special species in the assemblage (almond, walnut, myrtle, laurel, sage). The appearance of prestigious species such as the imported cedar in one sector of the site (Area H) provides botanical support to other finds which rendered this area an elite neighbourhood.

Keywords:

• Archaeobotany
• Bronze Age
• Iron Age
• Tel Megiddo
• Charcoal analysis
• Paleo-vegetation

Acknowledgments

This study was generously supported by the Neubauer Foundation (as part of the ‘Neubauer Near East Paleo-Climate Project’). D. Langgut acknowledges the support of the Israel Science Foundation grant no. 2141/15 (‘New Equipment Grant’). The authors wish to thank Itamar Ben-Ezra for his assistance in the preparation of the maps and Mario A.S. Martin for his help with stratigraphic issues. Special thanks to Moises S. Benzaquen for his insightful explanations regarding agricultural and ethnobotanical concepts. We wish to thank the Rhenium Company for supplying the SEM TM3030plus, which enabled the high accuracy of the study. Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to Simcha Lev-Yadun and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the manuscript.

Notes

1 Differences are due to dissimilarities in sampling resolution and chronology of the paleoclimate records.

2 Comparison to other Early Bronze sites in the vicinity is impossible, as their dendroarchaeological results are either meagre or virtually nonexistent (e.g., Liphschitz 2007).

3 It is not clear whether wild or domesticated olive trees were used to produce this pioneering oil.

4 This resilient evergreen tree was originally only a minor component of the Mediterranean Q. calliprino–P. palaestina association, a fact evidenced by Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene regional palynological diagrams (Horowitz 1979; Weinstein-Evron 1983; Kadosh et al. 2004; Langgut et al. 2011; Litt et al. 2012).

5 Ulmus canescens was also identified in LB I and LB III layers in Area H.