Spiny Burnet as Industrial Fuel in Historical Palestine: Ecology and ethnography

ABSTRACT

The spiny burnet (sarcopeterium spinosum) bush is very common in the hilly region of Israel. The inhabitants of the country utilised the bush for various purposes, mainly for heating. The special characteristics of the bush – that it reaches its burning point at a high temperature within a short time and has a wide availability - led manufacturers and industrialists who needed heating energy to make extensive use of it throughout history. One of the uses was as fuel for lime kilns in the hilly region, on which this article focusses, considering what spiny burnet was so extensively used, the logistics of its use, and the industry’s impact on the landscape. The manufacture of quicklime, however, harmed the environment by destroying the flora and the undergrowth from time to time, because the need for a large quantity of spiny burnet plants left the soil bare, resulting in serious erosion.

KEYWORDS:

• Lime-kiln
• fuel
• Arab village
• traditional technology
• industrial archaeology
• Palestine
• ecology

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Research Fund of the Ashkelon Academic College. I am grateful to the College and Prof. Shimon Sharvit, the Rector. I offer my thanks to my colleagues from whom I learned about the spiny burnet, and who deserve credit for my initiating this research: the late Prof. Amos Kloner, my teacher and friend from the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University, who believed in the research; Prof. Amar Zohar, from this department at Bar-Ilan University; Dr. Oren Ackermann, from Ariel University; Dr. Etan Ayalon, curator of the Man and His Work collection, Musa Eretz Israel Museum; Roi Marom, Haifa University; the architect Tal Katzir; Yehuda Ben-Bassat; to the individuals who provided me with valuable information over the course of years; and to the readers, for their illuminating comments. My thanks to Edward Levin for his thoughtful comments. I am grateful to them all. Any errors, of course, are mine alone.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

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Avraham (Avi) Sasson

Avi Sasson is a senior lecturer in the Land of Israel Studies department of Ashkelon Academic College, Israel, with PhD. in Israel Studies and Geography from Bar-Ilan University, Israel. His main research fields are the historical geography of the Ottoman and Mandate periods, material culture, tangible and intangible culture in various fields such as the stone industry, the history of water and sacred geography. He contributes to regional research with several authorities such as the Nature Parks Authority, the Antiquities Authority, the Society for the Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites and others, and as published several books and many other publications.