 | An Investigation into Early Desert Pastoralism: Excavations at the Camel Site, Negev Subjects: Camel Site (Israel); Israel -- Antiquities; Antiquities Prehistoric -- Israel; Excavations (Archaeology) -- Israel; Pastoral systems -- Israel -- History -- To 1500; Bronze age -- Israel -- Camel site; Negev focuses on two primary purposes, one theoretical/methodological and the second substantive. Briefly stated, the book comprises a case study of excavations at an early (ca. 2800 B.C.) pastoral site in the Negev, providing detailed analyses and a synthetic overview of a seasonal encampment from this early period in the evolution of desert pastoral societies. It thus both demonstrates the feasibility of an archaeology of early mobile pastoralism and grapples with the basic anthropological and methodological issues surrounding the subject. Substantively, both the architectural and material culture assemblages uncovered constitute the first detailed analysis of this early desert culture and include materials previously unreported for the region and period. Historically, the Camel Site is placed in a larger perspective of the beginnings of multiresource nomadism in relation to the rise of complex societies. Steven A. Rosen is Wolfe Goodman Canada Chair in Near Eastern Archaeology in the department of Bible, archaeology and ancient Near East at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. |
