Historical land use and landscape change in the Decapolis region

This project reconstructs historical land use and landscape change in the Decapolis region in northern Jordan, combining archaeological, historical and scientific methods, and asking fundamental questions regarding natural resources, human activities, and historical concepts of landscape. The overall aim of the project is studying land use and environmental change from the Bronze Age to modern times, choosing a comparative approach which takes advantage of the climatic gradients and resource diversity in the investigation region. The research focuses on the interplay of factors like climate, soil type, vegetation, and agriculture. A highly transdisciplinary research agenda and well integrated data collection strategies are adopted. Environmental, pedological, historical, and archaeological studies are conducted in the vicinity of Umm Qeis (Gadara), Abila, and Umm el-Jimal, allowing for comparison of land use and landscape change at three key sites. An intensive survey will be conducted to detect landuse patterns within the environs of these important sites, which are located in different climatic and pedological zones. On the one hand well proven methods of intense survey like transect survey or sampling of topo-environmental zones are used, and on the other hand new approaches in survey methodology will be implemented by establishing a pottery index, a durability-of-land-use index, and by calculating the degree of segregation among site types and activity zones. Pedological analyses including biomarkers and phytoliths are conducted in order to improve the precision of land use reconstruction, for example with regard to manuring. In addition, the investigation of widespread valley fills that were apparently deposited under more arid conditions during Late Antiquity, will allow for a detailed reconstruction of fluvial dynamics and vegetation change. The project tackles crucial problems like the analysis of off-site material culture distributions. The survey will be entirely innovative, as it is conducted in the context of soil properties, combining pedological analyses with multi- period material culture studies. Due to close cooperation with excavations, the project is embedded in a broader framework of regional studies in Northern Jordan, but also overcomes the geographical focus of these studies which are highly localised. The project brings together different universities and research institutions in Germany, Austria, and Jordan, and also different departments (Geography, Islamic Studies, Classical Archaeology) which rarely work together. By providing a large number of internships and two PhD positions, and by including many scholars in an early phase of their careers, the project provides excellent opportunities for young scientists. The results will be disseminated internationally including the provision of web based data catalogues and two international workshops held in Jordan.

From 2014 till 2017 an international and interdisciplinary project financed by DFG and FWF investigated historical land use and landscape change in the hinterland of Gadara, Abila and Umm el-Jimal in Northern Jordan from Antiquity till modern times, combining archaeological, historical and scientific methods. The Viennese project successful completed the main tasks:1.) Development of an apt survey methodology and its application in executing surveys 2.) Interpretation of the classical (3rd cent. BCE till early 7th cent. CE) finds, chiefly in terms of land-useMethodologically an intensive off-site survey strategy has been adopted and on each site large transects have been searched in order to provide a sound material basis for interpretation. Another goal was to test a dominant model in archaeology stating a sequence of zones around a city with regard to land use intensity. An important outcome for survey archaeology in general is that by assessment of methods the hypothesis that off-site material primarily stems from manuring could be confirmed. The project part significantly contributed to the advancement of the integrated study of land-use and landscape change. In a stricter sense the Viennese project resulted in fundamentally new insights into classical land-use, especially the Late Roman and Byzantine time. Land-use in later times and geomorphological landscape change is addressed by the Bonn and Erlangen projects respectively.By scrutinizing spatial and chronological distribution of Roman and Byzantine material culture, mostly pottery sherds, a much more detailed idea of past land-use could be gained: High concentrations around Gadara indicate a multifunctional urban periphery with intensively cultivated gardens and production sites of different kinds. Within a wider radius high value or cash crops like olives or wine have been grown, complemented by the cultivation of wheat or barley in a still greater distance. Land use around Abila is comparable to that in the hinterland of Gadara but the intensely used surroundings of the city are lacking. Bigger differences in find densities both between and within the single transects indicate a more fragmented and differentiated agricultural regime. Minor concentrations of material culture suggest a wide range of agricultural buildings, especially in greater distance from Abila. Following an older interpretative approach the prevailing view in historical studies is that also the surroundings of Umm el-Jimal, although situated in a much drier climate, were intensively used for agriculture. Our studies, however, contradict that assumption: Dense material scatters in or in direct proximity to the settlement indeed hint at intensively cultivated gardens and fields. The near or complete absence of off-site finds in the more distant hinterland of Umm el-Jimal, however, is indicative for less intense land-use. Also the building structures, usually interpreted as farmsteads, could be identified as campsites of nomadic pastoralists. On the basis of these results it seems likely that land-use in and around Umm el-Jimal was dominated by pastoralism complemented by gardening and agriculture in the immediate surroundings of the city.