between the past and tomorrow

In the field of geology: long-term processes, which have shaped the surface of the earth for billions of years, continue to this day, so the study of contemporary phenomena may open a window to understanding processes that took place in the distant past. This is also the case in the field of activity of the ethno-archaeologists

Sometimes it seems to us that history repeats itself, but in many cases it is more correct to say that the present is the key to the past. This is the case, for example, in the field of geology: long-term processes, which shaped the surface of the earth for billions of years, continue to this day, so the study of contemporary phenomena may open a window to understanding processes that took place in the distant past. A similar principle guides the work of ethno-archaeologists, who study contemporary traditional societies with the aim of shedding light on the way of life of ancient societies. Dr. Ruth Shakh-Gross, who began her academic career in the field of geology, was exposed to the ethnographic approach when she took her first steps in the world of archaeology. "The idea of ​​answering archaeological questions through research in the settlements of modern-day traditional societies, and projecting onto the past, caught me immediately," she says, "I recognized there a principle that spoke to me, that was rooted in me from the beginning of my academic career. My academic background, which combined geology with ethno-archaeology, naturally led to research dealing with natural materials
and in man-made materials found in modern and ancient settlements". Research work carried out by Dr. Shakh-Gross in Kenya demonstrates the advantages of the geo-ethnoarchaeological approach to the identification of corrals of animal herds. Accompanied by an old man from the Maasai tribe, she collected soil samples from the village where he currently lives, and a chain of abandoned villages where he lived in the past. This is how she managed to create a "timeline" describing the decomposition of the organic matter over 40 years. Under the guidance of Prof. Steve Weiner at the Kimmel Center for Archeology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Dr. Shakh-Gross developed a method for identifying areas where herds of shepherds settled, based on a variety of soil samples and microscopic tests, which include the analysis of phytoliths - mineral substances of plant origin that arrive, through the forage, Because of the animals. Examining the phytoliths, and other mineral substances that are formed in the intestines of the herd animals, allowed her to identify animal enclosures long after the more direct and less stable evidence of their presence - the organic matter - had disintegrated. Later on, she joined the excavation at Tel Dor with a delegation from the Kimmel Center, where she was given the opportunity Apply the method she developed. together with its research partners from Israel and Spain
Dr. Shakh-Gross showed that the white powder surfaces found in the city are actually phytolith accumulations that originated from animal droppings that were housed in pens inside the city (and are not man-made plaster floors, as was believed until then). Evidence of the use of animal dung as a fuel was also found. These findings show that a complete separation between a settlement of a rural nature and an urban settlement - as we know it today - took place only later than it was common to think, at the end of the sixth century BC. Thus the scientists shed new light on the nature of the "urban revolution" in the Mediterranean basin.
Dr. Shakh-Gross, a senior lecturer in the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archeology at Bar Ilan University, came to the Kimmel Center as a visiting scientist as part of a joint program initiated by Prof. Weiner. It identifies the phytoliths and other substances it detects in soil and ash samples
using different analytical methods (such as infrared spectroscopy and testing the quantitative relationships between stable isotopes
of oxygen and carbon), and their morphological structure and spatial arrangement is determined by various microscopic means. All of these allow her, among other things, to determine the type of food that the farm animals ate, thus gaining insights into the societies that lived in those sites. "Today, there are few archaeological excavations that take place without backing from the field of natural sciences."

In one of her latest ethno-archaeological studies, carried out together with Prof. Israel Finkelstein from Tel Aviv University, she was able to demonstrate how the examination of materials, including phytoliths, can shed new light on questions concerning the history of the Land of Israel. This is a dispute at the center of which are the settlement sites established throughout the Negev Mountains during the Iron Age, which corresponds to the royal period described in the Bible (600-1,200 BC). The popular explanation, based on the stories of the Bible, holds that certain buildings that have been identified in some of the remains of the settlement are citadels erected by King Solomon to protect the kingdom from Egypt, and that they were destroyed by Pharaoh Shishak on his journey north at the end of the 10th century BC. Prof. Finkelstein claimed that these were buildings erected by herders-farmers, relying on "circumstantial" evidence in character:
The citadels were not erected in strategic locations, nor were they built uniformly - befitting a government-military structure. Dr. Shakh-Gross collected many soil and ash samples from two sites near Sde-Bokker. Her tests revealed that there are indeed remains of farm animal dung in the central courtyard of the "citadels". However, while the farm animals in traditional herder-farmer societies are fed with fodder consisting of the by-products of the grain harvest - therefore their dung is rich
In phytoliths, the dung remains at the Negev Mountain sites are very poor in phytoliths, and reflect a diet based on wild shrubs and lichens. In addition to this, no phytoliths were found that originated from domesticated grains - that is, from agricultural crops. The findings show that apparently the inhabitants of the "citadels" were indeed herders but did not engage in
in agriculture. These findings seem to suggest that the assumption that the Iron Age settlements in the Negev Mountains were established as part of the Kingdom of Judah should be re-examined. In addition, dating of plant remains using radioactive carbon, done in collaboration with Dr. Elisabetta Boerto from Bar-Ilan University and the Kimmel Center at the Weizmann Institute of Science, showed that the sites were established at the end of the tenth century BC and operated for about a century - until the end of the ninth century BC. "It is possible that Shishak's campaign is precisely the one that led to the establishment of the settlements, and not to their destruction," says Dr. Shakh-Gross. "And apart from that, the evidence suggests that these are seasonal settlements. It is possible that the residents migrated to Mount Negev from another place at a certain season of the year, and left it at another season." Through additional tests, the scientists will try to determine more clearly if it is indeed a seasonal settlement, and to explain the nature of the settlement in the Negev Mountains during the Iron Age.