Download - Saharonim-presentation1
Location and Environment
Ramat Saharonim is located in the eastern half of
the Makhtesh Ramon, a large erosional cirque
(35x7 km) located in the southern Negev
Highlands. The region is a rocky desert,
receiving roughly 75 mm of rainfall per year,
and characterized by sparse Saharo-Arabian
vegetation. Paleoclimatic sequences reconstructed
especially from Dead Sea levels, snail shell
isotope data, and cave travertine isotopes
indicate that during the Late Neolithic, the period
the shrine system was constructed, climatic was
similar or perhaps even slightly more arid than
today.
Culturally the area has been the exclusive realm
of pastoral nomadic societies, from the Azazmeh
Bedouin in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and
extending back to classical period nomads,
including the Nabateans, and earlier groups,
from the Bronze and Iron Ages, to the Neolithic
and Chalcolithic periods. It lies adjacent to the
Nabatean Spice route leading from Petra to Gaza.
Although intensive run-off irrigation farming was p
racticed in desert areas somewhat farther north, in
the Irano-Turanian zone, this region remained
unexploited agriculturally.
Ramat Saharonim Shrine 1
Secondary Structure
Introduction
As with the transition from hunting-gathering to farming, the rise of peripheral pastoralism entailed far-reaching
transformations in the basic cultural matrix of desert societies. This shift from hunting animals to herding them, this
essential transformation to a society based on ownership of basic means of subsistence, and the consequent need to preserve
those means, must incorporate profound concomitants in virtually every realm of society. Archaeologically it should come as
no surprise that the earliest evidence for elaborate shrines reflecting public ritual and mortuary cult in the southern Levantine
deserts, in the Late Neolithic ca. 5500-5000 BC, coincides with the infiltration and adoption of herd animals – sheep and
goat – replacing hunting as a primary subsistence base.
Survey and excavation at the desert shrine complex at Ramat Saharonim, in the Makhtesh Ramon (Crater) in the Central
Negev, provide insights into the rise of these early pastoral societies, and their associated symbol systems. Preliminary
indications suggest a chronological range from the late Neolithic through the Early Bronze Age, indeed coinciding with the
evolution of the earliest desert pastoral nomadic societies in the region.
Long Wall Long Wall Short Axis
Magnetic N True N True N
Shrine 1 32O
34 O
306 O
Shrine 2 32O
34 O
306 O
Shrine 3 30 O
32 O
304 O
Shrine 4 23 O
25 O
295 O
Setting sun
Summer Solstice 298 O
Shrine 3 with shadow on
solstice
Alignments
Alignments of the shrines were determined by both landscape features, most
notably a large black volcanic mountain in the distance and two small hills on
either side of the line of sight with it, and to accord generally with the setting
sun of the summer solstice, with azimuth deviations from only 2 degrees to 8
degrees. Calculations of the azimuth of the setting sun of the summer solstice
5000 BC show a shift of less than one degree, significantly less than the
variability between the shrines themselves. In the absence of a ‘gun-sight’
style alignment, as for example as Stonehenge, the imprecision in alignment
can be adjusted by small shifts along the back edge of the shrine.
t is possible to roughly compute the probability of the coincidence of the
alignment of the shrine and the summer solstice sunset azimuth as follows:
Assuming a poor precision of measurement of 5 degrees (higher precision
implies even less likelihood of coincidence), then the probability of the shrine f
alling into the 5 degree interval of 195-300 degrees is 360 (degrees in a circle)
divided by 5 (degree interval) = 1/72.
The angular variation of the setting sun over the course of the year varies from
298-242 degrees, a range of 56 degrees. If this is also divided by our 5 degree
interval of precision, then the range is divided into 11.09 intervals (of 5
degrees each). Thus the solstice interval of 293-298 degrees only occurs with
a frequency of 1:11.09.
Thus the chances of the shrine alignment coinciding with the solstice is (1/11.09)
x (1/72) = 1/798.48= 0.00125, statistically very unlikely. There can be little
doubt as to the intent of these alignments.
Radiocarbon Chronology
Sample Type 14C Age ± 1s Calibrated Context δ13C
Years BP Age BC
RTT 4663 charcoal 6180 +/- 40 BC 5210-5050 (68.2%); Shrine 4 Sq. 422F -24.6
BC 5280-4990 (95.4%)
RTT 4664 leather 2225 +/- 35 BC 380-200 (68.2%); Tum. 29, later burial -20.4
BC 390-200 (95.4%)
RTT 4665 charcoal 5945 +/- 45 BC 4910-4730 (68.2%); Shrine 4 Sq. 432E (-23)
BC 4940-4710 (95.4%) hearth
Sample Depth
(m)
K
(%)
U
(ppm)
Th
(ppm)
ext.
Ext.
γ
C o s . D e ( G y ) N o . o f
d i s c s
D o s e r a t e Age
Tumulus 28
RS-8 0.8 0.71 3.3 4.6 1025 747 190 11.61.0 9 181964 6,500700
RS-9 0.8 0.66 3.4 4.7 1006 751 190 14.01.5 10 196028 7,500700
Tumulus 29
RS-10 0.7 0.57 2.5 5.4 845 663 196 3.50.35 11 171426 2,000200
RS-11 0.7 0.56 2.3 5.3 810 634 196 3.00.27 12 165026 1,800180
Sample No. of
grains
De (Gy)
Main peak
Dose rate Age (ka)
RS-5 9/42 5.40.7 121876 4.80.8
RS-1 12/30 4.71.4 112266 4.21.3
RS-6 23/34 6.12.6 99323 6.12.6
RS-3 27/36 5.42.4 107123 5.02.2
RS-2 32/73 8.22.6 127324 6.42.1
RS-4 30/40 5.71.5 98060 5.81.6
Optical Stimulated
Luminescence Dates
Before Present