Roman Aqaba Project Hb: Final Report, Volume 1: The Regional Environment and the Regional Survey (American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Reports)

the long version

Volume 1: "This first of three projected volumes of the project's final report focuses on the regional environment and the regional survey. Analysis of the environment employs a wide range of evidence to analyze the physiography, geology, soils, seismic history, climate, and natural resources. Various lines of evidence are employed to reconstruct the paleoclimate, which seems to have remained essentially hyperarid since early historical times. The report also includes results of an intensive archaeological survey of Wadi Araba, the shallow valley extending north from Aqaba to the Dead Sea. The project surveyed the southeastern the valley, recording 334 archaeological sites, most previously unrecorded. These of these were small and unobtrusive and ranged in date from Paleolithic to Late Islamic, but especially common were sites of the Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age and the Early Roman/Nabataean periods, suggesting more intensive occupation in these periods. The volume also includes chapters on artifacts collected by the survey, including chipped stone tools, pottery, and Nabataean inscriptions. Aila apparently lacked any significant agricultural hinterland. The city was largely dependent on imports from more distant sources."--