The Origins of Terracing in the Southern Levant and Patch Cultivation/Box Fields

This paper looks at various suggestions relating to what incipient and early forms of terracing might have looked like, and goes on to suggest that some of the earliest terraces in the southern Levant may have emerged from horticultural practices, and more specifically the cultivation of olive trees...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Gibson Shimon, Lewis Rafael Y.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2017-12-01
Series:Journal of Landscape Ecology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1515/jlecol-2017-0037
Description
Summary:This paper looks at various suggestions relating to what incipient and early forms of terracing might have looked like, and goes on to suggest that some of the earliest terraces in the southern Levant may have emerged from horticultural practices, and more specifically the cultivation of olive trees within sunken patches of soil on rocky hillslopes (referred to as “patch cultivation” or “box fields”). This phenomenon may be traced back to the Chalcolithic period (4th millennium B.C.E), if not to earlier times.
ISSN:1805-4196