Questioning Transjordan's Historic Desertification: a Critical Review Of
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Questioning Transjordan’s Historic Desertification: A Critical Review of the Paradigm of ‘Empty Lands’ Bernhard Lucke, Mohammed Shunnaq, Bethany Walker, Atef Shiyab, Zeidoun al-Muheisen, Hussein al-Sababha, Rupert Ba¨umler and Michael Schmidt European travel reports of the 19th century and excavations in Transjordan created the impression that population numbers were strongly reduced during the Islamic periods, leading to ‘empty’ lands which were only resettled during the early 20th century. This development was considered to be caused by bad (Muslim) governance, nomadic incursions, and environmental degradation. However, our case study near the ancient site Abila of the Decapolis in northern Jordan found that the land was never empty and always fertile, but there is evidence for a rapid and intense landscape change during the Late Byzantine period. This was probably caused by a significant shift to aridity which also triggered socio-economic changes in subsistence strategies from agriculture to nomadism. The climatic change seems to have occurred rapidly within approximately 100 years in the late 6th and early 7th centuries AD and was accompanied by heavy rainfall events. It might have been caused or triggered by the climatic event of the ‘Mystery Veil’ which the Byzantine historian Procopius described in the year 536 AD. During the Medieval period, settlement density increased again until another decline took place in the late Ottoman period. However, the vicinity of Abila was probably never abandoned and the continuity of place names speaks against a larger exchange of population. Rising population numbers and favourable climatic conditions in the early 20th century caused most tribes to settle again, which improved government control. Keywords: climate change, land degradation, overgrazing, abandonment, Mystery Veil, Abila of the Decapolis Introduction illustrated with the site of Abila, which had been the Transjordan had largely disappeared from Western centre of a bishopric in the Byzantine empire (Wineland literature after the Muslim conquest and after the 2001, 110) and still is a titular see in the Catholic church Crusades. With the advance of science and growing (Abilenus in Palaestina). As the first European to visit the Published by Maney Publishing (c) The Council for British Research in the Levant interest in geography during the early 19th century AD, place for centuries, Seetzen described the ruins of Abila Europeantravellersattemptedtorediscoverplacesmen- during his visit on 25 February 1806: ‘U¨ ber das kleine tioned in the Bible and Roman sources. In Transjordan, Wasser fu¨hrt eine steinerne Bru¨cke von einem Bogen in they encountered a land that appeared sparsely settled, die Stadt, die ga¨nzlich zersto¨rt ist, und wo keine Seele but full of well-preserved ruins,andinwhichmanyofthe wohnt’ (Seetzen 1854, 371–72). But the ruins were well biblical sites could not readily be identified. This can be preserved: ‘Man sieht dort noch viele Fundamente, Stu¨cke von der scho¨nen alten Stadtmauer, Gewo¨lbe, Sa¨ulen vorfn schmutzig-weißem Marmor, Basalt und Bernard Lucke (corresponding author), Friedrich-Alexander University of grauem Granit’ (Seetzen 1854, 371). But what had Erlangen-Nu¨rnberg, Institute of Geography, Kochstr. 4/4, 91054 Erlangen, Germany; email: [email protected]. Mohammed happened to people who had built these beautiful ruins? Shunnaq, Atef Shiyab, Zeidoun al-Muheisen, Hussein al-Sababha, Yarmouk University, Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Irbid, Had they all left the area, leaving few descendants, and Jordan. Bethany Walker, Missouri State University, Department of History, had many centuries passed before the new (pastoral?) Springfield, USA. Michael Schmidt, Brandenburg University of Technology, Department of Environmental Planning, Cottbus, Germany inhabitants had occupied the land? ß Council for British Research in the Levant 2012 Published by Maney DOI 10.1179/175638012X13285409187955 Levant 2012 VOL 44 NO 1 101 Lucke et al. Questioning Transjordan’s Historic Desertification The largely nomadic inhabitants of 19th-century triggered migrations from the steppes and deserts Transjordan have all too often been blamed for the (Rosen 2007, 151). However, excavations have indi- limited development of the country. The potentially cated that much the same range of crops was present in negative role of the nomads can be illustrated by the antiquity as are cultivated today, and although exact journey of Seetzen (1854, 362–71), who had to yields are mostly unknown, there is no indication of a disguise himself as a man of medicine and beggar significantly different climate pattern during antiquity because of the omnipresent threat of Bedouin raiders, or the historic past (Cordova 2007, 122–56; Rosen 2007, and passed by many villages that appeared to have 150–71). The area probably always had a semi-arid been abandoned. In fact, for Transjordan as a whole climate with a rainfall distribution similar to that of during this period, large areas belonged only nomin- today, but it is, of course, difficult to set thresholds that ally to the Ottoman Empire, and were de facto ruled can determine when a climate variation was significant by local tribes and alliances (Abujaber 1989, 35). This for ancient settlement. As outlined in the previous was the case at Abila at the time of the visits of paragraph, there is an unspecified general sense among Seetzen (1854, 364) and Burckhardt (1823, 417). many authors that yields in Mediterranean and semi- Nelson Glueck (1968) elaborated the travel reports arid environments might have decreased since anti- and biblical texts in the context of his extensive quity, but this is usually attributed to anthropogenic archaeological surveys, and contributed one of the land degradation rather than climate (Lowdermilk best-known narratives of the ‘empty lands’. 1953, 3–6). Some researchers think that connecting According to Glueck (1940; 1951; 1968), urban the historic development of Transjordan with climate settlements in Transjordan were dependent on the variations is rather too simple (H. Kennedy, pers. ability of those civilizations to defend themselves comm., Damascus, September 2010), although natural against the desert. By ‘desert’ he meant, firstly, its sciences are usually quite successful in seeking the inhabitants the Bedouins, and secondly ‘desertifica- simplest possible explanation (Issar 1990, 3–10). We tion’, i.e. the encroachment of barren land due to argue here that attributing the history of Transjordan to overgrazing, soil erosion and a limited water supply. land degradation and conflicts between ‘the desert and Whenever the forces of civilization succumbed to the the sown’ reflects a rather Euro-centric perspective, ‘desert’, this resulted in ‘empty’, deserted and which we attempt to challenge in this paper. desertified lands, inhabited only by a few nomads, The paradigms of ‘empty lands’ and ‘land degrada- viewed as ignorant of the ‘blessings’ of civilization. tion’ seem to elide in many approaches seeking to This idea is supported by the narratives of the current explain decline, and often rest upon unquestioned inhabitants of Transjordan, many of whom see their assumptions. Can we be sure of the severity of origin somewhere in the Arabian peninsula, and depopulation? How sound is the assumption that claim to have migrated to the Levant at some point in there was a decline in soil fertility? After a short more recent history. Glueck’s ideas had, and continue general discussion of the paradigms of ‘empty lands’ to have, a profound impact on popular opinion. For and ‘land degradation’, we approach these questions example, the paradigm of Bedouin raids is usually the using a case study of the site of Abila and its first explanation considered for the desertion of sites surrounding villages, which are located approxi- near the desert (Issar 1990, 6). Related to this is the mately 18 km north of Irbid in Northern Jordan paradigm of land degradation. Even now, the land- (Fig. 1). Abila, Glueck’s site no. 58 (Wineland 2001, scapes of the Mediterranean and its adjacent steppes 14), was chosen because it is a ‘classic’ example of the Published by Maney Publishing (c) The Council for British Research in the Levant and desert are described as ‘ruined’ (see the exemplary ‘empty lands’ scenario. Located in a Mediterranean summary by Grove and Rackham (2003, 8–23)) while environment not far from the steppe, it was a large grazing and pastoral land management are often urban centre during the Byzantine period, with an counted among the worst subsistence practices in this economy based on rain-fed agriculture. According to environment (Grove and Rackham 2003, 201–03). the archaeological record, Abila declined during the Alternative explanations for Transjordan’s perceived early Islamic period and was abandoned after the desertification have also been put forward. The most Abbasid Caliphate, apparently never to be resettled important of these is climate change, first suggested by (Wineland 2001, 114–15). In this context, it is an Huntington (1911, 249–82), who found it hard to important and promising exception since nearly all of imagine that the current semi-arid environment could the major Byzantine sites in the region were to some have supported a population and economy sufficient degree resettled in the early 20th century. It appears, for the construction of the impressive monuments in fact, that a great part of the ruins was dismantled of antiquity. Additionally,