The Emergence of Terrace Farming in the Arid Zone of the Levant—Past Perspectives and Future Implications

Abstract

Terrace farming installations occupy vast desert areas in the Southern Levant. Their construction in harsh environments raises critical questions focusing on the natural, political, and economic circumstances promoting their construction and operation. The present review, based on new observations and previously published materials, focused on three different arid regions located across the Southern Levant, namely the Eastern Marmarica of Northwestern Egypt, the Negev Desert of Israel, and the Petra region in Jordan. The comparison between the regions allows us to uncover the forces behind this vast phenomenon, and to draw conclusions on the relevance of these arid zones to past and present agricultural productivity. The results of this study showed that the environmental conditions in the Southern Levant provided soil and water throughout the entire Holocene, and that terrace farming was a well-known method to the early inhabitants of the region. However, the actual implementation of the vast phase of terrace farming was diachronic across the region, according to the political and economic circumstances promoting their construction at each location. As enhanced desertification is expected to accelerate during the coming decades, the maintenance of agricultural terraces is vital for the conservation of agricultural productivity in the forthcoming warming world, especially in arid lands.