Transformation of the Jeruzalem Hills cultural landscape with modern vineyard terraces

Abstract

The terraced landscape in the Jeruzalem Hills is the result of specific socioeconomic conditions under communism, and now its appearance is drastically changing for the second time in the last fifty years. This article examines the creation of the new landscape layer of modern cultivated terraces and studies their disappearance and the return to a condition similar to the original state. The analysis is based on interviews and visual interpretation of aerial laser scanning (lidar) data. It focuses on the state of the landscape before terracing, the creation of terraces and formation of a terraced landscape, and its most recent transformation into slopes without terraces. It is determined that, despite the recognized aesthetic value of terraces, legal protection in the form of a nature park has not impacted their preservation because 56% of them have already been leveled. With the conversion of vineyards to vertical plantations, a new challenge is arising: increased erosion.