ייעוד ושלבי התפתחות של קירות טרסות-ואדי ושדה בעמק נחל זנוח בשפלת יהודה

Abstract

This study presents a new methodological approach by which to identify the function, relative age, and field relations between buried walls at two sites in the valley of Nahal (wadi) Zanoah along the morphological contact between the Judean Highland Hills and Foothills. Sedimentology and relative pulsed-photon stimulated luminescence (PPSL)-based chronology of fine-grained sediments beneath, within, above, and abutting the studied walls, reveal the sedimentation phases of the valley and the role of these walls. A wadi-terrace wall was revealed bordering alluvium of a buried and ancient course of Nahal Zanoah, reflecting a more energetic flow regime than that of today. On the palaeosurface of the infilled sediment behind the wadi-terrace wall and up-valley are low field walls, probably marking agricultural boundaries. The upvalley field wall upon colluvium is found to be slightly more mature than the field wall positioned in the wadi-terraceAn overlaying ~0.75 m of sediment originating from the slopes and soils of the drainage basin forms the current valley floor, which appears to have undergone significant deposition due to premodern and modern mechanical activities.