From Standing Stones to Open Mosques in the Negev Desert: The Archaeology of Religious Transformation on the Fringes

Abstract

Contrary to received wisdom, which assumes a rapid penetration of formative Islam into southern Palestine, the archaeological evidence from the Negev points toward a much slower transformation from paganism and Christianity to Islam in the fringe areas in the turbulent period following the Islamc conquests. The pagan tradition of worshiping at standing stones that prevailed among the nomadic population of the Negev and Sinai from prehistoric times gradually transformed during the Early Islamic period into a tradition of worship in open-air mosques, as the finds at sites like Nahal Besor and Nahal 'Oded indicate.