Geology and the loessial soils, Tell Jemmeh, Israel

Abstract

AbstractTell Jemmeh (Tell Re'im) is in the climatically sensitive transitional zone between the southern Coastal Plain of Israel and the northwestern Negev. It is a major site that was inhabited from about 3500 to 200 B.C. with an occupation gap between ca. 3100 and 1800 B.C., possibly a result of a particularly dry period. Quaternary loess derived by winter dust storms from the Sinai and Sahara and reworked loess blanket the region. Imposed on these are well‐developed Holocene and Quaternary pedocal profiles that have been identified in the field and substantiated in the lab by variations in bulk chemical composition, petrography, and mineralogy by X‐ray diffraction. Pluvial events are evidenced by dark‐colored A‐horizons high in clay minerals, Al2O3, and Fe2O3 and by periods of loess accumulation. Interpluvials and the Holocene commonly involved wind ablation and water erosion, and led to shallow depths with very high‐calcite B‐horizons. Some of the loessial soil horizons were found to be suitable ceramic clays, and their composition and petrography provide a basis for distinctions between locally made and imported ceramics, as well as to identifying modifications of local clay resources by potters.