Problems of Relating Environmental History to Human Settlement in the Classical and Late Classical Periods—The Example of Southern Jordan

Abstract

The dating resolution of the results of palaeoenvironmental and climatological studies, such as sedimentary or pollen analyses, is generally within a couple of hundred years at best, which makes it complicated to relate environmental changes to those in human settlement and land use. This chapter addresses these problems and discusses them in the light of research material from southern Jordan. It provides a background description of the environmental conditions and archaeological research there. The chapter also addresses the problems created by the lack of local palaeoenvironmental data as well as the limitations of the use of proxies and their reliability. It presents the results of the author's study comparing the archaeological settlement patterns and evidence of climatic change for the Late Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods in the Petra region, southern Jordan. Keywords:archaeological settlement; climatic change; environmental change; human settlement; Petra region; southern Jordan