Southern Negev Research Articles

Miners' diet in the Naḥal ‘Amram copper mines (southern ‘Arabah Valley) during the Roman-Byzantine periods

This study investigates the diet of copper miners at Naḥal ‘Amram (southern Negev Desert), through the examination of the well-preserved remains of plants, mammal and fish bones, dating to the Roman-Byzantine periods (1st–5th centuries CE), recovered during excavations undertaken in three different localities at this mining complex.Our analyses revealed that the miners enjoyed a varied and nutritious diet, comprising nine species of fruits and vegetables, alongside meat from two domestic animal taxa and representatives of eight different families of fish. While the fish and animal foods were brought to the mines from the Red Sea and neighboring regions, the vegetal food originated from a variety of different sources, some nearby, others quite distant.We suggest that since copper was traded from Naḥal ‘Amram, the foods arrived at the mines via the same trade routes, from settlements along the ‘Arabah, and these foodstuffs were likely bartered in exchange for copper. The results imply that the people engaged in copper mining were likely a local desert population, Nabataeans, supplementing their food needs from external sources and so enjoying improved nutritional status.Beyond its findings, the importance of this study lies in the combination of several disciplines, a methodology which can be useful for future research and provide a more reliable understanding of reconstructing the ancient diet.

The Constructed Desert: A Sacred Cultural Landscape at Har Tzuriaz, Negev, Israel

Past and present cultures perceive their natural landscape as an integral and vital component of their complex worlds, while particular landscape features and associated monuments built in selected locales become sacred and revered through stories, legends and rituals embedded in mundane and ceremonial events. The hyper-arid Har Tzuriaz area in the southern Negev, Israel, offers a case study of culture-geographic continuities over a chronologically cumulative archaeological sequence. The large set of well-preserved structures located adjacent to water sources, a massive escarpment and a major desert crossroads includes campsites, cult sites, rock-art sites, cairn fields and one desert kite (a large game trap). Cultural continuities and change can be traced from the sixth millennium bce through recent times, reflecting a dynamic system of meanings and interpretations of both the natural and the built landscape within one particular sacred area in the desert. These phenomena are exemplified in archaeological analyses of an open-air shrine, burial cairns, an isolated desert kite and a precise engraving of that kite dated 5000 years later, all in the general context of a dense concentration of surveyed sites.

Handaxes and Cleavers on Flakes of Silicified Limestone at Nahal Barak, Southern Negev and Possible Connections to the Arabian Peninsula Acheulian

Handaxes and Cleavers on Flakes of Silicified Limestone at Nahal Barak, Southern Negev and Possible Connections to the Arabian Peninsula Acheulian

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Ecological ApplicationsVolume 33, Issue 3 e2659 COVER IMAGEFree Access Cover Image First published: 03 April 2023 https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2659AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Graphical Abstract COVER PHOTO: Pictured is a Cape hare (Lepus capensis) photographed in 2018 in Wadi Tznifim within the Nehalim Gdolim Nature Reserve, situated in the southern Negev Desert and Arava mountains of Israel. The Cape hare is native to the region. In their study published in this issue, Lewin et al. (Article e2804; doi:10.1002/eap.2804) show that nearby intensive agroecosystems have impacted these and other native desert species, as well as invasives, through added agricultural resources mediated by trophic cascades. Photo credit: Doron Nissim. Volume33, Issue3April 2023e2659 RelatedInformation

Emergence of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria in crude oil-contaminated soil in a hyperarid ecosystem: Effect of phosphate addition and augmentation with nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria on oil bioremediation

Hyperarid hot deserts impose limiting conditions for microbial activity, thus delaying crude oil biodegradation resulting from accidental spills. This study examined the emergence of oil-degrading bacterial species in the soil of a hyperarid area in the southern Negev desert, Israel, which was exposed to a major oil spill. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene showed dominance of the phyla Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria in both contaminated and control soils. Significant differences were seen in the abundance of the phylum Firmicutes. Classes Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Bacilli dominated the oil-contaminated soil. Bacterial species capable of degrading aromatic and aliphatic oil constituents were isolated from the contaminated soil. Contaminated soil microcosms were amended separately with nitrogen, phosphorus, or nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (NFC) biomass; the highest reduction in total petroleum hydrocarbons was observed in the phosphorus-supplemented soil. The abundance of alkB gene, encoding alkane monooxygenase, increased significantly in the control, NFC and phosphate treatments, but not in the nitrogen treatment. However, nahA abundance (coding for naphthalene dioxygenase) was only considerably increased with the phosphorus amendment. While nitrogen amendment via NFC bioaugmentation is a sustainable and novel biostimulation method, phosphorus amendment significantly accelerates the biodegradation of crude oil under extremely arid conditions.

A tale of sky and desert: Translation and imaginaries in transnational windows of institutional opportunity

Institutional change in regional economies is affected by multiscalar developments such as alignment with the EU and its markets. In countries in the EU’s Eastern and Southern neighborhood, processes of alignment and mutual market liberalization shape the supranational conditions for regional development but do so in variegated ways. Policy alignment consists of changes in the supranational institutional context that are translated into diverse changes in the regional institutional context. Building on literature on institutional entrepreneurship, cultural political economy, and actor-network theory, the paper argues that EU alignment opens a transnational window of institutional opportunity for agents to shape regional development through the translation of institutional change both between different spatial scales and between different components of institutional contexts. In this contested process, institutional entrepreneurs draw on imaginaries, narratives, and visions, and actively shape them. The empirical case of tourism in Israel's Southern Negev illustrates the impact of the country's integration into the EU’s external aviation policy on the tourism sector as well as the strategies of institutional entrepreneurs to use this transnational window of institutional opportunity to promote diverse patterns of institutional change based on multiple imaginaries.

‘I am sorry for troubling you with the bother of replying! But I really want to know’: An unpublished letter by T. E. Lawrence to Max van Berchem about a Mameluke inscription from Naqb (Sinai/Negev)

ABSTRACT Exactly one month before the outbreak of the Great War, on 28 June 1914, Thomas Edward Lawrence hastily wrote a note to the great specialist in Arabic epigraphy, the Swiss scholar Max van Berchem. At that time Lawrence, together with Charles Leonard Woolley, was preparing the publication of The Wilderness of Zin, regarding the archaeological survey of the southern Negev conducted shortly before on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund. Discussing the problems of archaeological research at a time when the European powers were seeking to consolidate their strategic positions in the Middle East in view of the impending war, this article touches on the birth of Arabic epigraphy through the epigraphic evidence left by the penultimate Mameluke Sultan, Qansuh al-Ghuri. In particular, the paper provides an update on the inscription from Naqb (Sinai/Negev) referring to the Muslim pilgrimage from Cairo to Mecca, the subject of Lawrence's letter to van Berchem.

Predicting net radiation in naturally ventilated greenhouses based on outside global solar radiation for reference evapotranspiration estimation

A reliable prediction of net radiation (Rn) inside naturally ventilated greenhouses is critical for accurate evapotranspiration evaluation and thus for water saving, considering that previous studies have indicated that evapotranspiration in such relatively decoupled greenhouses is predominantly controlled by greenhouse Rn (Rn-GH). We hypothesized here that Rn-GH in naturally ventilated greenhouses can be accurately predicted using global solar radiation in the vicinity of the greenhouse (Rs-out) as the only measured parameter, together with the calculated position of the sun, defined by the solar elevation angle and solar azimuth. To test this hypothesis, we performed experiments in two adjacent greenhouses in the Southern Negev, Israel (30.96° N, 34.69° E) under arid climate. In one of the greenhouses, tomato was grown during winter 2017–2018, while in the other, melon was grown during winter and spring 2018–2019. Our analyses demonstrated that Rn-GH can be accurately predicted (r2 = 0.982) using Rs-out as the only measured parameter, while the global solar radiation inside the greenhouse (Rs-GH), and the ratio between Rn-GH and Rs-GH are predominantly dependent on solar elevation angle and solar azimuth, as well as the greenhouse structure and cloud cover. This paper shows that the impact of these properties on the association between Rs-out and Rn-GH can be accurately resolved using multivariate regression by the k-nearest neighbors approach. This suggests that computerized modeling of the greenhouse structure and light transmission can potentially enable precise evaluation of Rn-GH and therefore also reference evapotranspiration in naturally ventilated greenhouses, using Rs-out as the only measured parameter. A calculation-based factor for the cloud effect on Rs-out transmittance into the greenhouse significantly improved the Rn-GH prediction under cloudy conditions.

Yotvata in the Southern Negev and Its Association with Copper Mining and Trade in the Early Iron Age

The Iron I Yotvata “fortress” is situated in the area of the Yotvata Oasis, located in the Arabah Valley in the southern Negev. It was built atop a high, steep hill that faced the oasis and the routes leading to it. The site is surrounded by an irregular case-mate wall. The casemate rooms contained various finds and pottery. Significantly, two pottery vessels of Qurayya Painted Ware, which originate in the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, were found here. The location and character of this site possibly indicates that it was established in order to protect the water sources of the oasis and supervise the nearby crossroad extending along the Arabah Valley. In addition, due to its relative proximity to Timna, it appears that the oasis formed the main source of water and wood supply for the copper mines in Timna, where trees are scarce and water hardly available.

Atmospheric conditions leading to an exceptional fatal flash flood in the Negev Desert, Israel

Abstract. The study deals with an intense rainstorm that hit the Middle East between 24 and 27 April 2018 and took the lives of 13 people, 10 of them on 26 April during the deadliest flash flood in Tzafit Basin (31.0∘ N, 35.3∘ E), the Negev Desert. The rainfall observed in the southern Negev was comparable to the long-term annual rainfall there, with intensities exceeding a 75-year return period. The timing of the storm, at the end of the rainy season when rain is relatively rare and spotty, raises the question of what the atmospheric conditions were that made this rainstorm one of the most severe late-spring storms. The synoptic background was an upper-level cut-off low that formed south of a blocking high which developed over eastern Europe. The cut-off low entered the Levant near 30∘ N latitude, slowed its movement from ∼10 to <5 m s−1 and so extended the duration of the storm over the region. The dynamic potential of the cut-off low, as estimated by its curvature vorticity, was the largest among the 12 late-spring rainstorms that occurred during the last 33 years. The lower levels were dominated by a cyclone centred over north-western Saudi Arabia, producing north-westerly winds that advected moist air from the Mediterranean inland. During the approach of the storm, the atmosphere over Israel became unstable, with instability indices reaching values favourable for thunderstorms (e.g. CAPE>1500 J kg−1, LI=4 K) and the precipitable water reaching 30 mm. The latter is explained by lower-level moisture advection from the Mediterranean and an additional contribution of mid-level moist air transport entering the region from the east. Three major rain centres were active over Israel during 26 April, only one of them was orographic and the other two were triggered by instability and mesoscale cyclonic centres. The build-up of the instability is explained by a negative upper-level temperature anomaly over the region caused by a northerly flow east of a blocking high that dominated eastern Europe and ground warming during several hours under clear skies. The intensity of this storm is attributed to an amplification of a mid-latitude disturbance which produced a cut-off low with its implied high relative vorticity, low upper-level temperatures and slow progression. All these, combined with the contribution of moisture supply, led to intense moist convection that prevailed over the region for 3 successive days.

Ancient to recent-past runoff harvesting agriculture in the hyper-arid Arava Valley: OSL dating and insights

Runoff harvesting agriculture was prevalent in ancient times across the southern Levant. In modern Israel, remnants of this agricultural adaptation strategy are widespread mostly in the semi-arid and arid Negev. Extensive literature has thoroughly described the farming systems of this region. However, runoff agriculture in the dryer, hyper-arid regions of the Arava Valley and southern Negev (excluding the Uvda Valley), has scarcely been researched. A recent study revealed remnants of simple stone terraces in several wadis (ephemeral stream channels) throughout the central Arava Valley that have not yet been dated. The objective of this study was to use the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) method to date sediments trapped in the stone terraces. The results revealed dominance of terraces dated to the Ottoman period (1516–1917 CE). Few samples were dated to the earlier Late Islamic period (1099–1516 CE) or Byzantine period (324–638 CE), and to the later, modern period of the mid-20th century. Generally, these periods coincide with relatively moister regional climatic conditions, which prevailed in the 4th, 11th–12th, and late 19th centuries CE. Yet, our findings also concur with periods of effective governance by central administrations. Therefore, results of this study fit the concept that runoff agriculture practiced in peripheral areas in ancient to recent-past times was co-determined by climatic settings and geo-political conditions, which enabled human inhabitation in these regions.

Runoff generation, rill erosion and time-scales for hyper-arid abandoned alluvial surfaces, the Negev desert, Israel

Sequences of abandoned alluvial surfaces are ubiquitous desert landscapes considered as responding to Quaternary-timescale climatic fluctuations and tectonic activity. The post-depositional evolution surficial properties of these alluvial surfaces change with time: (a) surface clast breakdown and development of desert pavement, (b) dust and salts accumulation (c) Reg (gravelly) desert soil evolution.In the present study, we focus on the hydrological response and the resulting erosional processes, to these changes in surface properties over a sequence of late-Pleistocene-Holocene, abandoned alluvial surfaces in Nahal Evrona catchment at the hyperarid southern Arava Valley north of the towns of Eilat (Israel) and Aqaba (Jordan).The methods used in the study are: (a) simulated rainfall experiments to determine hydrological characteristics, (b) Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) to determine surface roughness, (c) OSL dating for the chronology, (d) surface and soil descriptions and measurements and grain-size analyses to determine texture of the uppermost Av horizon of the Reg soil (e) GIS analysis of the new drainage network developing over the older abandoned alluvial surfaces.The results show that with time, roughness decreases, infiltration decreases to about 8–9% relative to present rates, point runoff generation increases >5 fold, and as a result, rill and gully erosion initiated, finally leading to the destruction of the alluvial surface. Under the current hyper-arid climate in the southern Negev desert, between ~30 and 50 ka of surface weathering and soil development are required before significant runoff is generated and >100 ka until effective runoff initiates rill and gully erosion over these abandoned alluvial surfaces. This local-source runoff and gully erosion essentially destroys the alluvial surfaces in the southern Arava valley within a period of 400–500 ka. Roughness, extracted from spaceborne Lidar scanning, which is inversely related to surface age, directly reduces friction and resistance to runoff, can provide an estimate for the hydrological characteristics of the surfaces. This can support applications such as rainfall-runoff models, risk assessment, etc.

Hydro-climate research of the late quaternary of the Eastern Mediterranean-Levant region based on speleothems research – A review

The Eastern Mediterranean (EM) - Levant region is the eastern borderland of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS). The EMS brings Mediterranean climate zones to the immediate coastal region and hinterland, but away from the influence of the EMS, the region rapidly becomes a desert. Paleoclimate evidence derived from a large number of studies on speleothems from caves located along sharp climatic gradients enables deep insight into the climate in the EM-Levant region. Growth periods and isotopic composition of speleothems from the various climate regimes capture the regional signals of temperature, rainfall amount and vegetation.Speleothems from northern and central Israel grew continuously in areas where present-day annual rainfall is ∼400–500 mm and show that water was always available during glacials and interglacials. These speleothems display a well-defined δ18O orbital modulation of glacial and interglacial marine isotope stages (MIS) and show good correlations with the EMS marine records, pointing to strong direct sea-land links. The climatic record indicates relatively drier and cooler glacials but extreme wet peaks during interglacials, mainly MIS 5e between 128–120 ka BP. Pluvial conditions penetrated to the northern, central and southern Negev Desert.The present-day climatic gradient between the different climatic regions existed through interglacials. However, growth periods of speleothems from the northern Negev Desert, from the “rain shadow’ desert, and the Dead Sea Basin, suggest that during last glacial the desert boundary moved from its interglacial and present-day position ∼30 km farther south and ∼60 km farther east, due to positive water balance.

Investigations at Naḥal Roded 110: a Late Neolithic ritual site in the southern Negev

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Pride, shame, and guilt: socio-emotional aspects of the encounter between the Bedouin and Fellahi dialects

ABSTRACT This article examines the encounter between two Arabic dialects, one in use in Arab communities in central Israel (originally a community of farmers – Fellahin) and one in use among Bedouins who migrated to the area from the southern Negev area. We relied on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 18 participants representing four Bedouin migrant generations. The findings indicated that Bedouin migrants perceive the Bedouin dialect as a different language, which they have to ‘translate’ to the local Fellahi population. A clear inter-generational distinction was found in the willingness to switch from the Bedouin to the Fellahi dialect or to mix the two. Migrant parents have more negative feelings about mixing the Bedouin and Fellahi dialects than children who did not experience migration. Linguistically, the first generation exhibited differentiation, hybridity, and a tendency to avoid integration into the local population in an attempt to preserve the Bedouin dialect. This pattern dwindled in subsequent generations – the second tended to adopt an ‘intermediate’ dialect, whereas the third tends to mix the two and use each one according to the home or public spheres. Further conclusions and implications are also considered.

Affective Borderlands: Experiences in Practice of the Neo-Zionist Settling Enterprise in the Israeli Periphery

In writing on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the image of neo-Zionist settlers is taken often uncritically as an immediate expression of power, in representations by both settler movements and their opponents. Based on an ethnographic perspective that combines Herzfeld’s attention to the “intimacies” with critical writing on the symbolization of reality, I shift attention to an intricate representation of “affective borderlands” to illuminate situated experiences of settler–native relations in practice. Focusing on specific fragile and contradictory relations of single settlers and natives unfolding around a newly established village in Israel’s southern Negev desert, this ethnographic lens contributes to a deeper understanding of Israeli–Palestinian relations as entangled and entwined rather than separate. Beyond a dichotomist conception of native–settler relations and beyond the palpable dynamics of power, this examination of affective borderlands demonstrates that the more opponents invest in distinguishing themselves from the settler endeavor, the more its power over them grows.

Unearthing the Wilderness: Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age

Unearthing the Wilderness: Studies on the History and Archaeology of the Negev and Edom in the Iron Age

Murashkoite, FeP, a new terrestrial phosphide from pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Formation, South Levant

Murashkoite, FeP, is a new mineral found in pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Formation, South Levant. It is a typical accessory phase in the marbles and paralavas in the southern Negev Desert, Israel and on the Transjordan Plateau, Jordan. Murashkoite occurs as grains and aggregates up to 2 mm closely associated with barringerite, (Fe,Ni)2P, and zuktamrurite, FeP2. The rock-forming minerals include pyroxenes of the diopside-hedenbergite series, anorthite with subordinate gehlenite, tridymite, cristobalite, pyrrhotite, fluorapatite, chromite, magnetite, hematite, merrillite and late hydrothermal carbonates, silicates and sulfates. Macroscopically, murashkoite is yellowish-grey in colour and has a metallic lustre. In reflected light, the mineral is white with a beige tint and it is non-pleochroic. The anisotropy is distinct, from yellow-grey to greyish-blue. Selected reflectance values [Rmax–Rmin, % (λ, nm)] are: 42.7–40.8 (400), 42.0–40.6 (500), 44.5–43.4 (600), 48.0–47.7 (700). It is brittle. VHN20 = 468 kg mm−2. The holotype material has the chemical composition (electron microprobe): Fe 63.82; Ni 0.88; P 35.56; total 100.26 wt.%. The empirical formula calculated on the basis of 2 apfu is (Fe0.99Ni0.01)1.00P1.00 corresponding to FeP. Murashkoite is orthorhombic, space group Pnma, unit cell parameters refined from the single-crystal data are: a 5.099(2), b 3.251(2), c 5.695(2) A, V 94.41(8) A3, Z = 4, Dx = 6.108(5) g cm−3. The crystal structure was solved and refined to R1 = 0.0305 on the basis of 131 unique reflections with I > 2σ(I). The strongest lines of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern [(d, A) (I, %) (hkl)]: 2.831(75)(002,011); 2.548(22)(200); 2.477(46)(102,111); 1.975(47)(112); 1.895(100)(202,211); 1.779(19)(103); 1.632(45)(013,301,020). The mineral is named in honour of Dr. Mikhail Nikolaevich Murashko (born 1952), for his contributions to the mineralogy of the Hatrurim Formation. Murashkoite is a natural counterpart of synthetic FeP, the compound widely used in heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis.

Pseudo soil in hyper-arid ephemeral stream channel beds: Geo-ecological implications of the fluvio-pedogenic unit (FPU)

The type of stratum in dryland ephemeral channel beds (wadis) determines its hydrological characteristics, which impact vegetation productivity. The objective of this study was to assess some key properties of a cemented, fine-grained bed stratum, previously characterized as a fluvio-pedogenic unit (FPU), as well as those of the overlying non-cohesive gravel bed stratum, known as a fluvially active unit (FAU). While the latter is an outcome of regular fluvial processes of recurring scour and fill, the former is characterized by horizonation, calcium carbonate deposition, oxidation, and accumulation of fine-grained material, defining it more as a soil or pseudo soil than as a sediment. The study was conducted in the hyper-arid southern Negev and Arava Valley of Israel, where the FAU and the underlying FPU were investigated, focusing on geo-ecological functioning. The results revealed considerable differences between the two types of strata. The contents of hygroscopic moisture, total organic carbon, and calcium carbonate were fourfold, 57%, and 36% greater, respectively, in the FPU than these in the FAU. Above all, the fine particle contents, including the clay and silt fractions, were almost eightfold and almost sixfold greater, respectively, for the FPU than those for the FAU, characterizing the former as loamy fine sand and the latter as fine sand. Altogether, these properties determine the stratum's field capacity and permanent wilting point, which were 73% and 50% greater, respectively, in the FPU than those in the FAU. In turn, the last two properties determine the available water capacity, which was almost twofold greater under the FPU than that under the FAU. Considering the (i) FPU's mean thickness of 0.6 m; (ii) FPU's horizonation into A, B, and C horizons; and (iii) a 70–90% decrease in available water capacity between FPU's A and B horizons, as well as between its B and C horizons, then the total available water capacity throughout this stratum's thickness is 20–87% greater under the FPU than that under the FAU. In addition, the FPU's cemented nature seems to provide a safe stratum that remains stable during floods, sustaining the establishment and growth of deep-rooted perennial vegetation. It is concluded that the FUP's properties have positive implications for vegetation growth and survival under the harsh climatic conditions across the region.

Zuktamrurite, FeP2, a new mineral, the phosphide analogue of löllingite, FeAs2

Zuktamrurite, FeP2, is a new mineral, a natural iron diphosphide found in the pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Formation, in the southern part of the Negev Desert, Israel and on the Transjordan Plateau, Jordan. The mineral occurs as irregular grains up to 50 µm in size associated with murashkoite, FeP, and barringerite, (Fe,Ni)2P. In reflected light, zuktamrurite is white with a distinct bluish tint. It is non-pleochroic but exhibits distinct anisotropy in bluish colours. Reflectance values for the IMA COM recommended wavelengths are [Rmax/Rmin, % (λ, nm)]: 50.40/47.20 (470); 49.16/46.23 (546); 48.97/46.16 (589); 49.40/46.40 (650). It is brittle. Electron microprobe analysis of the holotype specimen gave the following chemical composition (wt%, average of 5 points): Fe 40.23; Ni 7.97; P 51.70; total 99.90. The empirical formula calculated on the basis of 3 apfu is (Fe0.86Ni0.16)1.02P1.98 corresponding to FeP2. Zuktamrurite is orthorhombic, space group Pnnm, unit cell parameters refined from the single-crystal data: a 4.9276(6), b 5.6460(7), c 2.8174(4) A, V 78.38(1) A3, Z = 2. Dx = 5.003 g cm−3. The crystal structure was solved and refined to R1 = 0.0121 on the basis of 109 unique reflections with I > 2σ(I). The strongest lines of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern [(d, A) (I, %) (hkl)]: 3.714 (54) (110); 2.820 (31) (020); 2.451 (100) (120, 101); 2.242 (55) (111); 1.760 (37) (211). The mineral is named for the Zuk-Tamrur cliff (Dead Sea) located nearby the type locality, the Halamish Wadi, southern Negev Desert, Israel. Zuktamrurite is the phosphide analogue of lollingite (loellingite), FeAs2. It is the most phosphorus-rich phosphide ever found in nature.