Elusa. From Nabataean Trading Post to Late Antique Desert Metropolis

艾露莎。

• 批准号: 457987972
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Michael Heinzelmann
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung Christliche Archäologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/457987972?language=en
• 关键词: Elusa.; Nabataean; Trading; Post; Late

On the semi-arid northern edge of the Negev desert, one of the most important ancient wine-growing regions of the Eastern Mediterranean with numerous villages and farms developed from 2/3 to the 6th century AD, in a landscape that is now largely uninhabited. Many of the settlements had already been founded by the Nabataeans in the 3rd/2nd century BC as caravan stations along the 'Incense Road' leading from Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea. After the Roman annexation, the Nabataean long-distance trade decreased and the settlements turned into surplus producing agricultural centres. This process was made possible by a highly developed water management system and - still under discussion - a favourable climatic phase with higher precipitation. The settlements were not abandoned until well after the Arab conquest in the 8th/9th century. Today they belong to the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Incense Road'.The administrative, economic, religious and cultural centre of this settlement landscape was Elusa, about 50 km from the Mediterranean Sea. With an area of 45 hectares and a population of about 8-10,000 people, it was the only genuine city in the region. Elusa's convenient location with excellent transport links, year-round groundwater and a large agricultural hinterland favoured its development. Nevertheless, Elusa's almost 1000-year settlement history shows dramatic breaks and profound transformation processes, which were essentially determined by three factors: a precarious natural environment, changing political conditions and the location in a dynamic contact zone between the Nabataean-Arab and Mediterranean cultures.While our knowledge of the villages and proto-urban settlements in the Negev is quite extensive, the important urban centre of Elusa has long been almost disregarded. A systematic investigation of the city and its surroundings was only begun with a research project started by the applicants in 2015. It has already led to a considerable advance in knowledge and has helped to demonstrate the enormous archaeological potential of Elusa. However, some crucial aspects still need to be further clarified: among them the early development of the city, the sacred topography and the housing culture, as well as the waste management and the economic structure. These questions will be pursued in the final phase of the project applied for here by means of a broad methodological approach. The aim is to use a multidisciplinary research approach to achieve a holistic understanding of the city, encompassing its overall urban structure and development on the one hand, and its social, economic, religious and cultural circumstances and the changes in these on the other. The study of Elusa makes an important contribution to the investigation of an extraordinary settlement landscape that prospered for many centuries under ecologically and economically difficult conditions on the edge of the ancient world.

位于内盖夫沙漠半干旱的北部边缘，是东地中海最重要的古代葡萄酒产区之一，拥有众多村庄和农场，建于公元 2/3 至 6 世纪，但现在大部分地区已无人居住。许多定居点是纳巴泰人在公元前 3/2 世纪建立的，作为从阿拉伯半岛通往地中海的“香火之路”上的商队驿站。罗马吞并后，纳巴泰人的长途贸易减少，定居点变成了生产剩余的农业中心。这一过程是通过高度发达的水管理系统以及（仍在讨论中）降水量较高的有利气候阶段实现的。直到八、九世纪阿拉伯人征服之后很久，这些定居点才被废弃。如今，它们属于联合国教科文组织世界遗产“香火之路”。这一聚落景观的行政、经济、宗教和文化中心是埃卢萨，距离地中海约 50 公里。面积45公顷，人口约8-1万人，是该地区唯一真正的城市。埃卢萨地理位置便利，交通便利，全年都有地下水，还有大片的农业腹地，有利于其发展。然而，埃卢萨近1000年的定居历史显示出戏剧性的断裂和深刻的转变过程，这本质上是由三个因素决定的：不稳定的自然环境、不断变化的政治条件以及位于纳巴泰-阿拉伯和地中海文化之间动态接触区的位置。虽然我们对内盖夫的村庄和原始城市聚落的了解相当广泛，但埃卢萨的重要城市中心长期以来几乎被忽视。申请人于 2015 年启动的一个研究项目才开始对这座城市及其周边地区进行系统调查。它已经使知识取得了相当大的进步，并有助于展示埃卢萨巨大的考古潜力。然而，一些关键方面仍需要进一步明确：其中包括城市的早期发展、神圣的地形和居住文化，以及废物管理和经济结构。这些问题将在此处申请的项目的最后阶段通过广泛的方法来解决。其目的是利用多学科的研究方法来全面了解城市，一方面涵盖城市的整体结构和发展，另一方面涵盖社会、经济、宗教和文化状况及其变化。对埃卢萨的研究对调查古代世界边缘的一个非凡的定居点景观做出了重要贡献，该定居点在生态和经济困难的条件下繁荣了许多世纪。