OSL Age Determination of Archaeological Stone Structures Using Trapped Aeolian Sediments: A Case Study from the Negev Highlands,Israel

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is widely applied to sediments in paleoenvironmental sciences. However, there are only limited examples determining the age of archaeological stone structures by OSL using dust deposits. The age of dust deposits associated with ancient buildings may be used to date the onset of settlement (sediment below structures), settlement activity (occupation layer), or the time after a settlement had been abandoned or destroyed (sediment between collapsed roofs and walls). In this study, OSL dating is applied to establish numerical dates for settlement structures situated in the Negev Highlands, Israel. Two archaeological sites are investigated to identify their occupation history, by dating nine samples of aeolian dust trapped within the remains of ancient buildings. The OSL dating technique is applied using coarse grain quartz and a standard single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose (SAR) protocol. It was possible to date the onset of sedimentation in a later phase of the human occupation or shortly after the sites were abandoned, to 3.7 ± 0.3 ka (Intermediate Bronze Age) at the central site and to 2.7 ± 0.2 ka (Iron Age) at the ephemeral site. These results are supported by archaeological evidence gained from pottery finds and the architecture of the ancient buildings.     

Geophysical investigations in the El-Wad Cave,MT. Carmel,Israel

Measurements of the thickness of the sediment fill in the el-Wad Cave, Mt. Carmel, Israel were carried out using seismic refraction methods. The cave is one of the famous Mt. Carmel Caves, where finds of Mousterian to Natufian prehistoric cultures had been encountered. The survey discovered a series of karstic pits in several chambers in the cave, with good correlation between the dimension of the chambers and the thickness of the sediment fill. The deepest pit was found in the inner part of the cave, where the oldest archaeological material could be expected.     

Petrogenesis of a Senonian barite deposit,Judean Desert,Israel

A small productive barite deposit in chalks and cherts of the Senonian Mishash Fm, Judean Desert, Israel, exhibits both syngenetic and epigenetic features. A sedimentary origin is proposed on the basis of the coarse bedding within the granular barite ore, intimate interbedding on both the macro and micro scales with chalk, chert and clay, the fine crystallinity of the barite, and the trace element composition. Barite and calcite were redeposited from solutions at a later stage resulting in the epigenetic features. A marine or marine organic origin for the barium is considered.     

巴林石、寿山石透明度研究

通过分析巴林石、寿山石样品的FTIR与XRD光谱特征,指出有序度指数（OI）、结晶度指数（HI,DHI）及半高宽（FWHM（00l））在用于研究高岭石与地开石混合相样品的组分时具有局限性;计算了样品的有序度指数和结晶度指数并研究了各自与透明度之间的关系,结果证实,寿山石样品的透明度随其有序度与结晶度的增加而增大,但没有发现巴林石样品存在类似规律。     

Early Cretaceous magmatism of Mount Hermon, Northern Israel

 Early Cretaceous (146–115 Ma) magmatism in the region of Mt. Hermon, Northern Israel, is part of an extensive Mesozoic igneous province within the Levant associated with the evolution of the Neotethyan passive margin of Gondwana. The initial stages of activity were characterised by the emplacement of tholeiitic dykes (146–140 Ma) which were uplifted and eroded prior to the eruption of a sequence of alkali basalts, basanites and more differentiated alkaline lavas and pyroclastics from 127 to 120 Ma. The latest stages of activity (120–115 Ma) were highly explosive, resulting in the emplacement of diatreme breccias. Trace element and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope data for the most primitive Early Cretaceous mafic igneous rocks sampled suggest that they were derived by mixing of melts derived by variable degrees of partial melting of both garnet- and spinel-peridotite-facies mantle sources. Though isotopically heterogeneous, the source of the magmas has many similarities to that of HIMU oceanic island basalts. Earlier Liassic (200 Ma) transitional basalts and Neogene–Quaternary (15–0 Ma) alkali basalts erupted within northern Israel also have HIMU affinities. The petrogenesis of the Early Cretaceous and Cenozoic basalts is explained by partial melting of a lithospheric mantle protolith metasomatically enriched during the Liassic volcanic phase, which may be plume-related. Received: 23 July 1998 / Accepted: 6 December 1999     

Travertines in the northern Hula Valley, Israel

This study describes the field and petrographic relationships of a widespread deposit of Pleistocene travertines in the northern Hula Valley, northern Israel. The travertines interfinger with conglomerate deposits and basaltic lava flows. Field relationships and radiometric dating indicate that the travertines accumulated intermittently over the past million years, and their formation virtually stopped 25 000 years ago. The travertines are characteristically highly porous. Some of the pores, as well as some spar-filled voids, preserve the shapes of stalks and leaves. The abundance of plant material suggests that photosynthesis, rather than bacterial or abiogenic processes, was the main mechanism which induced carbonate precipitation. The reasons for travertine accumulation in the past and for the cessation of its formation today are ascribed to differences in the palaeogeographic setting. In the past, water flow is viewed as having been mostly sluggish, and a widespread and shallow sheet of water was formed. The lush vegetation, combined with the relatively long residence time of the water in the area, led to increased efficiency of the calcium carbonate precipitation. Today, by contrast, water flows rapidly in gorges, precipitating only a small fraction of its load of dissolved calcium carbonate. The conjectured change in hydrological conditions is ascribed to rejuvenation of faulting activity in the Late Quaternary.     

Geology and the loessial soils,Tell Jemmeh,Israel

Tell 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.