<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper looks at various suggestions relating to what incipient and early forms of terracing might have looked like, and goes on to suggest that some of the earliest terraces in the southern Levant may have emerged from horticultural practices, and more specifically the cultivation of olive trees within sunken patches of soil on rocky hillslopes (referred to as “patch cultivation” or “box fields”). This phenomenon may be traced back to the Chalcolithic period (4<sup>th</sup> millennium B.C.E), if not to earlier times.</p></abstract>

This paper looks at various suggestions relating to what incipient and early forms of terracing might have looked like, and goes on to suggest that some of the earliest terraces in the southern Levant may have emerged from horticultural practices, and more specifically the cultivation of olive trees within sunken patches of soil on rocky hillslopes (referred to as “patch cultivation” or “box fields”). This phenomenon may be traced back to the Chalcolithic period (4th millennium B.C.E), if not to earlier times.

The Origins of Terracing in the Southern Levant and Patch Cultivation/Box Fields

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Journal of Landscape Ecology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Origins of Terracing in the Southern Levant and Patch Cultivation/Box Fields"}

This paper looks at various suggestions relating to what incipient and early forms of terracing might have looked like, and goes on to suggest that some of the...

The Origins of Terracing in the Southern Levant and Patch Cultivation/Box Fields

Published Online: Feb 06, 2018

Page range: 256 - 265

Received: Jun 16, 2017

Accepted: Nov 09, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jlecol-2017-0037

Keywords
terraces, patch cultivation, box fields, cup-marks, Chalcolithic period, landscape archaeology, southern Levant

© 2017 Shimon Gibson et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Origins of Terracing in the Southern Levant and Patch Cultivation/Box Fields

Published Online: Feb 06, 2018

Page range: 256 - 265

Received: Jun 16, 2017

Accepted: Nov 09, 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jlecol-2017-0037

Keywordsterraces, patch cultivation, box fields, cup-marks, Chalcolithic period, landscape archaeology, southern Levant

© 2017 Shimon Gibson et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
terraces, patch cultivation, box fields, cup-marks, Chalcolithic period, landscape archaeology, southern Levant