Beyond the Fertile Crescent: Tracing the Formation Process of the Nomadic Near East

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25220402
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Archaeology
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Sumio FUJII 金沢大学, 歴史言語文化学系, 教授 (90238527)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 本郷 一美 総合研究大学院大学, 先導科学研究科, 准教授 (20303919) ; 足立 拓朗 金沢大学, 歴史言語文化学系, 教授 (90276006)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NASU Hiroo 岡山理科大学, 先導科学研究科, 准教授 (60390704)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-05-31 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: ヨルダン / サウジアラビア / 遊牧文化 / 水利史 / 新石器文化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This five-year research project conducted a total of twenty surveys and excavations in the al-Jafr Basin (south Jordan) and the Tabuk/Jawf Plateau (NW Saudi Arabia). The investigations have shed new light on the following three key issues: 1) the deviation process of seasonal pastoral transhumance from parent settlements in the sedentary cultural sphere; 2) the transition process from village-based, short-range pastoral transhumance in a marginal zone to high-mobility pastoral nomadism in a remote dry land; and 3) the formation process of full-fledged, tribalism-based nomadic society subsequent to incipient, small-scale pastoral nomadism. The series of new perspectives has enabled us to sequentially trace the overall picture of the pastoral nomadization in the dry heartland of the Near East thus far poorly understood.

Free Research Field

西アジア先史考古学