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Abstract Over the last 30 years, geoarchaeological surveys undertaken in the Near East have offered a powerful way of studying, inter alia, water supply systems at a microregional to regional scale. However, efforts to synthesize the results of surveys at a sub-continental scale in order to understand local differences and similarities, and compare local strategies through time, require specific tools. In this paper, we develop a methodology designed to characterize and facilitate comparison of strategies employed across the arid areas of Western Syria. This requires microregional field studies undertaken at the level of specific landscapes to be integrated within a wider GIS framework, based upon thematic layers (soils, rainfalls, hydrology) at a uniform spatial scale of assessment (in this case the pixel of a Landsat image), and a common description of the agronomic potential in those areas in which specific hydraulic installations were employed. In contrast to the usual practice of modelling, which depends upon the downscaling of environmental data (land cover, rainfall maps) generated at a continental scale, we stress here the need to generalize upwards, from observations made at the microregional level, by using common descriptors and qualitative indicators. The GIS analysis of these data provides a weighted average model derived from field evidence for the different technical choices made (i.e. the decision to utilize specific water management devices) in relation to the various agronomic landscapes. Highlights • Long term history of Syrian arid steppic landscapes enlighted by water mastering techniques • Modelling spatial location of past water management devices in arid areas • Modelling the regional agronomic potential in Near East arid areas [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of tourism activities on local water resources remains a largely understudied issue in environmental and sustainable tourism management. The aim of the paper is to present a simple methodology that allows an estimate of direct and indirect local water use associated with different holiday packages and to then discuss relevant management implications. This is explored through the creation of five illustrative examples of holidays to semi-arid eastern Mediterranean destinations: Cyprus (2), Turkey, Greece and Syria. Using available data on water use associated with different forms of travel, accommodation and tourist activities, indicative water footprints are calculated for each of the illustrative examples. Food consumption by tourists appears to have by far the most significant impact on the overall water footprint and this aspect of water use is explored in detail in the paper. The paper also suggests a way of employing the water footprint methodology along with import/export balance sheets of main food commodities to distinguish between the global and local pressure of tourism demand on water resources. Water resource use is likely to become an increasingly important issue in tourism management and must be considered alongside more established environmental concerns such as energy use, using methodologies that can capture direct as well as supply chain impacts. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The abandoned Roman/Early Islamic city of Resafa in the Syrian desert steppe was supplied with drinking water by an elaborate floodwater harvesting system. This paper investigates its construction, reliability and chronology. Previous excavations showed that the system consisted of a dam that blocked a wadi adjoining the enclosed city and channeled retained floodwater to large subsurface cisterns. Aerial photos from the early 20th century suggest that additionally embankments were part of the system. Physical evidence of such constructions is largely lacking nowadays. The reliability analysis of the floodwater system is conducted by applying a curve-number-based rainfall-runoff model driven by current satellite rainfall estimates. Flow pattern analysis is used to assess the probable effects of the assumed embankments on flood behavior by applying the hydraulic module of the Caesar-Lisflood model. We show that the system would be reliable under present conditions and probably also functioned when the system was in operation. Furthermore, it is shown that the floodwater harvesting system most likely consisted of a several hundred meter long embankment system. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Evidence for bitumen use in Middle Palaeolithic sites is an exception in Pleistocene archaeology. This paper presents the discovery of three tar-bearing Levallois artefacts found in the Mousterian sequence in Hummal (Central Syria). The organic residues were submitted to geochemical study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons and isotopic data show the presence of bitumen. The most likely location of natural asphalt provisioning is the Shaaf outcrop in the Bichri desert. The bitumen-bearing stone tools add further important data to the growing knowledge about bitumen processing in the Middle Palaeolithic spring sites of El Kowm. Identification of the provisioning place for natural asphalt enables a more precise assumption about the site's catchment area. From a technological point of view, the tar-bearing specimens provide information on the range of tool forms selected for hafting. Ballistic features arguably indicate that the pointed Levallois blanks seem to be spear points that were fitted to a wooden handle. In at least one case, this technical procedure was seemingly executed during a brief episode of occupation and replacement of worn out implements. This small, bracketed window of detailed insight into Mousterian technology is linked with the more general relationship between Levallois technology and stone tool hafting. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Radial systems of spoke-like pathways, often termed “hollow ways,” are frequently found surrounding mounded tell sites in northern Mesopotamia and have been explained as the product of a particular set of land use practices involving dry-farming agriculture and intensive ovicaprid pastoralism. Yet while similar subsistence strategies were very common across the Near East throughout much of the Holocene, classic hollow ways have only been previously documented in a small region and articulate almost exclusively with sites of the third millennium BC. This paper presents newly discovered hollow ways in western Syria and southwestern Iran, made possible through analysis of an online database of declassified, Cold War-era CORONA satellite imagery. The association of these previously undocumented ancient roads with archaeological sites dating to the Iron Age, Roman/late Roman and early medieval periods, suggests that the land use practices which produced radial route systems may have been quite widespread. Taking into account the wide geographic and temporal distribution of hollow ways, analysis explores various aspects of the agro-pastoral systems that disparate communities may have shared. Results confirm some aspects existing models of hollow way formation, while offering some refinements in terms of the roles that settlement organization, agricultural land use and pastoral strategies play. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: While households are widely held to have existed as the fundamental building block of early agricultural villages, researchers have only a limited understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households. Expanding our archaeological understanding of the Neolithic household beyond architecture, settlement organization, and subsistence practices, in this paper we explore how gradual changes in mortuary practices at Tell Halula, Syria, help us to understand the process of household development around 7500–7300 Cal. BC. Drawing upon high-resolution mortuary data we consider the tempo and mechanisms of change and how these patterns help us understand the organization of the household. Material patterns including the increased use of burial objects, an increased frequency of the placement of burial objects among adults, and the differential use of burial objects between households. These represent subtle, yet observable, small-scale shifts in how social roles were redefined and materialized. We argue that these reflect a series of gradual changes that are suggestive of increased household autonomy and an increase in social segmentation within and between households. The Tell Halula data highlight elements of continuity and how household members adhered to a broadly shared physical and organizational framework of life. Data also illustrate how household members developed subtle means by which practices were personalization, and potentially, reflect growing means by which households and individuals were identified within these communities. Collectively, this research provides a detailed understanding of the grass-roots building blocks of Neolithic households over a short time frame and a more detailed understanding of the local social and economic trajectory of Neolithic households. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Greywater reuse is becoming an increasingly important factor for potable water saving in many countries. Syria is one of the most water scarce countries in the Middle East. However, greywater reuse is still not common in the country. Regulations and standards for greywater reuse are not available. Recently, however, several stakeholders have started to plan for greywater reuse. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential for potable water saving by using greywater for toilet flushing in a typical Syrian city. The Sweida city in the southern part of Syria was chosen for this purpose. Interviews were made in order to reflect the social acceptance, water consumption, and the percentage of different indoor water uses. An artificial wetland (AW) and a commercial bio filter (CBF) were proposed to treat the greywater, and an economic analysis was performed for the treatment system. Results show that using treated greywater for toilet flushing would save about 35% of the drinking water. The economic analyses of the two proposed systems showed that, in the current water tariff, the payback period for AW and CBF in block systems is 7 and 52 years, respectively. However, this period will reduce to 3 and 21 years, respectively, if full water costs are paid by beneficiaries. Hence, introducing artificial wetlands in order to make greywater use efficient appears to be a viable alternative to save potable water. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The study of Near Eastern Neolithic villages provides a unique means of tracing subsistence strategy, population growth, health, and emerging social inequality associated with agricultural origins. However, disentangling these patterns requires a detailed comprehension of the chronological placement of individual households in the site. In this paper, we present a test to determine the reliability and applicability of the fluoride dating method (a relative dating method) on human dentition of 40 samples from 28 Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (or PPNB) burials from the site of Tell Halula, in Syria. This method, applied here for the first time on a Neolithic Near East case study, is an alternative when other dating methods, like radiocarbon dates, do not provide the required temporal resolution to address particular research problems. Nonetheless, the results obtained in the fluoride analysis show how both the age at death of individuals, and the integrity of the burial plug enormously affect the amount of fluoride absorbed by teeth, so that only a small subset of the full dataset was suitable for fluoride dating. Although the distribution of fluoride values of dentine from the small sample of burials from suitable contexts matches the expected chronology, and corroborates the hypothesis that the occupation at Halula extends from the Middle to the Late PPNB, our analysis illustrates the need for a better understanding of the different sources of error in fluoride dating to improve the method itself, and to obtain more reliable fluoride chronologies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Twelve gilded and enamelled Islamic glass fragments, produced in Syria or Egypt during the Ayyubid or Mamluk period, were provided by the Louvre museum for complete non-destructive analysis. The enamelling process of similar objects has been extensively studied in the last decades, but the gilding process has never been investigated in details. This paper focuses on the understanding of both the gilding process and the gold/glass adhesion mechanism. The structure, composition and thickness of the gold flakes forming the gilding decoration are measured. The complete process combining gilding and enamelling is described and the local mechanism of adhesion of gold flakes on the glass body is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]