Editing Negev (section)

===Byzantine heydays: desert agriculture===
[[Byzantine Empire| Byzantine]] rule in the 4th century introduced [[Christianity]] to the population.<ref name= Shahinp459/> Agriculture-based cities were established and the population grew exponentially.<ref name= Shahinp459/> As shown by the research conducted by [[Michael Evenari]], [[desert agriculture |novel techniques]] were employed, such as [[Surface runoff| runoff]] rainwater collection and management systems, which harvested water from larger areas and directed it onto smaller plots.<ref name="GERF">[https://globalearthrepairfoundation.org/michael-evenari/ "Michael Evenari"] profile at [[Global Earth Repair Foundation]], [[Port Hadlock|Port Hadlock, WA]], 14 March 2022. Accessed 4 Dec 2023.</ref> This permitted the cultivation of plants with much higher water requirements than the given arid environment could provide for.<ref name= GERF/> Evenari researched the ancient mechanisms, rediscovered the ratio of water collection area to cultivation area, and explained the various ancient techniques of [[land amelioration]], such as [[wadi]] [[Fluvial terrace| terracing]] and [[flash-flood]] dams, and the features used for collecting and directing runoff water.<ref name= GERF/> He thought that the creators of this elaborate systems had been the [[Nabataeans]],<ref name= GERF/> a theory proved wrong by more recent studies, which dated the massive agricultural and demographic expansion in the area to the [[Timeline of the Palestine region#Byzantine period| Byzantine period]].<ref name= volcanoes>{{Cite news |url= https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-archaeologists-reveal-secrets-of-ancient-desert-wine-industry-1.9022227 |title= How Volcanoes and Plague Killed the Byzantine Wine Industry in Israel |first= Ariel |last=David|work=Haaretz|date=29 July 2020 |access-date= 2020-08-04}}</ref> The older explanation for the ''Tuleilat el-Anab'', lit. 'grape mounds' phenomenon, has also been discarded: these large piles of rocks probably served two purposes: removing the rocks from the cultivated plots and accelerating the erosion and water transportation of [[topsoil]] from the runoff collection area onto those plots.<ref name= phot>Carl Rasmussen (4 July 2020). Negev Agriculture: [https://holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,9,3718&img=ISNGAGAG11 Tuleilat al-Anab]. "Holy Land Photos" website. Accessed 4 Dec 2023.</ref>

Along with Avdat (Oboda), Mamshit (Mampsis), Shivta (Sobata), Haluza (Elusa), and Nitzana (Nessana), the settlements at [[Rehovot-in-the-Negev]]/Ruheibeh (the second largest by population of the Byzantine-era "Negev towns"<ref name= Nagar>{{cite thesis |last= Nagar |first= Yossi |title= Anthropology of Rehovot-in-the-Negev Population as an Example of a Large Byzantine Settlement in the Negev |date= January 1999 |degree= Ph.D. |publisher=[[Tel Aviv University]] |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307539714 |access-date= 12 May 2024}}</ref>) and [[Saadon]] are also significant for this period.<ref name= Zh>{{cite journal |last1=Korzhenkov |first1=Andrey M. |last2=Mazor |first2=Emanuel |title=Archaeoseismological Damage Patterns at the Ancient Ruins at Rehovot-ba-Negev, Israel |journal=Archäologischer Anzeiger |date=9 May 2017 |pages=75–92 |doi=10.34780/0at4-6147 }}</ref><ref name= guano>{{cite journal |last1=Tepper |first1=Yotam |last2=Weissbrod |first2=Lior |last3=Fried |first3=Tal |last4=Marom |first4=Nimrod |last5=Ramsay |first5=Jennifer |last6=Weinstein-Evron |first6=Mina |last7=Aharonovich |first7=Sophia |last8=Liphschitz |first8=Nili |last9=Farhi |first9=Yoav |last10=Yan |first10=Xin |last11=Boaretto |first11=Elisabetta |last12=Bar-Oz |first12=Guy |title=Pigeon-raising and sustainable agriculture at the fringe of the desert: a view from the Byzantine village of Sa'adon, Negev, Israel |journal=Levant |date=2 January 2018 |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=91–113 |doi=10.1080/00758914.2018.1528532 |doi-access=free }}</ref>