THE ANCIENT ENVIRONMENT OF KHIRBET-EL-UMB ASHI (SYRIA) - FIRST MORPHOPEDOLOGICAL AND HYPOTHESIS DATA

The site of Khirbet-el-Umbashi in presently desertic area (annual rain fall below 100 mm) of Southern Syria is likely to have been inhabited from Neolithic times although the remains of several hundreds of dwell ings were dated back to the older and the early middle Bronze ages. Th e very old soils developed on Pliocene basalts, were eroded in ancient times, with the emergence of a basalt block paving displaying a marke d hematitic patina. Basalt weathering proceeded further within the soi l but the density of the basalt block paving prevented any further ero sion, except in the valleys where slopes are steeper and erosion is sl ower, though probably continuing. Thus, apparently, the landscape has hardly changed since the early erosion phase and the soil surface has been fossilised. The absence of stone removal, the very low rainfall a nd the huge assure corroborate that the inhabitants of Khirbet-el-Umba shi were stock-breeders. The dereliction of the site might have coinci ded with the silt filling of the cistern fed by the floods of the neig hbouring wadi (river).