BYZANTINE AVDAT (OBODA) AND THE SURROUNDING AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM

The important site of Avdat (Oboda) is located in Israel’s Central Negev Highlands. From the early Hellenistic period, it was a Nabataean caravan station on the Petra– Gaza Incense Road. Founded in the late first millennium BCE, the town is one of six similar settlements in the region. Since the mid-twentieth century, various excavations were conducted at Avdat, most notably by A. Negev of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Hundreds of man-made caves at the site were documented in 1993–1996 by T. Erickson-Gini on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and in 2019–2020 O. Sion and E. Ashkenazi conducted the first comprehensive survey of the site and its agricultural hinterland. This article discusses the Byzantine-period remains (fourth–early seventh century CE) and the relationship between the settlement and its surrounding agricultural systems, presenting the research results from over 500 sites across a total area of 150 km².