Corals in the desert recent discoveries of red sea corals in byzantine and early islamic sites in the negev desert

Guy Bar-Oz; Yotam Tepper; Roee Shafir

doi:10.1086/715343

Corals in the desert recent discoveries of red sea corals in byzantine and early islamic sites in the negev desert

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Abstract

Corals have been commercially exploited for many centuries all over the world (Jiménez and Orejas 2017). Traditionally, they have been regarded as mystical objects and hybrid organisms. Their skeletons have commonly been used as remedies and as amulets or jewelry, and they have represented an exotic and valuable resource throughout human history. In the Greco-Roman literature a number of classical authors, such as Aristotle (fourth century BCE, History of Animals 5.16; Ogle 1882) and Pliny (first century CE), referred to the natural history of corals and classified them as enigmatic creatures. Since corals are animals that lack locomotion or perception, Theophrastus also classified them as hybrids of plants and stones (On Stones 53:38; Caley and Richards 1956).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	238-245
Number of pages	8
Journal	Near Eastern Archaeology
Volume	84
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/715343
State	Published - 1 Sep 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (648427) and the Israel Science Foundation (340-14). Research was conducted under licenses from the Israel Antiquities Authority (Elusa: G-69/2014, G-10/2015, G-6/2017; Shivta: G-87/2015, G-4/2016; Nessana: G-4/2017, G-83/2019). We also thank the excavation and laboratory teams of the Negev Byzantine Bio-archaeology Project. We are grateful to Gil Gambash for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft, to Avi Biton, manager of the Shivta National Park, Ami and Dina Oah from Shivta Farm, Eli Shemesh for assisting us with coral identification, Inbar Ktalav for sharing with us unpublished data, Shua Amorai-Stark for stimulating discussion, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments.

Funding Information:
This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union?s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (648427) and the Israel Science Foundation (340-14). Research was conducted under licenses from the Israel Antiquities Authority (Elusa: G-69/2014, G-10/2015, G-6/2017; Shivta: G-87/2015, G-4/2016; Nessana: G-4/2017, G-83/2019). We also thank the excavation and laboratory teams of the Negev Byzantine Bio-archaeology Project. We are grateful to Gil Gambash for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft, to Avi Biton, manager of the Shivta National Park, Ami and Dina Oah from Shivta Farm, Eli Shemesh for assisting us with coral identification, Inbar Ktalav for sharing with us unpublished data, Shua Amorai-Stark for stimulating discussion, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments.

Publisher Copyright:
© University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Archaeology
History
Archaeology

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10.1086/715343

Cite this

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title = "Corals in the desert recent discoveries of red sea corals in byzantine and early islamic sites in the negev desert",

abstract = "Corals have been commercially exploited for many centuries all over the world (Jim{\'e}nez and Orejas 2017). Traditionally, they have been regarded as mystical objects and hybrid organisms. Their skeletons have commonly been used as remedies and as amulets or jewelry, and they have represented an exotic and valuable resource throughout human history. In the Greco-Roman literature a number of classical authors, such as Aristotle (fourth century BCE, History of Animals 5.16; Ogle 1882) and Pliny (first century CE), referred to the natural history of corals and classified them as enigmatic creatures. Since corals are animals that lack locomotion or perception, Theophrastus also classified them as hybrids of plants and stones (On Stones 53:38; Caley and Richards 1956).",

author = "Guy Bar-Oz and Yotam Tepper and Roee Shafir",

note = "Funding Information: This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (648427) and the Israel Science Foundation (340-14). Research was conducted under licenses from the Israel Antiquities Authority (Elusa: G-69/2014, G-10/2015, G-6/2017; Shivta: G-87/2015, G-4/2016; Nessana: G-4/2017, G-83/2019). We also thank the excavation and laboratory teams of the Negev Byzantine Bio-archaeology Project. We are grateful to Gil Gambash for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft, to Avi Biton, manager of the Shivta National Park, Ami and Dina Oah from Shivta Farm, Eli Shemesh for assisting us with coral identification, Inbar Ktalav for sharing with us unpublished data, Shua Amorai-Stark for stimulating discussion, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. Funding Information: This research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Union?s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (648427) and the Israel Science Foundation (340-14). Research was conducted under licenses from the Israel Antiquities Authority (Elusa: G-69/2014, G-10/2015, G-6/2017; Shivta: G-87/2015, G-4/2016; Nessana: G-4/2017, G-83/2019). We also thank the excavation and laboratory teams of the Negev Byzantine Bio-archaeology Project. We are grateful to Gil Gambash for his thoughtful comments on an earlier draft, to Avi Biton, manager of the Shivta National Park, Ami and Dina Oah from Shivta Farm, Eli Shemesh for assisting us with coral identification, Inbar Ktalav for sharing with us unpublished data, Shua Amorai-Stark for stimulating discussion, and two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} University of Chicago Press. All rights reserved.",

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Corals in the desert recent discoveries of red sea corals in byzantine and early islamic sites in the negev desert

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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