Bedouin “Settlement” in the Tell el-Hesi Region in the Late Islamic to British Mandate Period

Authors

  • Benjamin A. Saidel East Carolina University
  • Jeffrey A. Blakely University of Wisconsin—Madison

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jia.37242

Keywords:

Agricultural, Bedouin, British Mandate Palestine, Diqs Family, Landscape, Sedentarization, Tell el-Hesi

Abstract

Combining historical sources with the survey data we document the Bedouin transition from pastoralism to an economy based more on agriculture than animal husbandry. The construction of structures, first baikas and later houses, is evidence for a presumed reduction in mobility. This shift towards an agricultural economy was in part facilitated by the Fellahin/villagers who were hired by the Bedouin to assist in the harvest. This shift and consequential decline in mobility, however, is voluntary and not a result of direct coercion by the Mandate government.

Author Biographies

  • Benjamin A. Saidel, East Carolina University

    Benjamin A. Saidel is a graduate of Brandeis University, Harvard Divinity School and Harvard University. He is currently teaching in the department of Anthropology at East Carolina University. His current research interest is the archaeology of the Bedouin.

  • Jeffrey A. Blakely, University of Wisconsin—Madison

    Jeffrey A Blakely has worked in the Hesi region since 1971. He is a graduate of Oberlin College, Wilfrid Laurier University, and the University of Pennsylvania, and is currently teaching at the University of Wisconsin. He is a specialist relating to all things Hesi.

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Published

2019-09-18

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Articles

How to Cite

Saidel, B., & Blakely, J. (2019). Bedouin “Settlement” in the Tell el-Hesi Region in the Late Islamic to British Mandate Period. Journal of Islamic Archaeology, 6(1), 19-39. https://doi.org/10.1558/jia.37242