Studia Palmyreńskie (8.1985)

Jan D. Arty mow ski

THE PATTERN OF NABATAEAN SETTLEMENT

This article is the result of a prolonged study of Nabataean settlement. In its
course a considerable amount of data from many publications has been collected.
It was then put together on tables (not printed in this article), and all the conclusions
numbers and percentage quoted in this article are the result of an analysis of the
information contained in them. The objective of this work was to find what factors
and to what extent influenced the pattern of Nabataean settlement.

As is well known, this Aramaic speaking people who lived in Jordan (the ancient
lands of Edom and Moab), and in the Negev from about the IV cent. B.C. until
about the II cent A.D.1 Enriched by frankincense trade, they controlled a vast area
including Northen Arabia, the Sinai, and, for some time, a part of Syria and Da-
mascus.

570 Nabataean sites, easily distinguishable because of the caracteristic Nabataean
pottery found on them, have been mainly located in Jordan (Moab and Edom)
the valley of Wadi Araba, and the Negev. From the Sinai and the Nabataean part
of Arabia, where no systematic research on a larger scale has been carried out only
a few Nabataean sites are known. Unfortunately only few Nabataean sites have
been excavated (mostly important centres) and therefore almost nothing can be
said about the phases of Nabataean settlement. Most of the sites have been disco-
vered in the course of surveys carried out before as well as after the World War II.
These sites were for the most part relatively well preserved, due to the fact that settle-
ment in the area concerned was later verv scanty. Unfortunately the results of the
surveys above mentioned have been rather fragmentarily published, the descriptions
of the sites often omitting their size, topography and sources of water found in the
area, etc. In fact we often know little more than the localization and the periods of
settlement of these sites.

The climatic and bio-climatic conditions of the areas considered vary considerably
and seem to be an important factor, the areas mentioned bordering with, and some-

1 Nabataean history in general cf.: N. Glueck, Dieties and Dolphins, New York 1965;
J. Starcky, Petra et la Nabatene, Supplement au Dictionnaire de la Bible, vol. VII, Paris 1966,
pp. 866 - 1017; A. Negev, Die Nabataer, ,,Antike Welt” 7, Sondernummer 1976, pp. 4-8.

9*

131