Denizens of the desert: geophysical imaging maps subterranean settlements in the hard hillsides of Israel's Negev Desert

Article Abstract:

An imaging technique using sound waves, called Geophysical Diffraction Tomography, has been used to map underground tunnels and chambers at the Shiqmim site in the Negev Desert of Israel. The people who first settled there some 6500 years ago lived underground, probably because there was no floodplain then or else for defense. Villages were constructed on the surface after a floodplain began to develop around 4200 BC. The region was much more humid between 4500-4300 BC than it is now.

Innovations, Archaeology, Underground construction, Imaging systems, Negev Desert, Geophysical research, Imaging systems in archaeology

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Desert detour

Article Abstract:

Lovelock Cave in Central Nevada provides evidence of human habitation dating back to 2630 BC. Human coprolites from the site yield information on the prehistoric diet, which apparently consisted of plants and animals from a freshwater marsh. A lake, called Lake Lahontan by geologists, existed there from 13,000 years ago until about 600 AD. Today a band of white sand shows where the shore of the ancient lake had been.

Nevada

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Birth of a civilization: how a disparate collection of regional settlements evolved into one of the world's first great societies

Article Abstract:

The Indus Valley civilization flourished in what is now Pakistan and western India between 2600 and 1900 BC. Archaeological research at sites such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro revealed much about the origins of this civilization, its cities and towns, political and religious systems that united them, and possible reasons for their decline.

India, Pakistan, Indus civilization, Indus Valley civilization

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