Nabatean Tent Sites on the Ruhot Plain, Central Negev, and Nomadic Visibility

Nabatean campsites, reflecting the desert nomadic pastoral component of Nabatean society, constitute part of the larger and better-known Nabatean system of caravan routes and associated sites, in addition to village and urban centers dating between the late 4th century b.c.e. and the early 3rd century c.e. Campsites have rarely been explored in depth, although numerous small Nabatean camps and campsites have been registered in many surveys in the Negev. Four such sites in the Ruhot Plain, north of the Makhtesh Ramon, are detailed here. Architectural, geographic, and ceramic analyses show that these sites contrast with those associated with the classic Nabatean Incense Road, and for that matter, sedentary Nabatean society. The sites can be compared to nomadic systems associated with earlier Timnian, and later Byzantine and Early Islamic desert pastoral systems, as well as modern desert societies. Together, the materials offer a perspective on a little explored aspect of Nabatean society, the pastoral nomadic component, and an example of the archaeology of pastoral camps, often claimed to be inaccessible to archaeological study.