Qubūr el-Walēyide and the Archaeology of Bedouin Dry Farming

This study integrates excavation reports, aerial photography, and ethnohistorical sources to document ephemeral Bedouin farming practices at Qubūr el-Walēyide in southwestern Israel. Reanalysis of the site’s stratigraphy identifies and redates two distinct phases of agricultural activity. The early phase, dubbed the fossil plow zone (Strata 1-2, 1a-2, 2-2), is now dated to the late 16th–late 19th centuries CE. The late phase, identified as the Mandate plow zone, is demarcated by tilled topsoil (Strata 1-1, 1a-1, 2-1). Based on aerial photography, this phase of cultivation is assigned to the late 1940s. This study also highlights a chronological break and a loss of spatial memory at Qubūr el-Walēyide, a phenomenon observed at other sites in the Negev, such as Tell el-Hesi. Finally, this research contributes to broader debates about the visibility of mobile communities in the archaeological record and the persistence of traditional land use in the Negev during the Ottoman and Mandate periods.