a comparative study of a Roman frontier province. - Historia Antigua

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64. As is the case with modern scratch cultivation by the bedouin. The
best accounts of the mechanics of wadi-farming have been written in
relation to the ancient Negev, but are equally applicable to Tripolita-
nia, Mayerson 1962,211-69; Evenari et al 1971,95-119.
65. The major dams of northern and western Tripolitania have received more
attention, Gauckler 1900/1912; Ginestous 1913,557-63; Labolle 1933,
134-41; Vita-Finzi and Brogan 1965,65-71; Vita-Finzi 1969,12-41;
Crova 1967,99-120; Bellwood 1967,41-44. But the smaller wadi walls
noted by Goodchild (1950c, 5-7) and others have remained almost
unstudied up to the present ULVP work.
66. Barker and Jones 1981,33-38; 1982,8-21 (including some detailed
case studies based on major surveys).
67. Barker and Jones 1981,16-17. These features were first looked for in
earnest in 1981 and good examples were found in the wadis Legwais,
Migdal, Mahadatallah and Lamout.
68. This is particularly clear in the case of the wadi Lamout system,
surveyed by myself, J. R. Burns and Mohammed Shitewe in 1981 (fig 48b).
The practicalities of this kind of irrigation have been proven in the
Negev, Evenari et a1 1971,179-93.
69. This is one possible interpretation of part of the Lamout field system
containing a large number of "pits", which are either modern grain
storage silos or possibly microcatchments for young trees, a feature
observed in the surviving agriculture at Beni Ulid.
70. Assuming that the form of landholding changed when sedentary agriculture
increased, it is highly likely that those left in possession would have
wanted to demarcate their lands as accurately as possible, Buck, Burns
and Mattingly 1983,54.
71. There seems to have been a steady growth in settlement of all types
from the first to late second century. From the third century onwards
there were few new farmsteads or open farms, but large numbers of
gsur and associated settlements (villages in some cases). This closer
association between the home farm and the lower levels of the site
hierarchy suggests increasing dependency among the peasantry.
72. Goodchild 1950c, 6: "After exceptionally heavy rainfall some of the
more favoured wadis are flooded even today; but it would be rash to
assume that such winter flooding was normal during the Roman period, and
that it was the basis of the agricultural system. "
73. In particular, see Prost 1954,28-66; Louis 1975,152-75,188-90.
74. Franchetti 1914,249-347; Despois 1935,97-103.
75. Bronson 1982; pers. obs. ULVP.
76. But cf Carton 1896/1897; 1914; Ginestous 1913.
77. As note 57.
78. Kraemar 1958, has shown that eight or nine-fold yields were commonplace,
whilst Evenari et al 1971,4, produced a yield of 1250 kg/ha in the
first year of operation of their reconstructed run-off farm. For
comparison the normal arid zone expectation is 200-400 kg/ha (quoted in
Barker and Jones 1982,20) and this makes it clear that the yields and
the profitability of wadi-farming could easily be underestimated.
79. The reconstructed farms in the Negev have consistently broken production
records and even in drought have performed better than competitors in
dry farming areas, Evenari et a1 1971,192-93.
80. On the production of oil and wine in the ancient world see particularly,
Pliny NH, XV, 5-23; XVIII, 317-320; Cato, de agric. III, 2-6; XVIII,
1-9; XIX, 1-2; XX-XXVI; LXIV-LXIX; White 1975,112,225-33.
81. On the olive press, see Drachman 1932,50-98; Camps-Fabrer 1953, passim;
Oates 1953,85-87; Cotton 1979,63-66; White 1975,225-33.
82. This information relates to traditional olive presses of the lever type
still in use in the Gebel Demmer, Louis 1975,170-75. From this one can
work out an order of magnitude figure for oil production. An hundred