Elusa (Haluza) - From Nabataean Trading Post to Late Antique Metropolis in the Northern Negev
The city Elusa (Haluza), which was founded by the Nabataeans, is located at the northern edge of the Negev desert und was probably established as a caravan station on the incense route controlled by Petra that runs from Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea in the 3rd century BC. From Roman imperial times to late antiquity, it developed into the largest urban center of the region. Due to a period of humidity lasting from the 3rd to 6th century AD, one of the most producing wine-growing regions of the eastern Mediterranean developed in the northern Negev with far-reaching trading connections. Elusa was the administrative and economic center with the only theater in the region and its own bishop’s see. Today, the city is part of the UNESCO world heritage “Incense Route”. The settlement with ca. 45 ha surface area and its large necropoles lays, mostly unexplored, beneath the desert sands. So far it has only been examined in some rather small areas. The structure and development between the 3rd century BC and 8th century AD is mostly unknown. The project aims to conduct a comprehensive investigation on the city and its surrounding area by using non-invasive methods (e.g. remote sensing, geophysical prospections, surveys, geochemical soil analysis), targeted stratigraphic excavations and manifold material analysis.
Responsible: Michael Heinzelmann, Tali Gini-Erickson, Sabine Schrenk
Coordination: Christian Schöne
Cooperation:
- Abteilung Christliche Archäologie, University of Bonn
- Israel Antiquities Authority
- Israel Nature and Parks Authority
- Institute of Archaeology, Laboratory of Archaeozoology, University of Haifa
- Institut für Baubetrieb und Vermessung Fachhochschule Köln
- Institut für Geophysik Universität zu Köln
- Regionales Rechenzentrum Köln
- Institute of Archaeology, Laboratory of Archaeobotany, University of Tel Aviv
- Integrative Prähistorische und Naturwissenschaftliche Archäologie (IPNA), Universität Basel
- Department of Maritime Civilizations, University of Haifa
- Curt-Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie Mannheim
- Department Geographie und Geowissenschaften, Universität Erlangen
- Institut für Geographie, Universität Leipzig
Funding:
- German-Israeli Foundation
- Gerda Henkel Foundation (church excavation, University of Bonn)
- German Research Foundation
Short information:
- Season 2015
- Season 2016
- Season 2017
- Season 2018
- Season 2019
- Season 2020
- Season 2021
- Season 2022 (spring)
- Season 2022 (summer)
Publications:
- M. Heinzelmann - T. Erickson-Gini, Elusa - eine nabatäische Metropole im nördlichen Negev. Vorbericht zu den Kampagnen 2015 und 2016, Kölner un Bonner Archaeologica 5, 2015, 110-136
- N. Pickartz - B. Tezkan - M. Heinzelmann, Geophysikalische Multimethodenprospektion des archäologischen Fundorts Elusa (Israel). Vorbericht zu den Kampagnen 2015 und 2016, KuBA 5, 2015, 137-151
- M. Heinzelmann - T. Erickson-Gini - Ch. Schöne - F. Jordan, Elusa. Vorbericht zu den Kampagnen 2017 und 2018, Kölner und Bonner Archaeologica 7, 2017, 99-124
- Ch. Schöne – M. Heinzelmann – T. Erickson-Gini - D. Wozniok, Elusa - Urban Development and Economy of a City in the Desert, in: A. Lichtenberger - O. Tal - Z. Weiss (Hrsg.), Judea/Palaestina and Arabia: Cities and Hinterlands in Roman and Byzantine Time, Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology 2018, Band 8.4 (Heidelberg 2019) 147-160
- Ch. Schöne - M. Heinzelmann - T. Erickson-Gini - F. Jordan, Elusa (I). Vorbericht zur Grabungs- und Surveykampagne 2019, Kölner und Bonner Archaeologica 8, 2018, 71-90
- L. di Segni, A New Tetrarchic Inscription, Kölner und Bonner Archaeologica 8, 2018, 145-150
- M. Heinzelmann - Ch. Schöne - D. Wozniok - T. Erickson-Gini, Elusa - ein bislang unbeachtetes Landwirtschaftssystem im Negev? Zwischenbericht zum Elusa-Umlandsurvey (2018 bis 2020), Kölner und Bonner Archaeologica 9/10, 2019/20, 141-160
- Ch. Schöne - F. Jordan - T. Erickson-Gini - M. Heinzelmann, Haluza. Preliminary Report, Hadashot Arkheologiyot 134, 2022 (online paper)
- M. Heinzelmann - Ch. A. Schöne - D. Wozniok - A. Schröder - F. Jordan - T. Erickson-Gini - M. L. Kühn - D. Langgut - S. Lehnig, Elusa. From Nabatean Trading Post to Late Antique Desert Metropolis, AA 2022/1, 237-297
Qualification thesis:
- N. Pickartz, Durchführung und Auswertung von geophysikalischen Messungen auf der archäologischen Fundstelle Elusa (Master 2014)
- Ch. Schöne, Forschungsgeschichte und Topographie von Elusa (Bachelor 2016)
- S. Lehnig, Auswertung der Tierknochenfunde (Master 2016)
- D. Wozniok, Auswertung des Oberflächensurveys (Master 2017)
- L. Niehues, Nabatäische Karawansereien - Kontext und Versuch einer Typologisierung (Bachelor 2017)
- Ch. Schöne, Elusa. Urbanistische Untersuchungen einer antiken Metropole im Negev (Master 2018)
- Ch. Schöne, Stadt und Mikroregion im nördlichen Negev. Siedlungs- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte einer Wüstenrandregion (PhD project, since 2019)
- F. Jordan, Untersuchungen zur christlichen Sakraltopographie von Elusa (PhD project, since 2019)
- D. Wozniok, Abfallorganisation und ihre wirtschaftliche Bedeutung für die Städte in der Kaiserzeit und Spätantike (Dissertationsprojekt, since 2019)