The Negev: The Challenge of a Desert

by Michael Evenari, Leslie Shanan, Naphtali Tadmor

In December 1966, the New York Times reported, "An experimental farm in the middle of Israel's arid southern desert proved its success in an unusual way this year. It had a surplus problem." This happy surplus was the outcome of two decades of scientific study of ancient desert agriculture, which had been motivated initially by the realization that the state of Israel would always be confronted with the challenge of living in a desert environment. In this lively, richly illustrated book, three of the experimenters describe the challenges of the Negev desert to man, plant, and animal, past and present. They explain hew botanists joined forces with geologists, archaeologists, agronomists, engineers, photogrammetrists, soil scientists, and historians to answer these challenges by reconstructing an ancient farming system. Making full use if the low annual rainfall, they were able to produce excellent crops in both fields and orchards.

357 pages, Hardcover

First published November 24, 1982

Reviews

[Jindřich Zapletal · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author presents the incredible effort of his team to recreate ancient farming in Negev desert, precisely quantifies what was and was not possible. The book completely changed my view of ancient habitability of desert regions.