MSc student
Email: a.ostrowski.berlin@gmail.com
Multipurpose bldg. # 137
Adam Ostrowski is an international student from Germany. He has a Bachler’s degree from the Freie Universität Berlin in Geographical Studies. His focus was paleo-environmental reconstruction of the “Harzhorn” site in geo-archaeological context.
Current research
Role of Anthrosols and Anthrosediments in the Early Islamic Plot-and-Berm Agroecosystem by Ancient Caesarea
Advisors: Itamar Taxel, Joel Roskin, Revital Bookman
Plot-and-Berm agroecosystems agriculturally utilized marginal lands in a sophisticated fashion, where a high-water table existed within loose, aeolian sand sheets, in semi-arid to Mediterranean climates. The agroecosystems consist of polygonal agricultural plots sunken between several meters high berms. Ceramics and glass date the agroecosystem to the 10th-11th centuries (Early Islamic period) that are compatible with preliminary published OSL ages. Anthrosols in the plots have distinct upper and lower boundaries with limited root casts suggesting that the Early Islamic crops were annual and not woody perennial species like vines. The anthrosol is currently only 1 m above the modern groundwater table, which appears to have enabled easy access by hand-dug pits for manual irrigation practices. Anthrosols were enriched to enhance soil productivity. Berm tops were coated with ~0.3-0.7 m thick and dark anthrosediments that were topped with flat pebble to cobble size artifacts. This coupling remarkably preserved the berm morphology and the whole agroecosystem from aeolian and fluvial erosion until modern times. The current study will help assess the social-economic effort needed to develop and maintain this agroecosystem, and its relation to ancient Caesarea.