Research interests: Paleoclimate, hydrology, limnology, sedimentary petrography, sedimentology, pedology, quaternary research, geochronology

Reasearch Topic: Saharan dust & the Neolithic Agriculture Revolution in the Jordan Valley

 

Abstract:

My current study focuses on the environmental and soil-related conditions in the Levant that could have provided prehistoric humans with the advantages required to initiate the Neolithic Agriculture Revolution (NAR) following the end of the last glacial period (~15^th to 11^th millennium BP). We investigate the properties and origins of soils and sedimentary sequences that accumulated prior, during and after the NAR with close context to renowned archaeological sites including Gilgal, Netiv Hagdud and Fazael, and analyze them within the broad climatological and hydrological framework. Through this inter-disciplinary study of the soils that served the earliest farmers of the Levant, we wish to see whether local conditions that followed the last glacial period provided an unplanned natural advantage to the people that inhabited the Jordan Valley. This research relies on establishing the chronology of the studied sections using OSL and ¹⁴C dating techniques, and further sedimentary and soil-related analyses, which include detailed field description and mapping, soil texture and grain-size measurements, and other fertility-related properties such as exchangeable cations composition, sodium and potassium adsorption, available sulfur and phosphorus, as well as chemical and multiple isotopic analyses.

My research involves the application of trace-element ratios and Sr, Nd, Pb, Mo and Fe isotopic compositions to follow the fate of metals in the environment, in archaeological artifacts and in humans. The clean lab and our sensitive analytical instruments enable me and my students to study small-samples and/or materials with low elemental concentrations (e.g., dust samples, teeth and brain). Currently, my group is involved in research projects centering around:

1.     Records of aeolian, fluvial and lacustrine sediments as tracers of paleo-environment conditions and sediment sources.

2.     Tracing metal artifacts in antiquity.

3.     The dark side of ancient metallurgy: Measuring toxic metals and metallic isotopes (and aDNA) in human populations and in artifacts to trace the impact of early industries through time.

4. The association between elemental anomalies in the human brain and mental diseases.

We carry out these projects in collaboration with researchers from the Hebrew University (Earth Science, Archaeology, Medicine), the Geological Survey of Israel, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, The Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University, Haifa University, GFZ - Potsdam, Germany, Columbia University, University of California San Diego, University of Michigan, and the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

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Curriculum Vitae See clean lab facility

 

 

During the past few years the focus of my research has been to develop state-of-the-art microscopy and numerical techniques to study the interaction between minerals and fluids at a macro and nanometer scale. My main study is aimed at exploring a fundamental scientific problem of exploring how mineral alterations influence wetting behavior. My research is aimed to determine the way mineral precipitation, dissolution and replacement impact the wetting behavior of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) in rocks and soils at the micrometer and nanometer scales. We expect that alteration of wettability at the pore scale will affect field scale phenomena, such as pollutant mobility. Since wetting behavior controls the adhesion of liquid contaminants to minerals, my study is expected to have important practical implications to the quality of groundwater and to the environment.
I am also studying the way in which minerals undergo weathering from the macro to the nanoscale. I developed a numerical model to assess the effect of grain size and rock composition on chemical weathering and grain detachment. The model simulates the weathering of a rock comprising grains with various sizes composed of two different minerals with different reactivities. Our simulations showed that grain detachment represents more than a third of the overall weathering rate. We also found that as grain size increases, the weathering rate initially decreases; however, beyond a critical size, the rate became approximately constant. Our results could help predict the sometimes-complex relationship between rock type and weathering rate (for more details: https://www.earth-surf-dynam.net/6/319/2018/esurf-6-319-2018.html).