Forces of Change
Pottery Prices Rise
Satellite image of dust blowing over North Africa and the Middle East.
Photo © Jay Herman, NASA GSFC

When Loess Is More

For thousands of years, a strong wind that starts in Italy has swept talcum-like, grayish-brown loess soil into Israel from North Africa. Pottery made with loess is exceptionally delicate. During the reign of Assyrian king Essarhaddon around 669 BC, people made loess pottery so fine that it was called palaceware.

Assyrian king Essarhaddon used Tel Jemmeh as a supply base from the Mediterranean during his campaign to conquer Egypt. Tel Jemmeh, near the Mediterranean Sea, is a hill 29 m (95 ft) high, nearly half of which is accumulated archaeological debris (right). The site was settled continuously between 1800 and 300 BC and is a transition zone between the Mediterranean coast and the Negev desert.

Aerial photo of Tel Jemmeh
Aerial photo of Tel Jemmeh
Aerial Photo by Gus van Beek © Smithsonian Institution.
Dr. Gus van Beek
Dr. Gus van Beek
Dr. Gus van Beek, Smithsonian archaeologist, excavated at Tel Jemmeh since 1970. He explains that sites of ancient battles yield good finds because buildings fall on artifacts and hide them from looters.
Photo Chip Clark © Smithsonian Institution
Columbia's Dust Studies
Columbia's Dust Studies
Among the 80 experiments performed on the space shuttle Columbia before its tragic loss during reentry in 2003, Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon tracked and measured desert dust over North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and North America.
Photo © Ernest Hilsenrath