Archaeology, Biblical

Geography and Climate

Although the archaic geographic term Near Easthas been largely replaced by Middle East in popular and political language, the Near East remains an operative term in archaeological research, alongside Anatolian, Arabian, Levantine, Mesopotamian, southwest Asia, and Syro-Palestinian. The geographic term Near East encompasses the modern countries of Bahrain, Cyprus, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman,Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Geography and climate play important roles in shaping Near Eastern life, dictating how and where populations subsist as well as the daily and seasonal measure of time. The 6 million km area is an amalgamation of mountains, plains, rivers, coasts, and deserts that, together, create a dynamic setting for the cultural landscape. Primary mountain ranges begin in the Armenian region, with the Taurus and Pontic ranges extending westward across Anatolia while the Zagros and Elburz Ranges extend eastward into Iraq and Iran. Crossing the Straits of Hormuz, the Hajar Range makes up a large portion of modern Oman. Running along either side of the Rift Valley's extension into the Middle East is a series of mountain ranges: the Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Jabal Ansariye. Along the southern portion of this series is the Hejaz Range, which extends to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These features separate and sometimes surround several plains and plateaus of varying shapes and sizes, including the Anatolian and Iranian Plateaus in the west and east, respectively. From north to south, the Zagros and Taurus Ranges give way to the Mesopotamian Rise, the Syrian Steppe, Upper Mesopotamia, and Lower Mesopotamia. There is a similar condition in the Arabian Peninsula: moving west to east from the Hijaz Range is the Arabian Shield, followed by a series of escarpments, plateaus, and deserts until reaching the Persian Gulf.

Access to persistent water sources places a constraint on Near Eastern society, determining the level at which communities can thrive and subsist. Major rivers such as the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates and minor rivers such as the Orontes, Jordan, Balikh, and Khabur originate in higher elevations and travel [Page 247]down to the plains, providing water for crops either through flooding or irrigation. Maritime transportation is possible on the larger bodies of water, including the Eastern Mediterranean; the Black, Caspian, and Red Seas; and the Persian Gulf.

The region's climate is characterized by extreme conditions and dictates, as does geography, the distribution of settlements and subsistence practices. The climate is a dry “continental” variant of the Mediterranean climate with wet winters and hot summers. The amount of moisture is often contingent on proximity to coastlines as well as altitude. Rainfall is higher and temperatures lower in the winter months, when colder weather patterns from Eurasia move south and east. The intensity of rainfall and the duration of the rainy season generally decrease from west to east and north to south. Annual rainfall on the Mediterranean Coastal Plain exceeds 600 mm while further south and east, the semidesert zones see 350–600 mm, and the deserts,0–150 mm.

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