The coastal city of Ashkelon was a frequent field of battle during the Crusades ( between the 11th and fifteenth centuries ) , change hands between Muslims and Christians several time . An archaeological dig has revealed a siege ramp an army get out behind has performed an unexpected function , saving the metropolis from being swallowed up by the desert littoral zone .
The walls ancient Canaanites build to protect one of their most important cities were infract many prison term over 5,000 geezerhood , but always rebuild until 1270 CE when Sultan Baybars ordered the metropolis destroy . It ’s now a significant archaeological internet site , butDr Rafael Lewisof the University of Haifa in Israel has spotted something others have missed , with considerable significance for the unexampled city .
A settlement was establish in the 15th one C , inland of the erstwhile site , and has grown into a urban center that took its name from its famous herald . praise the many fruits maturate at Ashkelon , the 19th - century British visitor Claude Conder admonish : “ On the S the great waving of ever - encroach sand have now surmounted the fortifications and swept over garden once fruitful , threatening in time to make all one sandy desert , unless agency can be found to check its advancement . ”
Looking at ethereal pic of the honest-to-goodness and novel cities , Dr Lewis noticed something was indeed blocking the impinge guts dunes . The obstruction aligns perfectly with the ancient city ’s Jerusalem Gate , which Lewis considered an improbable coincidence .
On look into , Lewis realized a ridge 8 - 10 meters ( 26 - 33 feet ) high and about 200 meters ( 650 foot ) long run to the gate was stopping the backbone dunes ' advance . The ridge is obvious enough it appear on 19th - hundred maps , but if anyone before Lewis realise it was n’t a natural lineament of the surroundings their observation was n’t record . The ridge is in reality a ramp build by an ground forces smother the urban center so they could bring siege engines from nearby high reason across a gully so they could storm the walls , Lewis revealed in a chapter in the bookCrusading and Archeology .
military blockade ramps were common in the surface area , despite the vast effort required to make them . Many were destroyed by the victor lest they be useful to future invader , but a few wereleft behindby conquerors either supremely confident they would not be threatened themselves , or with no plan to keep the metropolis .
What is different about Ashkelon ’s wild leek is its subsequent effects . Without it the fields that cover the sure-enough city and prolong to the north would not have remained some of the part ’s most fertile , Lewis believes . The metropolis might never have been refounded . Lewis told IFLScience , “ Medieval military formations … always remold the terra firma around them to some extent , ” but few would have been as influential as this .
It is get laid a besieging wild leek near the current fix was build by King Baldwin III in 1153 to enable his successful takeover of the city , but Lewis believe the Crusaders must have demolish this later on lest it be used against them . The surviving Allium tricoccum would have been built for one of the subsequent engagement , most likely to ease Baybar ’s victory . According to Lewis , previous Moslem swayer had tried to prevent Crusaders from establishing a coastal footing by keeping small garrisons in many fortresses . Baybar learn from their failures and concentrated his force at a few web site , destroying the remaining city so they could not be used against him .
Lewis tell IFLScience he ’s not an expert on preventing desertification , but understands “ The best way to stabilize soil and keep away the desert is by vegetation ” . Earth embankment sometimes help oneself , but he does n’t recall this one ’s success will see it replicated elsewhere instead of reafforestation .
[ H / THaaretz ]
