innovative and influential, whilst also demonstrating the ingenuity and insightfulness involved in ancient peoples’ interactions with plants. Guy Bar-Oz states “The discovery of the rise and fall of commercial viticulture in the Byzantine Negev supports other recent evidence unearthed by the ‘Crisis on the Margins’ project for major agricultural and settlement expansion in the 5th to mid-6th century followed by decline. It appears that agricultural settlement in the Negev Highlands received such a blow that it was not revived until modern times. Significantly, the decline came nearly a century before the Islamic conquest of the mid-seventh century”. Two of the most likely triggers for the mid-6th century collapse – climate change and plague – reveal inherent vulnerabilities in politicaleconomic systems, then and now. The difference is that the Byzantines didn’t see it coming. We can actually prepare ourselves for the next outbreak or the imminent consequences of climate change. The question is, will we be wise enough to do so? Daniel Fuks is a PhD student in archaeobotany at the Land of Israel Studies Dept. of Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
Keeping it in the family Jacqueline Lewis For some 40 years, without fail, Evelyn Rose MBE contributed her weekly recipe to the JC. Published in 1976, her “Complete International Jewish Cookbook” went into three editions. Here were recipes in which the kosher and the healthy made for a great mix. Inevitably, Evelyn passed on her skills to her daughter, Judi. In New York, Judi worked as a cookery Page 56
