Living landrace fruit trees can be studied with archaeological tools. Excavating their roots can reveal their age. Analyzing the sediments around the tree roots through micro-archaeology with archaeobotanical proxies (pollen and phytoliths) and chemical signatures (biogenic minerals) provides valuable information about the agricultural history of the trees, including specific activities related to contemporary agricultural renewal, such as soil and water cycle improvement.

BOSTAN TREE researchers are developing cutting edge methodologies to improve the processes used to identify and date ancient and traditional agricultural activities and place-based use of space. These efforts initiated in the early 2000s during fieldwork in the Negev Highlands wherein researchers applied Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to date historic agricultural fields. Hundreds of archaic terraced fields across the Negev were sampled. The researchers found that peak use occurred between the fourth and tenth centuries CE. This stage followed a period that saw the abandonment of the Negev terraces, only to be renewed several centuries later when, in the eighteenth-century CE, Bedouin tribal confederations moved into the area and rebuilt and replanted cereal crops and fruit orchards. Led by the Gideon Avni from the Israel antiquities Authority and his brother Yoav Avni and colleague Naomi Porat from the Geological Survey of Israel, this research opened the door for the use of this methodology in studies of ancient fields and orchards both in Israel and abroad, including within the BOSTAN TREE research rubric.

In a new and fascinating stage, BOSTAN TREE is building on this novel research approach by further developing the study of the archaeology of the trees and plants by adding the genetic perspective that is instrumental in connecting present day plant species with ancient ones. In the course of our work, we are discovering past water management technologies and the application of diverse plant species, focusing on the connectivity between key historical and present day features common to heritage orchards.