Khandaker Mursheda
Farhana, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Shanto-Mariam University of
Creative Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh.Kazi Abdul Mannan, Department of Business Administration, Shanto-Mariam
University of Creative Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Wrote a research article
about, Elephant History and Habitat in the Canaan Region. Entitled, Elephant
habitat, use and extinction history in the canaan region (Jordan, Israel,
Lebanon and Syria): A zoological and forestry survey. This research paper
published by the Journal of Biodiversity and Environmental Sciences | JBES.
Abstract
This study examines the
historical presence, ecological functions, and extinction of elephants in the
Canaan region, encompassing modern-day Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and Syria,
through an interdisciplinary zoological and forestry-based survey. Drawing on
archaeological records, paleontological findings, historical texts, and
ecological reconstructions, the research explores how elephants once inhabited
and shaped the Levantine landscapes. The paper examines their role as keystone
herbivores, their integration into regional cultures through trade, warfare,
and symbolism, and their eventual disappearance due to climatic shifts,
deforestation, and anthropogenic pressures. Cultural memory of elephants, preserved
in religious scriptures and place names, offers insights into human–animal
relations and the ecological consciousness of ancient societies. The study
highlights how lessons from the extinction of elephants can inform current
biodiversity strategies, forest management, and conservation outreach in the
Levant. It also proposes future research directions, including ecological
rewilding, public education, and regional conservation collaboration. By
contextualising elephants within the broader environmental history of the
region, the study underscores the importance of integrating lost megafauna into
modern ecological narratives.
Introduction
The Canaan
region—encompassing the present-day territories of Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, and
Syria—has historically been a critical intersection of ecological diversity,
human civilisation, and zoological interaction. Among its lost megafaunal
inhabitants, elephants played a prominent role both ecologically and
culturally. Once thriving in the fertile plains and woodlands of the Levant,
elephants are now extinct in this region, their legacy surviving in fossil
records, ancient texts, and cultural symbolism. This paper seeks to understand
the historical habitat, use, and eventual extinction of elephants in Canaan
through a multidisciplinary zoological and forestry survey.
The presence of
elephants in the Levant dates back to the Pleistocene, evidenced by fossilised
remains found at sites such as Ubeidiya (Israel), Latamne (Syria), and the
Bekaa Valley (Lebanon) (Tchernov, 1987; Lister and Stuart, 2008). These remains
indicate the coexistence of Palaeoloxodon antiquus (the straight-tusked
elephant) and Elephas maximus or African elephant variants, which were adapted
to the forested and open habitats that characterised the region during
interglacial periods. Their extinction has traditionally been attributed to natural
climatic cycles; however, increasing evidence suggests significant
anthropogenic impact, including habitat destruction, hunting, and early forms
of environmental modification (Surovell et al., 2005; Stuart, 1991).
Culturally, elephants
left a strong imprint on regional traditions. They are referenced in historical
and religious texts, including the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an, notably in
stories such as the “Army of the Elephant” and accounts of Seleucid and
Ptolemaic warfare (Littman, 2009; Al-Tabari, 1987). These references not only
point to the presence of elephants but also to their utilisation in political
and religious narratives, trade, and imperial expansion. By the 1st millennium
BCE, imported elephants were likely used in military campaigns, highlighting
their political significance even as native populations dwindled.
Despite their
historical significance, little attention has been paid to the ecological
context in which elephants lived in the Levant. The region's ancient forests,
including those of oak, pistachio, and tamarisk, supported a diverse array of
flora and fauna that would have enabled elephant habitation and movement
(Zohary, 1973). However, deforestation resulting from agriculture, settlement
expansion, and wood extraction has severely altered the landscape, contributing
to habitat fragmentation and biodiversity loss. These ecological pressures,
compounded over centuries, have created unsustainable environments for the
survival of megafauna (Faith, 2014).
This research addresses
the need for a comprehensive analysis of elephant extinction in the Levant by
integrating zoological data, paleontological evidence, archaeological records,
and forestry ecology. It aims to reconstruct the environmental conditions that
supported elephants, understand their interaction with human societies, and
analyse the cascading consequences of their extinction on the regional
ecosystem.
Furthermore, the study
seeks to contribute to current conservation discussions by evaluating how
historical knowledge of megafauna loss can inform present-day environmental
policy and rewilding initiatives. In a region frequently viewed through the
lens of religious and political history, highlighting its deep-time ecological
transformations offers a broader perspective on land use, biodiversity, and
sustainability.
In doing so, this paper
argues for the inclusion of historical megafauna in regional environmental
memory and conservation frameworks. Elephants in Canaan were not merely victims
of extinction—they were agents in shaping forests, dispersing seeds, and
constructing ecosystems. Their loss altered not just the biological fabric of
the region but its cultural consciousness. Recovering that legacy is essential
for a holistic understanding of both past and present ecological dynamics.
Reference
Al-Tabari. 1987. The
history of al-Tabari, Volume I: General introduction and from the creation to
the flood (F. Rosenthal, Trans.). State University of New York Press. (Original
work published c. 915 CE)
Bar-Yosef O. 1998. The
Natufian culture in the Levant, threshold to the origins of agriculture.
Evolutionary Anthropology 6, 159–177.
Faith JT. 2014. Late
Pleistocene and Holocene mammal extinctions on continental Africa.
Earth-Science Reviews 128, 105–121.
Goren-Inbar N, Sharon
G, Melamed Y, Kislev ME. 2002. Nuts, nut cracking, and pitted stones at Gesher
Benot Ya‘aqov, Israel. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 99,
2455–2460.
Haynes G. 1991.
Mammoths, mastodonts, and elephants: Biology, behavior, and the fossil record.
Cambridge University Press.
Langgut D, Almogi-Labin
A, Bar-Matthews M, Faershtein G, Weinstein-Evron M. 2011. Vegetation and
climate changes over the last 5,600 years in the southern Levant, based on
palynological records. Quaternary Science Reviews 30, 3960–3972.
Lister AM, Stuart AJ. 2008.
The impact of climate change on large mammal distribution and extinction:
Evidence from the last glacial/interglacial transition. Comptes Rendus
Geoscience 340, 615–620.
Littman RJ. (2009).
Elephants and kings in the Hellenistic Levant. Journal for the Study of the
Pseudepigrapha 18, 101–115.
Ripple WJ, Newsome TM,
Wolf C, Dirzo R, Everatt KT, Galetti M, Hayward MW, Kerley GIH, Levi T, Lindsey
PA, Macdonald DW, Malhi Y, Painter LE, Sandom CJ, Scholes RJ, Van
Valkenburgh B. 2015. Collapse of the world’s largest herbivores. Science
Advances 1, e1400103.
Stuart AJ. 1991.
Mammalian extinctions in the Late Pleistocene of northern Eurasia and North
America. Biological Reviews 66, 453–562.
Surovell TA, Waguespack
NM, Brantingham PJ. 2005. Global archaeological evidence for proboscidean
overkill. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 102, 6231–6236.
Tchernov E. 1987. The
biogeographical history of the southern Levant. In Y. Yom-Tov and E. Tchernov
(Eds.), The zoogeography of Israel: The distribution and abundance at a
zoogeographical crossroad. Dr. W. Junk Publishers p. 159–250.
Wroe S, Field J,
Fullagar R, Jermin LS. 2013. Megafaunal extinction in the late Quaternary and
the global overkill hypothesis. Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of
Palaeontology 37, 327–353.
Zohary M. 1973.
Geobotanical Foundations of the Middle East. Vols. I–II. Gustav Fischer Verlag.
0 comments:
Post a Comment