H.G.K. GEBEL. Z. KAFAFI. and G.O. ROLLEFSON (eds.). The Prehistory of Jordan. ll. Perspectives from 1997. Studies in Early Near Eastern Production. Subsistence. and Environment 4 (1997). Berlin. oriente. Status and Perspectives of Archaeobotanical Research in Jordan Reinder Neef In this contribution a brief overview will be given of the results achieved in archaeobotany in Jordan up to the present time. It will focus mainly on the combination of these results and the general suitability of Jordan for agriculture without going into detail. From the general information on the published botanical material and the ecological settings of the sites, considerations as to the future perspectives and goals in archaeobotany in Jordan appear most rewarding. Status (Table 1) Miller (1991) recently gave an overview of the archaeobotanical results from the main sites in the Near East. Since this publication, nothing very substantial has been published in this field from Jordanian sites with the exception of the important results of Colledge on Natufian and Neolithic sites in the subarid and arid zones of Jordan (COLLEDGE 1994, GARRARD et al. 1996). Most other publications have presented only preliminary results. A compilation of all the archaeobotanical re- ports on the analysis of seeds, fruits, wood, etc., on the most important crop plants, fruit- and other trees, and shrubs published from Jordanian sites is presented in Table 1. The sites listed in this table are shown in Fig. 1. For a country as small as Jordan, there is remarkable variation in landscapes and bioclimato- logical zones. The present climate of Jordan, with its dry hot summers and its rainfall during the cold season in winter and early spring, is typically Mediterranean. In Fig. 2 a subdivision in bioclimato- logical zones of this climate reflects the calculation of the rainfall/temperature quotient (Q) according to Emberger (1952). The subdivisions are after Long (1957) and partly modified after Kiirschner (1986). Q is plotted against the mean minimum temperature of the coldest month (m), being January. The climatic dates are taken from Alex (1985) and the NAJ (1984). The sites plotted in the figure are not fixed because there are almost no direct climatic dates available for the sites. Rainfall, etc. can also differ substantially over a few kilometers, such as at the edges of the highlands of the Jordan Valley or at the eastern plateau. Sites lying close to each other have almost the same climatic setting, but one should keep in mind that the data used here are based on the present climate. The results from PPNB sites 'Ain Ghazal and Basta (NEEF n.d.), for instance, suggest better climate conditions compared to the present, which is in accordance with the compilation on climatic data by Sanlaville (1996). The shaded areas in the topographical setting of the sites in Fig. 1 represent those areas where the average annual precipitation is above 200mm. The absolute minimum of rainfall is 200mm for dry-farming, depending on local factors as the water-carrying capacity of the soil, exposure, and dew, all of which can influence the microclimate. Another aspect that can interfere with the annual rainfall is the time period in which the rain occurs. Heavy showers can release more than 50mm rain an hour, which means that a lot of water is lost as runoff, and on slopes this can cause severe soil erosion. For Syria, Wirth (1971) mentions that on well-developed soils with a favorable distribution of the precipi- tation during the winter months, barley develops well at 200mm and wheat at 250mm of precipitation. But in these areas, at the fringe of the possibility of dry-farming, annual rain fluctuations are relatively very large; for instance, the standard deviation of rainfall over 25 years at the 200mm isohyet, which lies just south of Deir 'AlIa, is between 50 and 75mm (NAJ 1984). Wirth (1971) calculated that only in those areas with a precipitation level higher then 400mm there where was a small risk for dry farming. This includes sites as 'Ain Ghazal, Tell Irbid and Jerash. More than 90% of Jordan, however, lies in the arid zone, with less than 200mm. This means that 601