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RESEARCH
BOSTAN TREE has generated several peer reviewed scientific publications, with more on the way.



Historical Roots of Heritage Horticulture in the Southern Coastal Plain of Israel
Motti Zohar. Yuval Ben-Bassat, Guy Bar-Oz From Historical roots of heritage horticulture in the southern coastal plain of Israel . Land , 14: 285. This study reconstructs the agricultural landscape of the southern coastal plain of late Ottoman and British Mandatory Palestine (today southwestern Israel) utilizing late 19th and early 20th century cartographic materials and aerial photographs. Immense human effort and ingenuity were required to maintain sustainable agricultura
Jan 1, 2026
![Current state of wild and feral date palm populations in the Negev and Arava. [Hebrew]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/471044_2c8b7d6697ba471a84829f51c6261edf~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_251,h_250,fp_0.50_0.50,q_30,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/471044_2c8b7d6697ba471a84829f51c6261edf~mv2.webp)
![Current state of wild and feral date palm populations in the Negev and Arava. [Hebrew]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/471044_2c8b7d6697ba471a84829f51c6261edf~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_291,h_290,fp_0.50_0.50,q_90,enc_avif,quality_auto/471044_2c8b7d6697ba471a84829f51c6261edf~mv2.webp)
Current state of wild and feral date palm populations in the Negev and Arava. [Hebrew]
Roy Galili, Ariel Meroz, Yuval Cohen, and Guy Bar-Oz From Forest : Journal of Forests and Open Land Management , 28: 8-19 (in Hebrew). Date palms are a key species in the ecology of the desert. Populations of date palms have a high capacity for survival, but despite their resilience to changing environmental conditions, they are sensitive to fluctuations in the groundwater level and to the quality of the water around their root zone. The condition of many wild date palms,
Oct 1, 2025


Distribution patterns of Gaza wine vs. Cilician wine in the eastern Mediterranean in Late Antiquity.
Inna Kizhner, Gil Gambash, Guy Bar-Oz, and Gideon Avni From Levant , 56: 408-424 (2024). To explore the consumption patterns and demand for famous wines exported in Late Antiquity, such as Gaza wine and Cilician wine, several case studies were analyzed: studies involving excavation results from sites where Late Roman amphorae, such as the LRA 1 and LRA 4 types, were found. Several themes emerged from the analysis. First, Gaza jars used for the transportation of Gaza wine se
Oct 1, 2025


Wine economy in Byzantine Shivta (Negev, Israel): Exploring the role of runoff agriculture and droughts through Agent-Based Modeling
Barak Garty, Gil Gambash, Sharona T. Levy, Guy Bar-Oz From PLoS One , 20: e0325204. Viticulture was a vital agricultural and economic activity during the Byzantine period, also in marginal regions like the Negev Desert. Innovative dryland farming techniques, such as runoff harvesting systems, terraces, and pigeon towers, enabled intensive grape cultivation and a thriving wine export economy. This study focuses on the resilience and adaptability of viticulture in the hinterlan
Aug 1, 2025


Mediterranean viticulture in Late Antique Palestine
Shulamit Miller, Guy Bar-Oz, Eyal Ben Eliyahu, Gil Gambash From Journal of Interdisciplinary History , 56: 43-79. Viticulture in Late Antiquity was a widespread, economically vital, and regionally diverse form of horticulture in the Mediterranean world, and archaeological and textual sources such as rabbinical literature shed light on viticulture, particularly in Palestine. Vineyard cultivation was shaped by local geography, climate, and religious norms, with techniques rang
Jun 1, 2025


An Ecological Comparison of Two Abandoned Heritage Orchards in Northern Israel
Eli Ashkenazi, Ido Wachtel, Guy Bar-Oz, Roy Marom and Liora Kolska Horwitz From Heritage , 8: 76. This study documented two relict traditional Palestinian orchards; one was abandoned following the 1948 war when the farmers were exiled to Lebanon and the second was tended by farmers up until the early 1970s. The orchards examined are located in two different Mediterranean phytogeographic regions, one in the hilly Upper Galilee and the other on the slopes of Mount Carmel in the
Mar 1, 2025


Why study the archeo-histories of dryland landraces now?
Guy Bar-Oz and Joshua Schmidt
Feb 20, 2025


Re-examining the archaeo-cultural histories of landrace fruit trees
Guy Bar Oz and Joshua Schmidt In preparation for Trends in Plant Sciences Historical farmers used selection and diffusion to ensure that...
Sep 15, 2024


Propagating terroir revival in the Negev: How the wine industry can amplify its resilience to climate adversity through a deeper understanding of historic dryland viticulture
Joshua Schmidt, Guy Bar-Oz From Horticulturae 10 (9), 917 (August 2024) Based on an examination of the outlooks and practices held by...
Aug 20, 2024


Unraveling the diversity and cultural heritage of fruit crops through paleogenomics
Meirav Meiri and Guy Bar-Oz From Trends in Genetics , TIGS 2137 (February 2024) Paleogenomics provides new ways to study the cultural...
Jul 10, 2024


In Dabouki Land: Interdisciplinary notes on the cultural history of a landrace grape cultivar in Israel
Joshua Schmidt, Yuval Ben-Bassat, Guy Bar-Oz From Journal of Arid Environments , 224 (June, 2024) Cultivated for millennia, the...
Jun 7, 2024
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