Lake Lisan was a prehistoric lake that existed between 70,000 and 12,000 BP in the

Jordan Rift Valley The Jordan Rift Valley, also Jordan Valley ''Bīrʿāt haYardēn'', ar, الغور Al-Ghor or Al-Ghawr),, date=November 2022 also called the Syro-African Depression, is an elongated depression located in modern-day Israel, and Jordan. This g ...

in the Near East. It is sometimes referred to as a

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

lake. Lisan means ''tongue'' in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

relating to the shape of the Lisan Peninsula where studies of the

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

formations were taken. The sediment formations left by the lake extend from

Lake Tiberias The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest f ...

(the Sea of Galilee) in the north to a boundary ridge ca. 35 km south of the Dead Sea. The lake left behind a layer of

lacustrine A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

sediment that blankets the

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

with terraces of sediment up to 40 m thick. These sediments are commonly called

marls Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...

and are composed of layers of true loam and

calcareous Calcareous () is an adjective meaning "mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate", in other words, containing lime or being chalky. The term is used in a wide variety of scientific disciplines. In zoology ''Calcareous'' is used as an ad ...

silt Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel ...

loams mixed with other chemicals and salts. At its height, the lake covered several other basins in the area with a maximum area of ca. 2000 km², a length of 200 km and a width of no more than 17 km. The formations were named the ''Lisan deposits'' and first described by

Lartet Lartet is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Édouard Lartet (1801–1871), French geologist and paleontologist * Louis Lartet Louis Lartet (1840 – 1899) was a French geologist and paleontologist. He discovered the or ...

in 1869 after visiting the Dead Sea in the Spring of 1864. He noted a correlation of a wet period in the

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...

with a glacial period in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. It was not until geographer E. Huntindon visited in 1909 that it was realized it was measure of historical

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

for the area. The first stratigraphic study of the sediments was carried out by Picard in 1943 who developed a chronology he called the ''Lisan series''. It was not until later studies were carried out at lake level that a more detailed chronology of the lacustrine record was developed. These studies determined the highest stand of the lake to be around 160 metres below sea level at around 24,000 to 26,000 BC. when it formed a complete lake all the way along the Jordan Valley, approximately 200 metres higher than the current level of the Dead Sea. This started to decline around 17,000 BC with the sharpest drop in level occurring through 14,000 to 13,000 BC to around 500 metres below sea level, representing possibly the largest lake level drop in the last 70,000 years, occurring over a period of only around 1000 years. This rapid lowering created a flattened valley floor, known in modern times as the ''Ghor''. Tectonic factors have been suggested as a possible cause for these events and it has been argued that the level receded as far as 700 metres below sea level, then gradually refilled. Climatic and tectonic changes caused the level in the Jordan Valley to fluctuate into the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

, leaving Lake Beisan in the basin around

Beit She'an Beit She'an ( he, בֵּית שְׁאָן '), also Beth-shean, formerly Beisan ( ar, بيسان ), is a town in the Northern District of Israel. The town lies at the Beit She'an Valley about 120 m (394 feet) below sea level. Beit She'an is be ...

still extant into the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

. Archaeological evidence also supports these levels with no Kebaran sites located between 17,000 BC and 13,500 BC below a level of 203 metres below sea level. Early

Natufian The Natufian culture () is a Late Epipaleolithic archaeological culture of the Levant, dating to around 15,000 to 11,500 years ago. The culture was unusual in that it supported a sedentary or semi-sedentary population even before the introducti ...

sites are also located between 215 and 230 metres below sea level, indicating a high level and receding shoreline after this date.

Pictures

References

External links

Bartov, Y., Lake Levels and Sequence Stratigraphy of Lake Lisan, the Late Pleistocene
{{Portal, Israel, Jordan, History, Asia Great Rift Valley Lisan