Spiny Burnet as Industrial Fuel in Historical Palestine: Ecology and ethnography

ABSTRACT The spiny burnet (sarcopeterium spinosum) bush is very common in the hilly region of Israel. The inhabitants of the country utilised the bush for various purposes, mainly for heating. The special characteristics of the bush – that it reaches its burning point at a high temperature within a short time and has a wide availability - led manufacturers and industrialists who needed heating energy to make extensive use of it throughout history. One of the uses was as fuel for lime kilns in the hilly region, on which this article focusses, considering what spiny burnet was so extensively used, the logistics of its use, and the industry’s impact on the landscape. The manufacture of quicklime, however, harmed the environment by destroying the flora and the undergrowth from time to time, because the need for a large quantity of spiny burnet plants left the soil bare, resulting in serious erosion.