Emeritus Faculty
Prof. Yehoshua Ben -Arieh
Professor Emeritus
Prof. Uri Dayan
Professor Emeritus
Prof. Rehav Rubin
Professor
Read More
Professor Rehav Rubin
Prof. Rubin is a professor at the department of geography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has a B.A. and an M.A. in archaeology and geography and a Ph.D. in historical geography from the Hebrew University. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the department of geography at the University of Maryland.
Prof. Rubin’s main areas of research and teaching include: man and settlement in the desert in late antiquity; the history of cartography and mapping of Jerusalem and the Holy Land; Hebrew maps of the Holy Land from Rashi to early modern time; three dimensional maps and models of monuments in the Holy Land; geographical aspects of pilgrimage and Holy Places; historical geography of Israel/Palestine, especially in late antiquity.
He is currently works on two research projects: The history of maps and mapping of the holy Land; and Proskynetaria: Greek-Orthodox Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 16-19 Century.
Prof. Rubin is the author of more than seventy articles in peer-reviewed journals and five books:
The Negev as a Settled Land, Urbanization and Settlement in the Desert in the Byzantine Period, Jerusalem, 1990 (Hebrew)
Image and Reality, Jerusalem in Maps and Views, Jerusalem, 1999.
Image and Reality, Jerusalem in Maps and Views, Jerusalem, Magnes Press, 1999
Zurat Haaretz, Hebrew maps of the Holy Land from Rashi to the early 20th century, Yad Ben Zvi, 2014 (Hebrew).
Stories Told by the Mountains: Cultural Landscape through Time, Resling, (Hebrew, forthcoming)
His book Zurat Haaretz won the Yitzhak Ben Zvi Prize.
Read Less
Prof. Aaron Yair
Professor Emeritus
Read More
Research Interest and Research Activity
I am mainly interested in the study of geomorphic processes in arid and semi arid environments. In 1972 I established, in the Negev Highlands, the long-term Sede Boqer Research Station, characteristic of an arid rocky area. Research in the station is highly interdisciplinary and covers the main following aspects: Rainfall-runoff relationships; soil moisture; effect of runoff water redistribution on vegetation and soil development; effect of bioturbation on erosion rates and soil development; chemical composition of rainwater and runoff water; isotopic composition of rainfall and runoff and processes of groundwater recharge. Extrapolation of data obtained into larger spatial and temporal scales under changing climatic conditions. Effects of loess and sand accumulation on hydrological processes. Sensitivity of hydrological response units to climate change. Application of data obtained for afforestation practices on rocky arid hillslopes.
In 1988 I established (in the frame of the Minerva Arid Ecosystems Research Centre) the Nizzana Research Site. The site represents a sandy ecosystem. Topics under study cover the following aspects: Monitoring the effect of a biological topsoil crust on infiltration, runoff frequency and rates. Recovery rates of the biological topsoil crust following disturbance. Use of remote sensing techniques for the monitoring of biological crust recovery. Monitoring of water percolation and movement in a longitudinal dune. Eolian and fluvial interactions in the evolution of the Nizzana sand field. Dating of eolian and fluvial stages. Climate change and evolution of the Nizzana sand field. Sensitivity of the sandy ecosystem to climate change.
Read Less