LATITUDE: 30°57'10"N / LONGITUDE: 34°56'19"E, November 14, 2011. The piled stones along the upper ridge, typical of the Nabataean era, are known as tuleilat al-ʽēnab (Arabic, “grape mounds”). These conical formations, measuring about 100 × 30 centimeters, were generally placed on the hillside in order to clear the slopes and increase the surface runoff from the rains into the wadis below. The high slopes—with abundant sunlight, and with the black flint of the surface radiating the solar heat—are the perfect environment in which to grow grapes. Moisture collected within the center of the mound protects and nurtures the young grape vine, while the mound allows the vines to trail along the outer angle rather than on the ground. The site is beside the HaMakhtesh HaGadol (Hebrew, lit., "big crater"), Israel’s second largest crater, near Yeruḥam, Israel’s first development town., from the series Desert Bloom Artist: Fazal Sheikh (American, born 1965)