Desertification in Northern Sinai in the eighteenth century

Several natural and anthropogenic phenomena in the northern Sinai sand sea and the northern Negev desert were caused by desiccation of the area during most of the 17^th and the 18^th century. The dry phase had been preceded by a wet period. It appears that the combination of several wet decades followed by a long period of desiccation was the cause of desertification processes in the area which then triggered the destruction of vegetation. There is some congruity between the wet period and the period of maximum sunspot activity, known as the Medieval Maximum, while the desiccation of the area which followed coincided approximately with the period of minimum solar activity, known as the Maunder Minimum.