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31°0′60″N / 34°43′4″E
October 9, 2011. Abu Asa family homestead in the vicinity of the recognized Bedouin town of Bīr Haddāj, of the ‛Azāzme tribe. The dark circular stains in the center of the image indicate the former presence of sire, livestock pens for camels, goats, and sheep. Staining is created by the bodily fluids of the herds that were kept there. Each year, the pens are shifted and the former space disinfected by fire. The stains remain on the ground for several years, the gradient of their saturation indicating how many rainy seasons have washed them away. Such traces help gauge the minimum duration of their presence in years. In 1978 Bīr Haddāj was declared a closed military area, forcing its inhabitants to relocate to Wādi al-Na‛īm, near Beersheba. In 1994, when they learned that land on which they had previously settled was no longer used for military purposes, but had been converted into a moshav, they returned and settled beside the moshav.