Jordan Valley

The fifth excavation season at Tell Damiyah took place from the 18th of October until the 20th of November, 2014. It was a joint project between the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities, represented by Lucas Petit, and the Yarmouk University, represented by Zeidan Kafafi. Work was carried out in 6 squares on the south-eastern summit of the Tell. The main goal was to study the Late Iron Age levels and to relate the findings to other Iron Age sites in the vicinity. Furthermore, attention was given to a cemetery on the summit, preliminary dated to the Byzantine and Ottoman Period. The 2014 season uncovered additional remains of a burned complex dated to the 7th century BC. Several objects, among them a clay bulla with cuneiform signs and Assyrian Palace Ware, found in a previous season, point to a relationship with the Neo-Assyrian Empire, but also some Egyptian and Cypro-Phoenician objects or ceramics were encountered. The interior walls of the most northern rectangular building was plastered as was a platform against the most western wall. Several figurines were discovered in and outside this building and cultic activities can be assumed. Persian-Hellenistic silos and a Byzantine and Ottoman cemetery were the latest occupation remains at Tell Damiyah.

Textiles are rarely found in archaeology because they decay due to climate and soil conditions. Objects that were used to make thread and fabric and that are found in excavations do, however, enable reconstructions of textile production. In this study the data from 1480 loom weights and a number of textile fragments from four Iron Age sites in Transjordan – dated between 800 and 332 BC – were used as a starting point to reconstruct the economic and cultic aspects of textile production. This opened up new insights into the availability and use of raw materials, production techniques, labour investment, producers, consumers and the market. The approach of this study, placing textile research in the context of text analysis, has enabled new interpretations of archaeological finds, unveiling aspects of the economic, social and religious fabric of Iron Age society, and simultaneously it sheds new light on texts from the southern Levant, resulting in a new kaleidoscopic approach to biblical archaeology.

Abstract

        Studies over the past century have led to the conclusion that many of the events mentioned in the Torah or Hebrew bible cannot be historically verified through archaeological findings in the Levant.  On the other hand, a number of folkloric histories and cultural events frequently found in medieval Islamic sources and comparable to those of the first several books of the Hebrew bible have been regarded for centuries as those that were adopted by the authors of Islamic stories.  These stories, considered Hebraic, are thought to have spread and spilled over into Arabia through Bedouin trade and contacts with people in regions further north of peninsular Arabia.
    This book proposes that the geographic and cultural context for the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, including those involving the Exodus, the conquest of Jericho, the coming of Nebuchadnezzar and numerous other events, are about happenings that took place among peoples of the ancient Yemen.  Epigraphic and ethnographic evidence, as well as the ancient classical writings, and medieval folklore and genealogies suggest that ancient Yemenite clans identified in the Torah and mentioned in South Arabian inscriptions moved northward at various times settling in regions of the Levant, Babylonia and Syria, and bringing most of the place and people names that are found in the Torah with them.
    The evidence presented in this book also suggests that the demographics of peninsular Arabia have undergone significant change within the last several hundred years and that the ethnic groups and societies of biblical Israel and Canaan developed within the context of the Afro-Arabian civilization sprung from the Bronze Age cultures once predominant in the Yemenite Tihama and Red Sea region.

This chapter will provide a brief general historical background on the archaeology of Palestine before going on to give a more detailed account of the archaeological surveys, excavations and restoration projects in the Jericho Oasis from 1994 to the present day.
Taha, Hamdan Two Decades of Archaeology in Jericho, 1994-2015, In Digging Up Jericho past, present and future, edited by K. Sparks, B. Finlayson, B. Wagemakers and J. Briffa, Archaeopress Publishing LTD, Oxford, 2020:269-287.

The sugar industry flourished as an important economic activity in the Jordan Valley during the medieval period, as indicated in both historical sources and archaeological evidence. Cultivation of sugarcane expanded in the lower plain of the Jordan Valley with the new industry of sugar production in operation from the 12th century onward. In the Jericho area, three sugar mills were recorded at the end of the 19th century. Sugar mills were in use during the Fatimid, Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Sugarcane was already known and cultivated in the Jordan Valley and the coastal areas before its utilisation for sugar production. The cultivation of sugarcane and the production of sugar require abundant water for irrigation and for powering the mills; therefore, it was generally associated with ample sources of water and water installations available in the Jericho area and provided by the double springs of ‘Ain Nwueima, ‘Ain Deuk, and ‘Ain es-Sultan. The Jordan Valley’s sugarcane cultivation and mills were mentioned in several early medieval, Arab and Frankish sources.

Taha, Hamdan, The Sugarcane Industry in Jericho, Jordan Valley, In The Origins of the Sugar Industry and theTransmission of Ancient Greek and Medieval Arab Science and Technology from the Near East to Europe, edited by Konstantinos  D. Politis, Proceedings of the International  Conference, Athens, 25, May, 2015,  Athens 2015: 51-79.

The economic development of the Palestinian Side of the Lower Part of the Jordan River Basin (LPJR) is one of the most important corner stones of Palestinian economic recovery and development. In addition to its vast potential for agricultural development, it has great potential for industrial development, and comparative advantages in the fields of tourism, transportation and logistics.
Moreover, the LPJR is the only large region of Palestine that can support large-scale of agricultural actitivities as awell as absorption of population growth through large-scale urban development, including new cities. The development strategy of the LPJR should focus on an integrated process tackling all economic sectors, in parallel, and in a complementary manner.
The following is a master plan that was developed for LPJR in order to present a wholistic and complimentary process that includes specific interventions aimed at targeting the needs of all potential economic sectors and the population currently in existence and the potential growth in this population and the socio – economic development requirements in the immediate, short, medium and long term, projecting these requirements all the way into the year 2050.

The Jordan Valley was and still is a place of many different facets: a barrier as well as a demographic centre, a steppe region as well as a fertile agricultural zone, and a region with a mix of different ethnic groups, cultures and ideas. The area forms a rich source of information for scholars of various disciplines and with different academic backgrounds.

This article presents the results of the 2017 excavations at Khirbet el Mastarah in the middle Jordan Valley near 'Aujah. The site was identified by Zertal in the fifth volume of his series, The Manasseh Hill Country Survey, and its main occupation was dated to Iron Age I. Ben-Yosef grouped the site as one of the main Iron Age I 'complex oval compounds', possibly representing the presence of a new pastoral population in the region. The results of the excavation so far have, however, not yielded a clear date for the structures built at the site. In general, the site was very poor in finds, which date from the Middle Bronze through to the Ottoman period. The excavation results and their implications as well as suggestions for further research are discussed.

Archaeological classifications of clay loom weights are usually based on morphological criteria. In this article on the Iron Age loom weights excavated at Tell Deir ‘Alla in Jordan attention is paid to a technological approach of the study of these artefacts. Like in technological pottery studies, this approach focuses on the reconstruction of the manufacturing technique based on the interpretation of technical characteristics followed by a simulation experiment. It gives an explanation for the various morphological loom weight types.

The site of Tell es-Sultan is located in the lower plain of the Jordan Valley, approximately 10 kilometers north of the Dead Sea. At a depth of 250 meters below the Sea level, and with a history that dates back to the Neolithic period, it is the lowest and oldest town on earth. The site of Tell es-Sultan is identified with ancient Jericho and is mentioned in ancient historical and religious sources. Following the transfer of authorities to the Palestinian side, a joint Palestinian-Italian expedition resumed work at the site in 1997.

Hamdan Taha, 2010  Tell es-Sultan, the Oldest City in the World.  This Week in Palestine. Issue no. 144: 36-38.

تسعى هذه الدراسة لرصد وتحليل وتفسير تكتيكات المقاومة اليومية في منطقة الأغوار الفلسطينية وفهم أثرها في مشروع الاستعمار الإسرائيلي. يؤطر القسم الأول نظريًا لمفهوم المقاومة اليومية، ويقدم قراءة في خلفياته وأبعاده وتكتيكاته. ويناقش القسم الثاﻧﻲ السياسة الإسرائيلية في الأغوار منذ حزيران/ يونيو 1967 . ويكشف القسم الثالث عن تكتيكات مقاومة الفلسطينية اليومية للسياسة الإسرائيلية. ويحاول القسم الأخير تفسير أثر المقاومة اليومية في إطار مقاومة الفلسطينية للاستعمار الإسرائيلي. تجادل الدراسة أنه في غياب مقاومة منظمة من حزب أو تنظيم أو مؤسسة أو هيئة سياسية رسمية تصبح المقاومة اليومية هي الوحدة الرئيسة للتحليل السياسي، ذلك لأنها تضمن للمستعمَر الفلسطيني البقاء والصمود في أرضه والمحافظة على ﻧﻤط الحياة التي يحب. منهجيًا، تعتمد هذه الدراسة على العديد من الأدبيات الرئيسة والثانوية في موضوع المقاومة اليومية والسياسة الاستعمارية في الأغوار منذ حزيران/ يونيو 1967، وكما تستند إلى المراقبة والمعاينة الميدانية لمنطقة الأغوار، وهذا فضلًا عن إجراء العديد من المقابلات الميدانية مع مزارعين، ومرﺑﻲ ثروة حيوانية، وأعضاء مجلس محلي، ونشطاء شباب، جميعهم من منطقة الأغوار.

Huzuk Musa (map ref. NIG 2015/1781; UTM 7407/5653) is an Epipalaeolithic site where burials that included finds from the Late Bronze Age 1 and Iron Age 2 were also discovered. The site, which was examined by the authors within the framework of the Mt. Manasseh Survey (Zertal 2005, Site 47, Fig. 119), is located on a prominent rocky spur in the Jordan Valley (-250 m below sea level), one kilometer west of Tell Abu Sidra and above the outlet where Wadi Abu Sidra spills into the lower Jordan River. The site comprises caves, a slope and bedrock surfaces.
The caves are divided into two groups approximately 100 meters apart: the first is located along the northern part of the spur and the second on its southern part. The northern caves, which are wider and deeper, were used over an extensive period to shelter flocks of sheep and goats.
Almost no artifacts were found in the animal droppings. It seems the original burial was inside the southern caves (Pl. Ia). The collapse of the ceilings exposed the tombs to the wind and rain and the burial remains were discovered on the surface level alongside them.
Over the years the finds were washed away and scattered for a distance of 20 meters over the southern slope. The burial remains and funerary objects were collected from the slope without excavating.
The burial finds that were recovered from the surface level are
presented in this article followed by a discussion of their historical significance.

The main goal of this paper is to reanalyze settlement distribution that developed along the Jordan Valley during the Early Bronze Age and to frame Tell es-Sultan with its unique ecological niche in this wide and heterogeneous panorama. The study of enrooted relationship between sites and environment-in light of most recent excavation and survey data-confirm the fundamental and well-known role played by water in the settlement organization.

The production of sugar was a main economic activity in the Jordan Valley during the Medieval period. The site of Tawaheen es-Sukkar in Jericho feature a well preserved industrial installation for manufacturing sugar. The remains consist of an aqueduct, press, mill house, refinery furnace, kitchen and a storage house. Two seasons of excavations were carried out in the site, 2000-2001. A considerable number of artifacts were found, including sugar vessels, lamps, metal and glass objects and coins. The mil system can be dated from Crusader/Ayyubid period to the end of Mamluk period, when it went out of use.

As part of the Wadi Shuʿaib Archaeological Survey Project (WSAS), excavations are carried out at the site of Tell Bleibil (Tall Bulaybil), located at the mouth of the alluvial fan of the Wadi Shuʿaib in the southern Jordan Valley, since 2017. In the campaign of 2018, test trenches at the site were excavated in order to expose Iron Age strata and to further substantiate the results obtained by soil sampling for botanical analysis and radiocarbon dating in 2017. The excavations conducted in 2018 uncovered a large stone foundation, which may have belonged to the settlement´s city wall during the Iron Age.
See also: http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/wadis-connecting-jordan-valley-transjordanian-highlands-heavily-used-thousands-years-%E2%80%94

Excavation and osteological analyses on three burials from the Baptism Site  from Wadi Kharar on the Eastern side of the  River Jordan. display in different churches throughout Jordan. It seems clear that all of five individuals found buried in the tombs were associated with religious structures in the area of the John the Baptist church but all were victims of infectious disease, a probable indicatorof poor health conditions in the area. This may have been one of the factors that caused the site
to be abandoned.

This study documents the search for settlement and abandonment processes in a highly vulnerable, but attractive, valley that was squeezed between the rising hills of Cis- and Transjordan. Throughout history this area changed in perception from a barrier to a demographic centre and back again. Especially during the period of this study - 1000 and 539 BC - the Middle Jordan Valley was a dynamic area in which many considerable population movements took place. By using newly-gathered excavation and survey data, different mechanism and motives of settling, surviving and abandoning is illuminated in this volume with the ultimate goal of reaching a regional synthesis.

Recent excavations at Fazael 1 in Wadi Fazael in the Lower Jordan Valley have revealed a multi-stratum Chalcolithic site. While the cultural attribution of the basal Stratum IV is still obscure, the architecture and fnds from Strata I–III attest to a Ghassulian village of the Chalcolithic period, the earliest site of this period so far noted in the Wadi Fazael floodplain. This paper presents the stratigraphy, architecture and fnds from Fazael 1, and attempts to defne its place within the Chalcolithic continuum in the region.

Hollow wheel-made anthropomorphic statues are not very common in the Iron Age Levant. They remain enigmatic in their function, although some cultic and votive behaviour seems to lay behind the production and use of this artefact. Excavations at the site of Dāmiyah have recently produced the remains of a large wheelmade ceramic statue, discovered in front of a late Iron Age building. Alongside a detailed description of the object and its findspot, this article aims to determine the distribution trajectory of this artefact type.

This paper covers the period from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the beginnings of the Early Iron Age in Transjordan and part of Palestine. During the Late Bronze Age the region of Transjordan was situated just outside the Egyptian empire. Only Pella in the Jordan Valley and later Deir’Alla formed part of the empire. The economy of this region was largely determined by a trade route from Egypt to Mesopotamia. Towards the end of the period international events caused this trade route to collapse. The result was a total collapse of the infrastructure in the plain of Amman and a new economy in the regions evolved. This caused a migration of tribes towards the south and the west, across the Jordan river.

The article describes the results of the first season of excavations at Khirbet ʿAujah el-Foqa.
The site, which was surveyed intensively by Adam Zertal about 15 years ago and identified
by him as biblical ʿAtaroth, is located on a hilltop controlling the large spring of ʿAujah,
11 km northwest of Jericho. This area is not yet well known from archaeological excavations.
The main occupation phase of the 1.5-hectare site is represented by a fortified Iron Age II
town with a well-built casemate wall including a destruction layer and rich finds. An upper
layer of well-preserved smaller structures probably dates from the Mamluk or Ottoman
period, and remains of a pre-fortification phase were also identified. The date, location, and
function of the site during the Iron Age II are also discussed; only further excavations in the
coming years will clarify its character and layout in more detail

Archaeological finds from different sites in Jordan demonstrate the role textile production played in the society of Ammon and Moab between 800-600 BC.
Tools and textile fragments from Deir 'Alla and Tell Mazar in the Jordan Valley indicate a local tradition in textile production. Tools, texts and archaeological features from both Deir 'Alla and Khirbet al-Mudayna will be discussed to find an answer to the question whether weaving for a temple or a shrine was practised in Iron Age Jordan. And finally an inscription will shed some new light on the role of women in public and religious life in Iron Age Moab.

"Irrigation is a much-investigated topic both in present-day environments and in archaeological contexts, yet a detailed analysis specifically focused on the Jordan Valley with its
unique geomorphology is lacking. In this article the presence of an Iron Age II irrigation system around Tell Deir ‘Alla in the Zerqa Triangle is investigated. The steppe environment does not allow the total estimated Iron Age II population to live in this area without some form of irrigation. The known ethnohistorical irrigation system, which dates back to the Mamluk period, makes use of small open canals that carry water tapped from the river Zerqa over the entire region. The settlement pattern of the Iron Age points to a similar system being used during that period. This is especially clear when the Iron Age situation
is compared to the location of Early Bronze Age settlements along natural watercourses and practicing floodwater irrigation."