36 OCCIDENTS. ORIENT- December 1999

Following in the Footsteps of the Mabataeans: The Fmsf International Conference on Mabataean Research Studies

By: The Petra Regional Council, Wadi Musa (Jordan)

Between 21 -23 June 1999, the first The majority of the papers were dis­ Most of the partidpants agreed that this Nabataean studies conference was held cussed in Arabic, and this Arab partici­ unique conference ought to be held in Petra, "Al Raqim", the capital of the pation, especially by those countries once every two years, and that it should Arab Nabataean state. This conference which were induded in the Nabataean focus upon a certain topic, such as ag­ was organized by the Petra Regional State, resulted in great satisfaction on riculture, religion, hydrology, architec­ Planning Council, the Arab Forum for the part of all those in attendance. Par­ ture, etc. No one can deny the fact Cultural Interaction ("Bait Al-Anbat") at ticipants induded tourist guides, hotel that cooperation between non-govern­ Mu'ta University, and Al-Urdun Al- employees, journalists, students, offi- mental organizations and official depart­ Jadid Studies Center. Distinguished ex­ dals, and teachers from the Archaeolo­ ments can achieve very good results, perts and archaeologists specializing in gy departments at Mu'ta, Yarmouk, Al particularly in academic fields. The Nabataean history contributed 70 pa­ Al-Bait, the Hashemite University, and Petra Regional Coundl, through its Gen­ pers, which provided comprehensive the University of Jordan; those who at­ eral Director Prof. Dr. Zaidoun Muhais- coverage of the various aspects of Na­ tended found in this event a great op­ en, showed great eagerness to make bataean civilization. Royal patronage portunity to increase their knowledge this event a success. Most of the pa­ of this conference reflected the concern of one of the most important oriental pers presented at the conference will of our leadership for Jordanian culture, civilizations. be published in one or two volumes by while His Highness Prince Ra'ad bin Zaid This conference was held in Wadi Al Urdun Al Jadid Studies Center as opened the conference on behalf of Her Musa, the home of Petra, which is lo­ soon as possible. Majesty Queen Noor al-Hussein. cated 240 km south of Amman, Jordan.

Conference Programme

21 June 1999 taeans" Muzahim Usheish: "Nabataeans in Historical Studies" Session I, Hall I Saleh K. Hamarneh: "The Nabataeans and their Capital from Arabic Islamic Sources" Fawzi Zayadine: "The Gods of Qasral-Bint" Ismail Ammouri: "The Nabataean Kings" Klaus S. Freyberger.- "Some New Remarks on the Temple of Hytoon Al-Fasi: "Nabataean Queens" Qasral-Bint at Petra" Philipp Hammond: "The Temple of the Winged Lions at 22 June 1999 Petra" Martha Sharp Joukowsky: "Brown University Excavations at Session I, Hall I the Petra Great Temple" Luigi Marino and Roberto SabellL "The Block Tombs of Petra" Sabri Lafi: "Nabataean Foreign Relations" Robert Wennitig: "Gods in Stone, Gods on Stone, Stone as Khdier Al-Jumaily: "The Nabataeans' Relationship with Egypt" God: The Case of the Nabataean Deities" Rasheed jumaili: "Al-Hareth, the Third Policy" Malik Saleh: "A Geographical Study of the City of Petra" Session I, Hall II Mahmoud Ridha: "The Study of Political and Culture Life: The Case of Petra" David Graf: "The Structure of Nabataean Sodety" Key Prag: "Nabataean Petra and Herodian Jerusalem: Histor­ Mohammad Jassem Mash-hadani: "The Origin of the Naba- ical and Archaeological Reflections" OCCIDENT*. ORIENT-December 1999 37

Session I, Hall II agement Systems in Wadi ath-Thamad" Zeidoun Muheisen and Dominique Terrier: "The Nabataean William D. Glanzmann: "Nabataeans in South Arabia" Hydraulic System" Timothy P. Harrison: "The Bani' Amratand the Nabataean Shaker Abdul-Munim: "Nabataean Agriculture" Presence in Madaba" Hamdan Al-Kbeissi: "Nabataean Agriculture" Anne-Michele and J. Seigne: "Nabataea and Gerasa: Histor• ical Traditions and Archaeological Evidence" Session I, Hall II )ean Marie Dentzer: "Les Nabateens en Syrie de Sud" David Kennedy: "Nabataean Archaeology from the Air" Yahya Ababneh: "The Historical Origin of the Shape of the Abdul-Jabbar Naji: "Cultural Changes at the Arab Nabataean Nabataean Letters" State" Ussama Naqshabandi: "The Nabataean Contribution to the Arabic Alphabet" Session II, Hall I Nahedh Qaisi: "The Effect of Nabataean Calligraphy on Ara• bic Calligraphy" Hamzeh Mahasneh: "Khirbet Nakhel: A Nabataean Settle• Hani Hyajneh: "The Importance of Nabataean Inscriptions in ment on the Eastern Edge of Kerak Plateau" the Study of the Origin of Arabic Calligraphy" K. Dino Politis: "Nabataeans on the Dead Sea in Light of Khalid Ismail: "Noun Patterns in the Nabataean Tomb In• Recent Excavations at Khirbet Qazone" scriptions of Mada'in Salih" Zeidoun Muheisen: "Khirbet Addarih Excavations" Sahar Smadi: "The Nabataeans' Numbers" Laurent Tholbecq: "The Architecture of Khirbet at-Tannur" John Healy: "The Art of Epigraphy: Design and Calligraphy Chang-Ho. Ji and Jong Keun Lee: "Nabataean Settlement in Nabataean Inscriptions" Patterns and History in the Dhiban Plateau" Bengamin J. Dolinka: "A Corpus of Nabataean Pottery from Session I, Hall III the 1994 Season of the Roman Aqaba Project" Mazin Abu-Mahfouz: "The Nabataeans in the Beer Sheba' Session II, Hall II Province" Dhaifallah Obeidat: "Nabataeans in the Hauran Region" Christian Auge": "Nearty 150 Years of Research on Nabataean Atif Shiyyab: "The Excavation of al - Rabbah and al-Qasr" Coins" Taysir Atiyyat: "Nabataean Mosaic Floors in the Wadi Musa- Basheer Zuhdi: "The Nabataean Coins at the Damascus Na• Petra Region" tional Museum" Suleiman Farajat: "Nabataean Tombs From Petra" Saba F. and Fawzi Zayadine: "Nabataean Tribes" Nabil Khairy: "The Inscriptions of Mada'in Saleh as a Refer• Jean-Paul Rey-Coquais: "Nabataean Northern Trade Routes ence to Indicate the Identity of Petra" and Northern Political Boundaries Revisited" Mahmoud Takriti: "Socio-Economic Changes in Nabataean Vishwas Gogte: "Petraand Ancient Indian Sites'* Society" Khairieh Abdel - Sahib: "Nabataean Economic Development" Issam Mousa: "The Nabataean Communication Legacy" Session II, Hall I

23 June 1999 Pierre Bikai: "The Petra Church" Sabri Al-Abbadi: "The King's Chief Minister (Syllaeus)" Session I, Hall I Rinad Al-Khatib: "Petrain Travellers' Books" Khairiyah Amr: "Wadi Musa During the Nabataean Era" Hamed Qatamin: "New Archaeological Evidence From Sela' Hans-Dieter Bienert: "The Outskirts of Petra: The Archaeolo• Related to a Water-Dependent Nabataean Defence System" gy of the Ba'ja Region"." Ma in Hunaidi: "Nabataean Hydraulic Systems in the Area Flanking the Siq" Michele Daviau: "Nabataean Settlement and Water Man• 38 OCCIDENT&. ORIENT- December 1999

Scanty Remains of Classical Temple-TocunsfCe Accessible Again at el-Kabu

By: Rami G. Khouri, Al Kutba Publishers, Amman (Jordan)

About a century ago, the German ings, a thick fortification wall, basalt sar• he aimed to document whatever re• scholar-explorer G. Schumacher de• cophagi, steps, traces of a city gate, mains still could be identified, within a scribed in his book Northern Ajlun a and an impressive temple with lime• quest to identify smaller forts, farm• large, walled site located on a promi• stone columns topped by Corinthian steads and other structures that may nent hilltop two kilometres east of Umm capitals. He said the capitals were wid• have existed within the landscape Qais (ancient Gadara). The site was er than those found at Umm Qais, and around Gadara. called el-Kabu, and is still known by that also saw the standing remains of a hall Politis made a rough plan of the ex• name today. with six columns on the western side ternal fortifications of the site, some of Unfortunately, most of the remains he of the site, which he compared to the which can still be seen today, es pedal- identified on the site have now disap• Prostyle Temple of Fortune in Rome. ly a large standing wall on the east side peared; but the site itself is accessible The site sits atop one of the highest of the hill. He documented two-me• again because the Jordanian army camp hills in this area, and enjoys command• tre-thick fortification walls that measured that had been located on the hill for ing views in all directions — making it some 95 metres on the north side of many decades has been moved, fol• appropriate in antiquity for both a tem• the site, 36 metres on the west side, lowing the signing of the Jordan-Israel ple location and a security-related set• and 38 metres on the east side, with peace accord of 1994. tlement. no traces remaining of the southern Schumacher described el-Kabu as an The Greek scholar Konstantinos D. wall. andent fortified site with such architec• Politis revisited the site twice in 1986- He also identified a large, deep cen• tural features as dsterns, internal build• 87, when it was still used by the army; tral cistern that can still be made out

f»1 •4T J* Vv

Part of the standing eastern wall at Kabu. OCCIDENTS. ORIENT- December 1999 39

today in the form of a depression and things in the world sprang. sented by African redslip ware, terra some stones. Politis also saw a fragment Like other mystery faiths, Mithraism sigilata, and Late Roman Galatian bowl of a large black basalt sarcophagus, but employed sacramental forms such as fragments. The vast majority of the pot• none of the other basalt and limestone baptism and a sacred banquet. One of tery, some 80 percent, dated from the building remains that Schumacher had its rites (probably inherited from the cult Byzantine period, induding one com• identified in the 1880s. of Cybele} was the taurobolium, or bap• plete Byzantine lamp found near the Most of those remains seem to have tism with a shower of blood from a fresh• area where the Bucranium was discov• been bulldozed away on the summit of ly slain bull. When the Emperor Nero ered. Fragments of glass and bronze the hill in the past century, though he crowned Tiridates as King of Armenia were also retrieved, but no coins. did identify some andent remains along in AD 66, Tiridates was reported to have The site today sits immediately adja• the south-eastern corner of the andent said to Nero: "...I have come to thee. cent to the main road leading to Umm settlement. These includ• Qais from Irbid, amidst or• ed limestone architectural chards and private homes at blocks and rubble filled el-Mansourah village. The with pottery. Among the most prominent visible fea• material remains thar he ture of the site are the was able to salvage were standing remains of the a particularly interesting southern fortification wall, Bucranium, a bull's head which still stands some three carved from soft porous metres high in the eastern limestone, measuring 30 hillside of the site. cm high and 19 cm wide. Along the western side of Its unworked, broken off the summit, amidst aban• back side suggested to doned army bunkers and Politis that "it may have simple houses, are scattered once been attached to fragments of the fortification something rather than wall, induding some badly standing free on its own." weathered capitals and Two possible uses of the large stone blocks. Pottery bull's head bust, he sug• sherds are scattered all over gested , were as part of the the ground surface, amidst frieze of the temple that isolated architectural frag• Schumacher had identified ments and depressions in on the site (cultic bull sac• the ground that probably rifice was common in this mark the location of under• area in antiquity, particu• ground dsterns or perhaps larly in the Mithraic reli• vaulted rooms. gion), or as part of a cor• Whether this was only a ner of a sarcophagus, temple site or also a larger which was also common in walled settlement from the the Roman-Byzantine Mid• Roman-Byzantine period dle East. remains to be determined An intriguing possibility by surveys and excavations raised by Politis is that the An architectural fragment on the ground surface at Kabu. in the future — if measures bull's head may have re• are taken soon to protect flected some aspect of the Mithraic re• my god, to worship thee as 1 do Mith• whatever architectural remains are still ligion or cult, an ancient Persian/Indian ras." preserved on the surface and under the cult that worshipped Mithra, a minor The religion was often represented by ground a figure of Zoroastrinism, and elevated the bust of a bull, perhaps like the one him to the chief god of Persia by the found at el-Kabu by Politis a decade 5th Century B.C. The Mithraic cult ago. spread to Mesopotamia and Armenia Politis' analysis of the pottery sherds and became a leading cult in the Ro• collected from the surface of the ground man Empire, with more followers in the at el-Kabu revealed ceramics from the 2nd Century AD than Christianity. Its Late Roman through the Byzantine pe• central myth was Mithra's sacrifice of riods (2nd Century to 6th Century AD). the sacred bull, from which all good Some of the earliest pottery was repre• 40 OCCIDENT A ORIENT- December 1999

RepoRt on Che 1PP8 Excavations by Che Madaba Plains Pnoject: TeLL al-'Umayni' and Tell Hisban By: Douglas R. Clark, Walla Walla College (U.S.A.), Larry G. Herr Canadian University College (Canada), 0ysteln S. LaBianca, Andrews University (U.S.A.), and Lawrence T. Geraty, LaSierra University (U.S.A.)

With a history of more than 30 years od are the foundations of a tower was filled with almost two meters of ash. of excavation in |ordan, the Madaba perched atop a massive earthen ram• Another significant find from this city Plains Project has entered a new phase part which raised the height of the hill was the thick town wall made of large of operations in order to enlarge the nearly ten meters. Associated with this stones. The wall was plastered in an• potential for wider participation. Where tower was a well-plastered water pool, tiquity and, as uncovered by the exca• they previously hosted excavation unique from this time in Jordan. There vators, stood three to four meters above teams of more than one hundred peo• was also evidence of a large building the ground. It likely stood several ple (up to 140 in 1998), project direc• made of massive stones inside the for• meters higher in ancient times. tors have decided, instead of working tification system. This season, the team attempted to every other summer with such large Just to the north of these ruins is a locate the southern limits of al- Umayri's numbers of participants, to alternate two-room Late Bronze Age building Iron ll/Persian administrative complex field seasons and aim for teams of 50- (Fig. 1 — Photo of Late Bronze II Two- by uncovering a large wall which prob• 70 participants. Thus, the Madaba room Building at Tell al-'Umayri). There ably dates to the early Iron Age but was Plains Project will now mount excava• were two levels of floors to the struc• reused by the late Iron Age bureaucrats tions each year at alternate locations. ture, each floor covered with a thick who ran the administrative complex. Of the three major sub-projects—Tell layer of burned bricks and wood. Al• South of the large wall were Persian and Hisban, Tell al-'Umayri and Tell jalul (in though not fully excavated, the build• Hellenistic buildings. addition to the hinterland surveys for ing now stands over three meters tall. A minor settlement at the site also each of these major sites)—only His• Excavators also continued working took place during the Hellenistic peri• ban and al-'Umayri saw archaeological their way through the massive destruc• od, when residents constructed a small excavations in 1998, while jalul was in tion of the early Iron I town (Fig. 2 - farmstead on the southern edge of the the field during the summer of 1999. Top Plan of the Early Iron I Settlement Tell above much more substantial ruins In keeping with the long-standing at Tell al-'Umayri). The debris was from the Iron Age II. This small farm research design of the Madaba Plains made up of burned bricks and roofing may have produced wine on the sur• Project, dig directors in 1998 contin• materials such as wooden beams and rounding hillsides, as well as grain crops ued excavations at Tell al-'Umayri and reeds, judging by the many bronze in the valley bottoms. Tell Hisban in order to better understand weapons found in the debris, there Among the small finds were about the cycles of intensification and abate• appears to have been a military inva• 10 seals and seal impressions, bringing ment in land use in central Transjordan. sion. One of the stone-pillared rooms the total discovered at the site to over 80 and making al-'Umayri one of Tell al-'Umayri the most productive locations in Excavations in 1998 uncovered Palestine in this regard. Another more earthen floors surrounding an find, although fragmentary, is Early Bronze Age I dolmen, or large unique in Jordan. It consisted of stone burial monument, on the small pieces from a life-sized ce• southeast slope of the hill. This is ramic statue, including a dramat• the first dolmen in the entire Med• ically painted eye, an ear. a chin, iterranean basin to yield significant parts of arms, two heels, and oth• numbers of burials (20), complete er parts of the chest and shoul• EB I pottery vessels (20), and sur• ders. faces indicating patterns of use. Also part of archaeological re• Among the most impressive new search at al-'Umayri for several sea• discoveries are the remai ns of a Mid• sons, the sub-surface mapping dle Bronze Age building made with Fig. 1 Photo of late Bronze II two-room build team again used Ground-pene• large stones. From the same peri• at Tell al-'Umayri. trating Radar and the differential OCCIDENT A ORIENT December 1999 41

Global Positioning System at the site, Around 200 B.C., a massive fortifica• cluding the construction of pathways, this time in areas north and east of the tion was placed at the summit of the viewing platforms and signage, and the major areas of excavations on the west• hill, consisting of four large towers erection of a fence around the site along ern portion of the Tell, along the north linked by four equally massive perime• with locked entry gate. It has also seen rim of the Tell and on the southern side ter walls. the set-up of an outdoor "dig area" for as well. In addition, they explored During the Byzantine period, Tell use by Jordanian teachers and students. neighboring slopes for possible tombs Hisban incorporated well over a thou• Proposals fbral-'Umayri include protec• and conducted seismic-reflection re• sand households. The team carried out tion of the site; further consolidation of search at Tell Jalul. an intensive survey of the water and exposed walls and structures; and con• soil management structures still extant struction of pathways, viewing plat• Tell Hisban and Vicinity in the wadi to the west and below the forms, signage and a visitors center in The renewed research at Tell Hisban summit of Hisban, where they mapped the form of a replica Iron I four-room and its environs involves investigations an elaborate basin-wide water manage• house which would match the four- of several archaeological periods, from ment system consisting of terraced hill• room house on the Tell on a one-to- prehistoric through modern. The cur• sides and a wadi bottom criss-crossed one scale. • rent efforts are intended to reexamine by numerous check dams to prevent certain questions which were left un• gully formation. answered by the original campaigns. The Islamic pe• The first example in this regard is the riods at Hisban are question of Tell Hisban's prehistoric past. well represented In connection with a systematic survey Of particular inter• of the hill of Hisban, the team identi• est this season was fied a total of 154 stone tool fragments, the area immedi• dating from the Middle and Upper Pal• ately south of the aeolithic periods. From the epipalae- Mamluk bath olithic, a lunate which served either as complex on the an arrowhead or sickle blade was found, summit. Excava• while the Neolithic was represented by tions brought to several axes and arrowheads. Excava• light a series of tions in a cave complex near the sum• several small mit of the Tell produced further evi• vaulted rooms dence of prehistoric activity, including clustered around a several hammer tools, scrapers, and ar• central courtyard. rowheads. In addition, a total of 57 The walls which sites containing scattered prehistoric enclosed the worked stone tools were also identified building were also beyond the Tell by the survey team. identified. The Architectural remains from Iron I con• arrangement of tinue to be elusive. The team has iden• the spaces in this tified a massive bedrock trench some 4 building and its meters deep and 2-3 meters wide manner of con• which runs east-west across the south struction, which shoulder of the tell as a dry moat to are reminiscent of protect the Iron I village at its weakest the palaces of point. While no one doubts that Tell Mamluk adminis• Hisban was a prospering town during trators seen at the Iron II period judging from the large Kerakand Aqaba, quantity of ceramic objects and inscrip• suggest that what tions dated to this time, there is actual• we have here is ly very little to see architecturally. Pre• an administrative liminary assessments of new excavations palace. on the northeast corner of the Tell sug• Plans for consol• MAPABA PLAINS PKOJICT gest an Iron I cave complex later re• idate ng, preserv• WjKUmayrl Fields A. 0. H used by the Iron II inhabitants as tombs. ing and present• Early Iron ' Caves played a greater role during the ing both sites are Iron ages than previously thought. Ex• well underway. tensive use of caves continued and in• Hisban has seen Fig. 2 Top plan of the early Iron I settlement at Tell al-'Umayri. tensified into the Hellenistic period. cleaned-up, in• 42 OCCIDENT*. ORIENT - December 1999

Irzaq al-Aram: New Research

By: Jean-Pierre Braun, IFAPO-Amman Branch

Due to its history, its impressive re• exhaustive bibliography with itemised focus on excavations of areas above the stored ruin, and relevant publication codes for specific research, and a real• caves, the depression surrounding the (Will, Larche", Zayadine, et al ), the site istic assessment of the state of preser• qasr, and the structure of the so-called ofQasral-Abd is well-known among vation of archaeological remains. dam or moat. scholars throughout the world. The A master research plan was drawn up Architectural studies are wide-rang• wider area of the valley surrounding the to bring in all elements pertaining to ing and aim at a complete interpreta• site has also been recorded by surveys, the establishment and management' tion of the structures. Apart from build• which note archaeological remains that of Hyrcanus' domain which, at the same ing remains such as the recently exca• go back well into the Bronze Age time, formed a base for IFAPO's project vated basin and the "square building", (Francois Villeneuve; Chang Ho-Ji). to conserve and study the estate. The the likes of which can be found every• Reading Flavius Josephus' text about creation of a showroom was intended where and are part and parcel of the Iraq al-Amir (Jewish Antiquities Book both to explain the qasr and to draw domain, the caves are a particularly XII) brings home the fact that the site' visitors' attention to the domain itself. challenging architectural project within is not Qasr al-Abd, but the entire sur• Fieldwork resumed in 1999 has the broader historical setting of their ex• rounding domain of Hyrcanus - 'the played a major part in the research pro• istence and management. The map• estate of Tyros'. Another look at vari• gram. In addition to traditional exca• ping of irrigation and other watering ous renditions of the same ancient Greek vations and architectural recording, in• systems combines the work of the ar• phrase has led to a new examination of vestigations include the taking of core chitect and the archaeologist, in that it the so-called lake surrounding the pal• samples from the depression of the involves recording, digging and, where ace. Ernest Will renders the phrase, "a 'lake'. It is hoped that the laboratory possible, following the course and iden• deep and wide channel," whereas in analyses of the core samples will con• tifying the destination or purpose of the the publication it is represented as a tribute greatly towards an identification system under study (see Men of Dykes lake or a still expanse of water which of the actual type(s) of watering and Canals', DEI, Petra, June 1999, a was later chosen for the three-dimen• system(s) around the qasr. Geo-archae- paper by F. Carre"). sional computerized image. ological surveys are combined with pro• In the near future, there are plans for In a subsequent article on the domain grammed excavations, complementa• restoration and conservation of the of Hyrcanus, Pierre Gentelle discusses ry 'on-the-spot' soundings, and stud• moat', if such it was, togetherwith the the concept of the Hellenistic "parade- ies of the landscape from a different Department of Antiquities of Jordan, isos", which he translates as a "pond" point of view, this time taking account which will permit a simultaneous ar• ("Un paradis' helle"nestique en Jor- of the very landscape itself. The sys• chaeological examination of the struc• danie: e"tude de geo-archeologie" in tematic collection and recording (sur• ture. If modern interference with the Herodote20, 1981, pp.70-101). If one face and excavation) of archaeo-mor• still intact ancient landscape ( the gar• considers, however, that the moat', as phological material in addition to cul• dens of Hyrcanus') can be reduced to the three-tiered massive wall is de• tural assemblages is aimed at clarifying an acceptable minimum for the sake of scribed in general, could not retain the literary interpretations of Josephus' both the local inhabitants and the stew• water permanently. Will s translation text and at filling in the otherwise in• ards of Jordan's ancient heritage, then may be closer to the original meaning complete picture of the use of the ter• there is a chance to present much of intended by Josephus. rain in antiquity before, during, and af• the actual site, the domain itself, as a These factors combined have encour• ter Hyrcanus. comprehensible unit combining the aged a review and a search for new Following Paul Lapp's earlier explo• qasr, the agricultural and ornamental evidence related to 'the site,' which has rations of the site, excavations have gardens, and the ancient village (built traditionally been confined to the qasr been one of IFAPO's main research ac• over by the 19th Century Iraq al-Amir), and its 'lake'. Preparation for this new tivities on the grounds since the late thereby showing it in its wider setting research began two years ago with the 1970 s. The French excavations con• of the beautiful Wadi as-Sir. collection of published and recorded centrated on a wide-ranging area: Will The Discovery Trail of Hyrcanus' Es• (n.p.) information to form a database of and Larche" excavated the qasr, Ville• tate, Tyros' (paper presented at the 7th already identified archaeological re• neuve and Fawzi Zayadine excavated SHAJ conference in Copenhagen, 14- mains in the area of the domain. This in the ancient village, and Dentzer and 19 June, 1998, in a workshop entitled, involved marking visible architectural Villeneuve excavated around the mon• "Conservation, Heritage and Site Man• remains on a modern topographical umental gate. The latest archaeologi• agement ['CHASM']): and cadastral map (Palestine Grid), an cal investigations with Carre and Borel This paper introduces a site devel- OCCIDENT&. ORIENT- December 1999 43

opment project (forthcoming in the study and presentation of Iraq al- The short video (which was made in CHASM, Vol. I) which deals simultane• Amir. The showroom can be seen ei• France and shown at the grand exhibi• ously with the preservation and study ther as an introduction to the site at tion of jordanian Heritage at IMA in of man-made remains and the land• large, starting with the palatial resi• Paris, july-October 1997) presents the scape of the Hellenistic domain of which dence, or as the final point after arriv• traditional conception of a lake' sur• Qasr al- Abd is but a part, and the pres• ing at the qasr after following the dis• rounding the qasr. The exhibits explain entation of the estate as a site. Many covery trail planned for the future. The the palace and draw attention to its of the original Hellenistic landscaped room, which is part of the discovery setting, as do the panels and the pre• gardens (agricultural and ornamental) trail, is not intended to be seen as any• liminary archaeological map (the basis are no longer visible to the untrained thing but what it appears to be: a mod• for an atlas) in the stairwell. Visitors are eye due to natural erosion over time est dwelling belonging to the Ottoman encouraged to go out and explore the and to interference by modern devel• period village further afield (restored surrounding landscape aided by the opment; however, the remains are still and looked after by the Noor al-Hus- provisional map, which locates the re• there. The presentation is designed to sein Foundation). mains on the grounds of the estate. guide the visitor through the domain, The exhibits are as follows: the earli• IFAPO team members for the new to the buildings that were once a hall• est photographs of the ruins of the qasr research project under the general di• mark of the estate, to the caves with and its immediate setting; the first-cen• rection of the author are as follows: From their history in relevance to the domain tury text by Flavius Josephus in which 1997, E. Lena and Ph. Lenhardt [archi• and its owner, as well as to some of the he not only describes the history of the tects], assisted byS. Vatteoni [compu• vegetation that might still be visible as owner and his family, the Tobiads', but ter illustrator]; from 1999, L. Borel, [ar• wild and cultivated plants today. also provides details about Hyrcanus' chitect] and F. Carre' [archaeologist], as• The Showroom estate; the lavish publication of the res• sisted by I. Kehrberg [ceramist], C. The adjacent showroom and explan• toration work and its final anastylosis, March, and E. Laroze [architects].* atory panels in the Qasr al-Abd are the and a three-dimensional computerized first realizations of the master plan for re-creation on screen of the qasr itself. 44 OCCIDENT*. ORIENT- December 1999

The Pefna Nonfh Ridge Pwojecf

By: Patricia M. Bikai and Megan Perry, American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR), Amman (Jordan)

Urban Layout (Patricia M. may have been mandated by the lev• Tomb 2 (Megan A. Perry) Bikai) els of bedrock at the site. This may also During the last few days of the eighth The initial objective of the Petra North provide an explanation for the fact that season of the Petra North Ridge project, Ridge Project is to investigate the ur• the door in the western wall is not in a possible 4th Century AD rock-cut ban character of the area between the the center. The division into three parts tomb was discovered while clearing Ridge Church and the Petra Church, an indicates that the structure was roofed. overburden south of the Ridge Church. area extending about 95 meters N-S. Without further excavation, it would be The tomb was cut into the natural sand• The strategy is to define outlines of impossible to say what purpose Build• stone bedrock, with a shaft of ca. 3.76 buildings in order to provide a better ing 1 served; however, that it was a m in depth opening onto a chamber understanding of Petra as a city. There public building seems clear from its measuring 5.50 m x 5 m. A small room has actually been very little excavation size. measuring 2.25 m x 2.60 m opened in Petra, and most of the major projects through a doorway off to the north. have concentrated on monumental Building 2 Complete excavation of the tomb was structures such as temples. In the first At the start of excavation, three fea• held off until the ninth season of the stage of this project, in 1999, two large tures of Building 2 were visible: 1) the project. Excavation revealed that the buildings were defined on the plateau southwest corner, 2) a granite column tomb was originally constructed and belowthe Ridge Church. The northern drum and a well-made limestone base used during the 4th Century, but it was wall of Building 1 is 20 meters south of at the eastern end, and 3) large quan• never completed. A portion of the the Ridge Church, while the southern tities of building stone over the whole northwestern corner of the small room wall of Building 2 is 45 meters north of surface. As the rock tumble was moved was left uncut, and a large amount of the Petra Church. The project is spon• away from the building, it became dear rubble from the tomb construction was sored by the American Center of Ori• that the area has been seriously dis• left inside the small room and just out• ental Research (ACOR) and is funded turbed in modern times. Modern de• side, leading towards the shaft. No by ACOR's Petra Endowment, which bris was found to a depth of 1 meter other elements of the tomb, e.g., locu- was created by a grant from the United and more into the rock pile. The build• li, had been constructed, which is odd States Agency for International Devel• ing has an interior width of 13.40 me• for such a large structure and for this opment (USAID). ters and is 15.60 meters long E-W. It time period. was divided into at least two parts by A total of eight articulated burials Building 1 an E-W wall. The entrance was not lo• were recovered in situ, in addition to a This building has an interior width of cated. Associated with the building are large amount of skeletal material scat• 13 meters and is at least 20 meters long two 1.10 meter wide column bases and tered in the tomb as a result of an intru• (E-W). The eastern end of the building numerous Nabataean architectural frag• sive episode dating to the 6th to 8th was not found. There is an entrance at ments. These are all similar to materi• Centuries. These individuals were in• the western end with two steps lead• als from the "Great Temple" and can terred directly on the sandstone bed• ing to bedrock. The northern wall of be dated to the end of the 1st century rock, although there is evidence that Building 1 appears to have served as a BC A second granite column was found one or two of the burials were enclosed retaining wall against the hillside on in the debris. This and the other finds within wood coffins. All of the de• which the Ridge Church was built in a indicate that Building 2 was also a public ceased, with the exception of a 18-20- later era. The small sections of the wall building, in this case, a richly decorat• year-old female, were buried with one that were exposed show it to have been ed one. or two other individuals simultaneous• built of finely dressed limestone, lev• The nature of the fill above these two ly; there was a 20-24 -year-old female eled with chinking. Its western wall buildings indicates that they may have with a 6-month-old infant; a 45-49 - runs to the northern wall of Building 2, been abandoned and used as quarries year-old individual with a newborn in• indicating that one of the buildings is after the disastrous earthquake of 363 fant; a 35-39 - year-old female with a secondary to the other. The interior AD; in other words, there was no evi• 25-29 - year-old male, and a 55-59 - space seems to have been divided into dence that they were used during the year-old female. No "grave goods," three unequal segments. This division Byzantine period. with the exception of one complete OCCIDENT*. ORIENT-December 1999 45

bowl of uncertain date, were found as• entered some time between the 6th from the later disturbance. At some sociated with the intact burials. It is ap• and 8th Centuries by individuals who point before the tomb was re-entered, parent that these groups of individuals were occupying the area in the region a large (2.20 m x 0.95 m x 0.35 m) were interred within a short period of of the Ridge Church. Architectural ele• portion of the ceiling broke off and fell time. Thus, one hypothesis is that the ments and artifacts associated with the onto the exposed surface in the tomb. construction of the tomb was halted be• Ridge Church, such as wall and floor The later visitors then skirted around the cause the tomb had to be used to inter mosaic tesserae, pieces of the marble ceiling stone, leaving the burials under• a large number of deceased due to a chancel screen, broken glass chande• neath and directly behind it more or catastrophic event, such as an earth• lier pieces, and storage jar fragments less intact. quake or an epidemic. No signs of dating to the 6th to 8th Centuries, were The discovery of this tomb is excep• peri mortem trauma were noted on the discovered in the shaft of the tomb and tional in that it is one of the very few skeletal material, and generally acute in the upper layers of the chamber it• tombs within Petra that has produced epidemics such as the plague leave lit• self. In addition, within these layers intact burials. The condition of the tomb tle to no bone pathologies. Samples of were fragments of human skeletal ma• and the deposition of the burials also the skeletal material have been retained terial, presumably from burials within the raises interesting questions regarding for carbon-14 dating, ancient DNA tomb, which suggests that the intrud• the stability of the 4th Century in Petra, (aDNA) extraction, and other chemical ers disturbed the burials vwthin the tomb at least for the citizens who were using analyses used to determine diet and and used the shaft as a garbage dump. this tomb on the North Ridge * migration patterns. However, the intact burials described As noted above, the tomb was re• above were mostly or entirely spared ChtJRch of Saint Elijah di'scouened at Tell Man ELfas By: Rami G. Khouri (text and photos), Al Kutba Publishers, Amman (Jordan)

A two-month excavation at Tell Mar Tishbe, the home region of the Proph• x 23 meters, and has three apses in its Elias by a Department of Antiquities et Elijah. The cruciform church is on the east, south, and north walls. The floor team headed by Ajloun inspector Mo• summit of a large hill overlooks the of the church was completely covered hammad Abu Abila has uncovered the green mountains of Gilead, is one of in multi-colored mosaics, all showing remains of one of the largest known the five sites designated by the Catho• floral or geometric motifs, induding an Byzantine churches in Jordan. The site lic church authorities in the Middle East inscription dating the church to 622 AD. is in the area called Listib today, which as pilgrimage sites for the year 2000. has long been associated with biblical The Church of Saint Elijah measures 32

View within the body of the church. The central apse of the church. 46 OCCIDENT*. ORIENT-December 1999

Neolithic and ChaLcolifhfc A«chaeology in Wadi Ziqlab, Nonfhenn Jondan

By: E. B. Banning, University of Toronto (Canada)

Since 1981, a project based at the containing several whole vessels and 5550 cal BC), three or four structures University of Toronto has explored Wadi remains from two individuals. The were built on the site, nearly obliterat• Ziqlab, a tributary of the Jordan Valley subsequent excavations revealed ing earlier architecture. Two of these southwest of Irbid, and excavated a domestic architecture and terrace walls were rectangular, single-room struc• number of Neolithic and Chalcolithic of the Late Neolithic along with more tures about 3 m wide and 5 or 6 m sites found in its drainage basin. The burials. long, one of which had a circular, plas• project's focus has been on changes in We now know that the earliest Neo• tered hearth. A third had two rooms, settlement intensity and distribution lithic use of the site was for at least two one of them quite small, joined at the during a period from the Late Pre- large cist graves dating around 7800- corner. The larger room had a day-lined Pottery Neolithic to the beginnings of 7300 BP (6800-6050 cal BC). These silo built into the northeast wall. A the Early Bronze Age, when there may were elongated pits, about 2 m long, number of outdoor terrace \A&1IS or fenc• have been major settlement disruptions dug into the Epipaleolithic levels, lined es seem to have defined a yard, and or realignments, and when Jordan's with large, flat stones, and covered with there may have been a fourth structure early farming communities were even larger stone slabs before being to the west of which the only traces are coming to terms with the problems of covered with earth, probably to form a a small patch of plaster floor and a plas• settled village life and animal tumulus or mound. The first cist we tered, horseshoe-shaped hearth. Two husbandry. By the Early Bronze Age, found contained some unusual jars and cists with child and infant burials were these processes may have resulted in deep bowls with some similarities to constructed northeast of the two- more complex and more hierarchical Yarmoukian pottery, but with important roomed building, and it is possible that social and political systems, along with differences, too. There was also a heavy the cists were originally used as stor• increasing economic inequality. stone bowl or mortar, a perforated stone age silos. The pottery of this phase was The Wadi Ziqlab Project began with disk (probably a spindle whorl), and a predominantly a plain, very friable, a surface survey in 1981, and continued stone slab or palette, probably for grind• poorly fired yellow or pink ware, con• with excavations, botanical and ing. The other cist contained a sub- sisting mainly of small jars and bowls. geomorphological surveys, and a sub• adult with a severe pathology and an In the next phase (6600-6400 BP, ca. surface survey in 1986, 1987, 1990, infant wearing a dentalium-shell neck• 5400 cal BC), these structures fell into 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1999. The lace. If, as seems to be the case, this ruins, except for the small room of the purpose of the sub-surface survey, first phase is the remains of a Neolithic two-room house, which received a new which involves digging small test cemetery, it is highly unusual. Neo• cobble floor and probably served as a OO «-> trenches in stream terraces, is to try to lithic burials are usually found within storage out-building. A new single- detect buried sites that archaeological settlements, often below house floors, room structure was constructed above surface surveys miss because of the but usually in numbers too small to ac• the patch of plaster floor, probably re• overlying colluvium. This unusual count for all the deaths that must have placing a similar building. It was again survey program, although rather slow, occurred in the sites. The question has about 3 m x 5 m in size, and had a has been somewhat successful. In been, "Where are the rest of the bod• large limestone mortar in its center. addition to detecting small numbers of ies?" It now seems possible that, in Later a new cobble floor was laid above artifacts on several terraces, it the Pottery Neolithic at least, there were the original floor, so only the top of the discovered two Late Neolithic sites, WZ many off-site cemeteries like this one mortar protruded. Among the pottery 200 and WZ 310, on terraces below the that simply have not been discovered. of this phase we found a hard, black- confluence of Wadi Ziqlab's two main It is also interesting that, even at this burnished ware and sherds with a criss• tributaries. early date, at least some of the graves crossed combed decoration. This pot• In 1990 and 1992 the focus of were accompanied by pottery and oth• tery belongs to the end of the Late excavations was site WZ 200, or Tabaqat er grave goods. Neolithic, and is similar to pottery found al-Buma, which the sub-surface survey Some time later, at least two struc• on "Wadi Rabah" sites in Israel. had found in 1987. The test excavations tures, apparently small rectangular The final Neolithic occupation of the had already shown that there was an houses, were constructed, cutting into site (6350-6200 BP, ca. 5300-5100 cal Epipaleolithic level deep within the some of the earth that covered the sec• BC) shows no obvious change in mate• site, which lies a little above 200 m asl. ond cist grave. These were badly dam• rial culture; however, all the previous The test trench had also intersected a aged by later occupation on the site. structures were leveled and two new large, Late Neolithic cist grave In the next phase (6670-6630 BP, ca. structures were built. A small, single- OCCIDENT*. ORIENT - December 1999 47

room building in the western part of kian, Chalcolithic, Early Bronze I and dose to the surface and had been dam• the site had a number of unusual interi• later material. A local informant encour• aged by modern agriculture, espedal• or features and a concentration of spin• aged us to take a dose look at this site, ly by the planting of olive trees and dle whorls. A larger, single-room build• which a team member (Ian Kuijt) had the removal of stones for terrace walls. ing to the northeast had a cobbled floor. noticed while testing a later site in 1987 However, we did find evidence of sub• In addition, a stone platform and some but whose importance was not obvious stantia] Chalcolithic architecture, along walls were built outside, and several until the digging of a new fish pond with an excellent assemblage of Late burials, mainly of children, were insert• exposed a section 100 m long. During Chalcolithic pottery and lithics. Inter• ed into the ruined buildings. a six-week season in April and May, estingly, the pottery here is rather dif• In spite of the dearth of projectile 1999, we excavated four neighboring ferent from the Chalcolithic pottery from points, the fauna] remains at Tabaqat al- step-trenches on the periphery of this Tell Rakan, and has none of the Golan Buma do indude a number of wild fau• site, which is now mostly covered by traits. The lithic industry shows evi• na, notably deer, along with large num• pomegranate groves and fish ponds. dence of very intense core reduction, bers of sheep/goats and smaller num• Below some 2 m of mixed fills contain• and is predominantly "expedient," with bers of cattle and pigs. The preserva• ing Byzantine and probably Abbasid amorphous cores, but there are also tion of plant remains, unfortunately, was sherds, we found a succession of de• many bifadal adzes, sickle elements and extremely poor, but the few small char• posits containing Chalcolithic, Late Ne• oval fan scrapers. There is also consid• coal samples included some conifers, olithic, and PPNB (or possibly PPNC) erable ground stone, with mortars, ba• which we had expected to see only at artifacts. The excavation areas became salt bowls, chalice fragments, pestle ^ upland sites to the east. smaller as we dug more deeply (more fragments and two fragments of fine Excavations in 1990 and 1992 at site than 5 m deep in places), so we found haematite maces. As one would ex• WZ 310, only about 800 m down• few features and little architecture in this pect in a Late Chalcolithic site, the fau• stream from Tabaqat al-Buma, showed first season. One very striking slab-lined, na indude sheep/goats, cattle and pigs. deposits of material that appears con• conical pit, dug into Late Neolithic de• Among the more interesting features temporary with that found in the last posits, probably dates to the Chalcol• at the site were some carefully stone- two Neolithic phases at that site. Very ithic, and portions of walls and huwar- lined pits, the bottoms of which had little architecture was preserved, but plastered floors in the deepest sound• been chiseled into the limestone bed• there were lithics, a stone mortar, and ings appear to be Late PPNB or PPNC. rock. After being filled with ashy soil pottery, some of it with a "criss-cross" Material from the deeper levels in• containing many sherds and bone frag• comb decoration, that includes black cludes Amuq and Byblos points, reap• ments, the pits were carefully paved burnished ware and slightly carinated ing knives and a "white ware" bowl, with flat, rounded cobbles. We have yet bowls, short-necked jars and wide, flat- and two charcoal samples from plaster to determine the function of these un• strap handles. Unfortunately, this Ne• floors near the bottom of the bulldozer usual features. If they were roasting pits olithic material was in a secondary de• section have yielded radiocarbon dates or ovens of some sort, we cannot ex• posit, presumably washed downhill, as of 8430 i 70 BPfTO-3987, 7550-7305 plain why they were so carefully cov• shown by the Early Bronze IB artifacts cal BC) and 8100 ± 70 BP (TO-3986, ered. The extent of remains on this site in pits that underlay it. 7290-6790 cal BC). Overlying depos• shows that it was a fairly substantial vil• The discovery that two small, Late its yielded several sherds with distinc• lage, but probably with houses well ^ Neolithic sites, probably self-sufficient tive Yarmoukian herring-bone incised scattered, leaving a great deal of open farmsteads, were distributed so close decoration and red slip, and some poor• space between. We also found anoth• to one another along Wadi Ziqlab's ly-fired, friable sherds that appear to be er, probably similar, Chalcolithic site stream banks encouraged us to think similar to ones found at Tabaqat al- southeast of Tubna (WZ 129). that the settlement system of this time Buma. The Chalcolithic levels yielded A small University of Toronto team was a dispersed, probably linear or den• a number of sherds with Golan paral• also conducted excavations at the Chal• dritic one, with many small settlements lels, induding ovals of impressed dots, colithic site of Tell Fendi, dose to Wadi stretched out, and possibly with one and a basalt "chalice" with a heavy pil• Ziqlab's confluence with the Jordan Riv• larger village that served as a central lar base. This site will prove excellent er, in 1996. This is a low tell with many place for social and ideological activi• for documenting interrelationships with Chalcolithic rectangular "broad room" ties. the smaller and more short-lived Neo• houses quite dose to the surface where, Our 1999 excavations were to test lithic and Chalcolithic sites elsewhere unfortunately, they have been dam• the most likely candidate for this cen• in the valley and, upon further excava• aged by plowing. Nonetheless, the tral place, some 5 km downstream, tion, may indeed prove to be the cen• excavations were able to reveal one about 100 m asl, in an area rich in tral place of the Late Neolithic settle• fairly complete house and collect a good springs and where Wadi Ziqlab is a ment system. assemblage of Late Chalcolithic pottery perennial stream. Tell Rakan I (site WZ In 1995 we conducted excavations with parallels in Tubna, the uppermost 120) appears to have been founded in at a Chalcolithic site just west of the level at Abu Hamid and Pella. Large Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, and has modern village of Tubna (site WZ 121). storage pithoi with rows of rope deco• overlying deposits containing Yarmou- Most of the architecture here was very ration and overlapping lunate applique' OCCIDENT&. ORIENT- December 1999

are particularly common at the site. A by the Sodal Sciences and Humanities of Antiquities of Jordan 42, 1997, 141- basalt tri-pillar-based chalice reminiscent Research Council of Canada. I would 59. of some of the pillar sculptures from the also like to extend thanks to the De• Banning, E. B., Rahimi, D., and Sig- Golan Chalcolithic was found on the partment of Antiquities of Jordan, Mark gers, J., "The Late Neolithic of the surface. The site probably dates to about Blackham, David Lasby, Zeidan Kafafi, southern Levant: Hiatus, settlement 3900 cal B.C. Mohammad Najjar, Dan Rahimi, the shift, or observer bias? The perspective As our work in the area around Wadi Royal Ontario Museum, Ahmad Shrei- from Wadi Ziqlab". In: Paleorient 20, Ziqlab's drainage basin continues, we deh, Rakan Shreideh, Hikmat Ta'ani, 1994.151-64. are gradually learning more about the and the many staff members of the Blackham, M., Fisher, K., and Lasby, changes that accompanied the en• project. D., "Excavations at Tell Fendi, a Late trenchment of an agricultural way of life, Chalcolithic site in the Jordan Valley, and probably of nomadic pastoralism References Jordan". In: Classical vlews/Echos du too, in this beautiful part of Jordan. Banning, E. B., Blackham, M., and Monde Classique 41, 1997, 1-4.B Lasby, D., "Excavations at WZ 121, a Acknowledgements Chalcolithic site at Tubna, in Wadi Our work has been funded generously Ziqlab". In: Annual of the Department The Decumanus in Gadana: New Archaeological Discouenfes

By: Hans-Dieter Bienert, German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman (Jordan) and Claudia Biihrig, Technical University of Cottbus (Germany)

Umm Qais, ancient Gadara, well- Mainz (Germany) carried on with the nanced by the )ordanian Ministry of known for its monuments of the Grae- excavation. Teams from the University Tourism and Antiquities. The teams in• co-Roman Decapolis city, has been the of Utrecht (Netherlands) and the Uni• volved opened up the street (Figs. I - focus of archaeological excavations by versity of Cophenhagen (Denmark) also 4) leading from the location of the mod• German teams for the past 25 years. participated in the archaeological field- ern resthouse almost up to the so-called Started by Ute-Wagner Lux (at that work. underground mausoleum and the Ti• time director of the German Protestant Since the beginning of the archaeo• berias Gate. Institute of Archaeology) and Karel logical research in Umm Qais, the Jor• Initial investigations into the Roman vriezen (University of Utrecht, Nether• danian Department of Antiquities has decumanus, which runs 1.5 kilometers lands) on behalf of the German Protes• played an active role in the research as in an east-west direction, were under• tant Institute of Archaeology (DEI), var• well as in conservation and restoration taken by Ute Wagner-Lux and Karel ious excavation teams from the German efforts. Over a period of months in 1998 Vriezen in 1974 when conducting a Protestant Institute of Archaeology in and 1999, a team headed by the Umm survey in that area. However, the first Amman, the German Archaeological Qais inspector of the Department of archaeological fieldwork on the street Institute in Berlin, the University of Cot• Antiquities uncovered large parts of the started in 1980 when these two re• tbus (Germany) and the University of Roman decumanus. This work was fi• searchers excavated the decumanus OCCIDENT A ORIENT-December 1999 49

along a length of 34 meters (Wagner pillars but also the evidence of the later jahre". In: ZDPV94, 1978, 135-144. Lux and Vriezen 1982), and found the occupation of the Roman decumanus. Wagner-Lux, LL, K. j. H. Vriezen, Vor- width of the street between the north• References laufiger Bericht iiber die Ausgrabungen ern and southern stylobates to meas• Wagner-Lux, LL, K. J. H. Vtiezen, "Vor- in Gadara (Umm Qes) in Jordanien im ure 12.55 meters. laufiger Bericht iiber die Ausgrabungen jahre 1980". In: ZDPV98, 1982, 153- From the Early Imperial period on• in Gadara (Umm Qes) in Jordanien im \62.m wards, the east-west axis of the decu- manus constituted the "backbone" of urban development in Gadara, with most public buildings of major impor• tance being loosely lined up along this axis. The results of the excavation by Wagner-Lux and Vriezen at the decu• man us demonstrated that the street was bordered on both sides by a stylobate. which may have been used as a sub structure for a portico running along the road. The traffic area was supplied on both sides of the street with a podium- type structure elevated one step above the level of the street. This so-called estrade served as a platform for a row of honorary monuments. All work was carried out very elaborately in poly• chrome materials, which considerably increased the architectural value of the street space. The activities undertaken by the De• partment of Antiquities, including the unearthing of buildings of a post-Ro• man date - possibly Ummayad - have added new information on the street. These buildings, most of which rested on a layer of soil (see Fig. 5) and cov• ered parts of the Roman decumanus, were made primarily of stones taken from the colonnaded street, while some of them were made entirely of spoliae (Figs. 3-4). The foundations of two gateways inserted into the decumanus point to a re-use of the street in post- Roman times, possibly as an accomo• dation gate. The most striking discov• ery, however, was the fallen pillars of a propylon belonging to a large public building, probably a temple situated just south of the decumanus (Fig. 1); these pillars appear to have collapsed in an earthquake. The archaeological investigations are ongoing, and just re• cently, the remains of a canal and a large cistern located partially below the decumanus were found. These findings will allow a more de• tailed study of the water supply and distribution system at Gadara. It is hoped that future conservation work will be able to preserve not only the fallen Fig. 5 50 OCCIDENT &. ORIENT- December 1999

Late Neolithic Esh-ShaLLaf 1QQQ: Second Campaign of Excavations By: Katrin Bastert, Dresden (Germany), Hans-Dieter Bienert, German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman (Jordan), and Dieter Vieweger, Klrchliche Hochschule Wuppertal (Germany)

In October 1998, an initial cam• head of the Department of Archaeolo• paign of excavations at the late Ne• gy at the Sultan Qaboos University, olithic site of esh-Shallaf was under• Oman), and final reports on it will be taken by Dr. Hans-Dieter Bienert and published in due course. As part of Prof. Dr. Dieter Vieweger on behalf the Zeraqon project, a vicinity survey of the German Protestant Institute of was carried out by Dr. Jens Kamlah Archaeology in Amman and the (now University of Kiel). On the basis Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal of this survey, Kamlah did the first clas• (see Occident Orient, Vol. 3. no. sification of the surface pottery at esh- 2). While initally planning for only Shallaf (Nord), and his results will soon one excavation season, the positive be published as part of his Ph.D. the• excavation results of the first cam• sis. paign encouraged the organization In the first season, the remains of a of a second and final season, which The team members of the esh-Shallaf number of structures, possibly huts, was conducted between March 21 - project were excavated, while during the sec• April 4 1999. Like the first campaign, ond it was possible to darify more pre- the second one was financed by the the framework of the Khirbet ez-Zeraqon dsely the stratigraphy of the cultural lay• German Protestant Institute of Archae• project (research on the Early Bronze ers. The architectural remains had been ology and co-directed by Dr. Bienert Age II city), which was conducted by heavily disturbed by ploughing; there• and Prof. Vieweger, while the analysis the Institute of Biblical Archaeology from fore, it was sometimes impossible to de• of the pottery was directed by Katrin Tubingen University in cooperation with fine the relationship between some wall• Bastert-Lamprichs (Dresden). the Institute of Archaeology and An- like remains. However, through further The site of esh-Shallaf was found by thropolgy at Yarmouk University, Irbid investigations in 1999 we were able to Prof. Dr. Siegfried Mittmann (Tubingen between 1984 and 1994. This project define the outlines of some rectangular University, Germany), and the first su• was directed by Prof. Mittmann and and oval-shaped huts, which appear to perficial investigation of it took place in Prof. Dr. Moawiyah Ibrahim (Irbid, now have been constructed very simply. In

General view of esh-Shallaf excavation. Excavated architectural remains at esh-Shallaf. OCCIDENT &. ORIENT- December 1999 SI

most cases, the outline of the huts is pertal, Germany), and Gerhard Rei- Ghazi Bisheh, director general of the defined by stones of different sizes; mann (Offenbach, Germany). We Department of Antiquties of Jordan, for however, due to their arrangement, it would also like to thank Dr. Wajih Kara- granting permission to excavate at esh- seems very unlikely that high stone sneh. Inspector of Irbid, who helped us Shallaf. Last but not least, we thank walls existed. Pieces of day ('Hutten- significantly in organizing the logistics Mrs. As ma Sibdeh, our local represent• lehm') point to the existence of super• of the excavation and many other mat• ative from the Department of Antqui- structures of wood or reed with a mud ters. Thanks are similarly due to Dr. ties, for her help and support." plaster. No specific installations were detected inside the huts, but adjacent to some outside walls fireplaces were detected, one of which had a floor made of gravel and broken stone slabs A huge mortar made of basalt was found lying upside down in one hut. Clusters of fist-size stones in some areas might have functioned as working/food processing platforms. Howev• er, no traces of any implements suggesting a workshop were found. In the second season of ex• cavations, a total of 1.020 pot• tery sherds were found. Of these, only six pieces dated back to the Roman/Byzantine period, while the vast majority could be attributed to the Yar- moukian period. Deep and shallow bowls, jars and hole- mouth jars accounted for most of the vessel forms; plates were Remains of a fireplace. very rare. Seventeen percent of the pottery sherds showed either a red polished slip or the typical incised herringbone pat• tern. According to the research completed thus far, esh-Shallaf was a hamlet consisting of a clus• ter of simply built huts with fire• places and stone platforms in between. It has not yet been possible to dearly define the exten of the village, but we sus• pect that it did not exceed the size of a small hamlet.

Acknowledgements We would like to extend spe- dal thanks td all staff members of the 1998 season: Lite Koprivc (Remscheid, Germany), Sarah Oltmanns (Bad Zwischenahn, Germany), Jens Eichner (Wup-

Ceramic remains from Neolithic esh-Shallaf. 52 OCCIDENTS. ORIENT- December 1999

The 7th International Symposium on Historical Geography in Antiquity

By: Jochen Mayer, Institute of History, University of Stuttgart (Germany)

More than 40 scholars from Germa• for caution when comparing the ancient Aspekte des mykenischen StraSenbaus ny, England, Austria, Switzerland, Ita• world to our modern one. in der Argolis." ly, Jordan, and Turkey gathered at the At the end of the first day, partici• The reception hosted by the Ernst- 7th International Sympusiom on Histor• pants were invited to a reception by Kirsten Society was followed the next ical Geography in Antiquity, which was the Ernst-Kirsten Society (the Society evening by a reception under the aus• held at Stuttgart University from May for Historical Geography in the Ancient pices of the executive director of the 5-9 1999. The symposium, organized World). In the closely packed program Institute of History at Stuttgart Univer• by the Department of Ancient History of the following days (Thursday to Sun• sity, Prof. Dr. Folker Reichert. The key• of the Historical Institute and chaired by day), a large variety of lectures was note speech on Friday evening was Prof. Dr. Eckart Olshausen and Dr. presented. In the lively discussions presented by Prof. Dr. Ing. Gehard Holger Sonnabend, was entitled "Zu which followed each lecture, the pa• Heimerl, whose talk was entitled, "Die Wasser und zu Land. Verkehrswege in pers were critically appraised and col• Zukunft des Verkehrs." After the lec• der antiken Welt," and its lectures were leagues were given the opportunity to ture, participants were invited to a third quite well attended. add further relevant information. reception by the municipality of Stutt• On the first day of the symposium, Those who took part in the symposi• gart. the lecture by Holger Sonnabend (Stutt• um included not only historians, but In his dosing words on Sunday, Eck• gart) and Michael Hascher (Munich) scholars from other fields as well. In his art Olshausen thanked all of the schol• entitled, "Competing Traffic Systems in lively lecture entitled, "Palaogeogra- ars in attendance for their participation Antiquity? - The Lagoon Region Be• phischer Wandel an der turkischen and their valuable contributions. He tween Aquileia and Ravenna," showed Agaiskuste," the Marburger geogra• then invited them to the 8th Historical- that modern problems concerning the pher Helmut Bruckner presented mod• Geographical Symposium, which is due layout of traffic routes and the choice of ern scientific methods which are high• to be held in 2002 in Stuttgart under vehicles already existed in principle in ly useful to archaelogy; while in the field the title "Troies fuimus. Migration in der antiquity. Analogies over thousands of of the history of technology, )ost Knaus Antike."" years were also drawn in many other (Munich) delivered a lecture entitled, lectures, although the historians called "Furt oder Brucke. Hydrotechnische OCCIDENT A ORIENT - December 1999 S3

(continued from page 1) other scholars whose scientific research Friedbert Pfliiger, member of the Ger• 5 kilometers east of Baja, houses dat• is related to water in antiquity and in man Parliament and head of the Euro• ing back to the 1930s and 1950s were modern times. For six days, scholars pean Affairs Committee in the German documented by Janet Haberkorn, an ar- from different countries (Germany, Jor• Parliament, accompanied by Dr. Michael tichect from Cottbus University, Germa• dan, Switzerland, Syria, Spain, the Fuchs, secretary of the committee, were ny. These houses, which have been U.S.A., Britain and France) and repre• guided through the Nabataean city of abandoned by their owners, are made senting various fields (archaeology, his• Petra by Dr. Hans-Dieter Bienert, direc• of stone and should be documented tory, Egyptology, geography, engi• tor of the German Protestant Institute before they collapse, as they offer im• neering, hydrology, and geology) dis• of Archaeology in Amman. In Octo• portant ethnographic information about cussed ancient water installations and ber, a third delegation of four members village life in the region. At Fersh, water-related issues, inducing modern- of the German Parliament (Mr. Joachim which is situated on top of a former day water problems and the increasing Horster, Mr. DietmarSchlee, Mrs. Dor• Nabataean settlement, a test trench was water conflict in the Middle East. This othea Storr-Ritter, und Mr Detlef Frei- dug to clarify the stratigraphy of some highly successful conference vividly herr von Hammerstein) visted Jordan, sites and to check for further informa• demonstrated that archaeology is able where Dr. Bienert guided them through tion on the Nabataean occupation; this to present research results on ancient the ruins of the ancient city of Jerash operation was directed by Isabelle Ru• water installations and techniques which During this past year we have had to ben. At the Ba'ja wadi and the entrance can have an impact on present and/or say goodbye to a number of colleagues to the al-Ba'ja siq, the visible Nabatae• future water exploitation and distribu• and friends. In April, Ms. Nadine Riedl an canals were cleaned and properly tion techniques. The proceedings of the left our Institute to continue her Ph.D. documented. A topographical map symposium will be published as a mon• research at the Free University of Berlin was made of the area, including marks ograph by the Orient Section of the Ger• (Germany) after having served as the indicating all installations. A detailed man Institute of Archaeology (DAI). The Insitute's assistant director for the past report on this project will appear in this abstracts of some papers, as well as a four years. The Institute, and espedally Newsletter, Vol. 5, no. 1, 2000. separate report on the conference, are Umm Qais, owe a great deal to her and Four further excavations by German presented in this Newsletter. her never ending patience! We wish teams (see fellows in residence) have The importance of the Institute and Nadine the best of luck in her future received logistical and material support its work, not only in terms of archaeo• work, and we hope to see her again from the Institute. A number of col• logical research but in the broader field soon in Jordan. leagues have mentioned their interest of cultural relations and interreligious In August our French colleague, Prof. in continuing their cooperation with the dialogue, was further demonstrated by Dr. Jean-Marie Dentzer, left the French Institute next year, and further projects the visit of a high ranking delegation of Archaeological Institute (IFAPO) to re• are planned at Umm Qais and in the the German Protestant Chruch (EKD). turn to his professorial post at the Petra region. In past years, the Insti• On April 29, 1999, the Institute wel• Sorbonne (Paris). From 1995-1999, Prof. tute has not only been a center for co• comed the chairman of the Council of Dentzer resided in Damascus, where he ordinating German activities in the the Protestant Church in Germany, the was at the helm of the French Archaeo• Kingdom, but also a meeting point for Most Reverend Mr. Manfred Kock and logical Institute for the Near East. Dur• colleagues from Iraq and other Arab his delegation. After being briefed by ing his term of office, Mr. Dentzer in• countries. It is hoped that we can the Institute's staff, the guests were giv• augurated the new library at the Insti• broaden our activities to indude great• en an evening reception in honor of Mr. tute's headquarters in Beirut and greatly er cultural and archaeological coopera• Kock and his delegation. The recep• advanced archaeological and architec• tion with all the countries in this region tion, which was jointly organized by the tural studies of Bosra and ST, as well as and, by so doing, help to support un• Institute and the German speaking con• co-directing excavations in Petra. Prof. derstanding and scholarly cooperation gregation of Amman, was attended by Dentzer is an authority on the Classical which goes beyond political and/or more than 180 guests, including a periods in archaeology, and he is es• cultural differences. number of dignitaries. pedally renowned for his scholarship in Under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince A number of lectures on different top• the Late Hellenistic and Nabataeo-Ro- Ra'ad bin Zeid, an international sym• ics and other activities have been or• man studies which he began in the late posium entitled "Men of Dikes and ganized jointly by the Institute and the 60's when he was professor at the Uni• Canals - The Archaeology of Water in German speaking congregation in versity of Nancy. In addition to his the Middle East" was organized in co• Amman. We have also had the pleas• many distinguished positions, he was operation with the Orient Department ure of welcoming German members of director of the archaeological research of the German Institute of Archaeology Parliament and guiding them through center, "ERA 20" at Valbonne until (DAI) and Yarmouk University, Irbid. Jerash and Petra. On june 19 of this 1994, where he took part in and co- The aim of this symposium, which was year, Mr. |osef Hollerith, member of the directed many excavations, notably held in Petra/Wadi Musa at the Moven- German Parliament, paid a visit to the those atSurkh-Kotal (Afghanistan), Tha- pick Hotel from June 15-20, 1999, was Institute, where he was briefed about musida in Morocco, Tell Arqa in Leba• to bring together archaeologists and our work and activities. On July 14, Dr. non and, since 1974, various surveys 54 OCCIDENT A ORIENT- December 1999

in south Syria. We wish Prof. Dentzer ard at Tall as-Sadiyah in Jordan, and with Huot and look forward to seeing him all the best and hope to see him again J. Margueron at Larsa in Iraq. His col• often in Amman. in Jordan. laboration with the Larsa expedition led Despite the uncertainty about the fu• Prof. Dentzer is succeeded as head in 1977 to his directorship of the French ture of our Institute, we are planning of the French Archaeological Institute for Archaeological Delegation in Iraq, an projects for the new millennium, focus• the Near East by Prof. Dr. ]ean-Louis important post representing all French ing on site presentation issues. Archae• Huot. Prof. Huot obtained his Ph. D. in archaeological missions in Iraq. Prof. ological research in Umm Qais as well 1979 and, after teaching history and Huot has been awarded many honors as in the Petra region will continue, and geography for a number of years, he and is on the board of several sdentific plans are underway for joint projects became resident fellow at the French committees, including the editorial with our Jordanian and European col• School of Archaeology in Jerusalem with committees of archaeological journals leagues, all of which points to the ne• a research grant. From 1966 to 1969 such as Paleorient, Syria, and Revue cessity of keeping our Institute open Prof. Huot held the post of senior re• d'Assyriologie et d'Archeologie Orien- and active. We are thankful for all the searcher at IFAPO in Beirut, which was tale, to name but a few. Before taking support we receive from our colleagues followed by the distinguished position up his present position as director gen• and from many Jordanian institutions, of Professor at the Sorbonne (Paris). eral of IFAPO for Jordan, Syria and Leb• and it is our hope that everyone con• Among his many archaeological expe• anon, he was the director of "ERA 41" cerned about the future of our Institute ditions, some of the most remarkable (CRA of OMRS, Paris). Prof. Huot is best will do his/her best to keep it going, are his partnerships with C.F. A. Schaef- known among his students for his re• for the benefit of archaeological research fer at Ras Shamra and Ramad, with H. search and many publications on the and cultural cooperation with our Jor• de Contenson in Syria, with J.B. Pritch- prehistory of Iraq. We welcome Prof. danian hosts far beyond 2000.• Woods of Appreciation and Welcome to Dw. Ghaxi Bisheh and Dr. Fawwaz. Khnaysbeh

The director and staff of the German He spent his entire career with the Bisheh's scholarly focus is on the transi• Protestant Institute for Archaeology in Department of Antiquities in various tion from the late Byzantine to the ear• Amman join our many colleagues in the posts around the country, before being ly Islamic eras in Jordan, and he has ex• archaeology community in thanking Dr. named director-general in 1988 Dr. cavated at several sites, including Ghazi Bisheh for his many years of serv• ice as director general of the Depart• ment of Antiquities, and also in wel• coming Dr. Fawwaz Khraysheh as the new director general of the department. Dr. Bisheh served two stints as direc• tor general, for a total of eight years, in between which he was an associate professor at Yarmouk University and director of the Madaba Archaeological Park Excavation. Under his leadership the department significantly expand• ed the number of surveys, excavations, and conservation projects in the coun• try, while focusing heavily on manpow• er training in several fields. Dr. Bisheh, born in Amman in 1944, graduated from the University of Jordan with a BA in archaeology in 1967, then earned his MA and Ph.D. degrees Dr. Fawwaz Khraysheh. in Islamic Art and Architecture from the University of Michigan, USA. OCC/DE/VTA ORIENT- December 1999 55

Madaba and Qasr el-Hallabat ly on issues related to the Safa- Dr. Fawwaz Khraysheh, born in itic, Thamudic, Nabataean, and Breiqa, north Jordan, in 1955, earned early Arabic languages. his BA degree in Arabic language and During his career he has been literature from KingSaud University in a visiting professor at Leiden, Saudi Arabia, then continued for his MA Michigan, Arkansas, Berlin and and Ph.D. degrees in archaeology and Philipps-Marburg universities. ancient Semitic languages at Philipps He is married, with two boys University in Marburg, Germany. His and two girls. most recent post before being named He has said that his priorities director general of the department was for the department include con• Associate Professor at Yarmouk Univer• tinuing to train his staff, devel• sity and director of the Institute of Ar• op their capabilities, and im• chaeology and Anthropology at the prove their working conditions, university. He also served for nine years for he believes that ultimately as head of the department of epigra• the department's success will phy and ancient languages at the uni• depend on the quality and versity. His field experience at numer• dedication of its staff. He has ous excavations since 1980 has includ• also expressed the desire to ed work atSahab, Yasila, Madaba, Mu- promote deeper links and co• waqqar, Bayir, Wadi Sara, and Tell el- operation among the Jordanian Khanasiri, among others. Dr. Ghazi Bisheh. universities, the Department of Dr. Khraysheh's academic specializa• ern Syria, and the languages and ar• Antiquities, and the international ar• tion is in the ancient languages of the chaeology of this region before the Is• chaeological centers in Jordan * region from north-west Arabia to south- lamic era. He has published extensive• 56 OCCIDENT*. ORIENT-December 1999

Visit of Genman Chancb Leadens to Che Hasbemffe Kingdom of Jowdara

Heads of the German Evangelical lowed by a talk by H. E. Church in Germany paid a one day visit Peter Mende, the German to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan ambassador to Jordan. Dur• during a tour of countries in the Mid• ing lunch, the members of dle East. The Chairman of the Council the delegation discussed of the Evangelical Church in Germany, the political situation in the the Most Reverend Mr. Manfred Kock, region and were informed was accompanied by Bishop Dr. Rolf about the work of German Koppe (Head of the Unit for Ecumeni• institutions in Jordan, in cal Relations and Ministries Abroad), particular the German Mrs. Kock, Dr. Beate Scheffler (mem• speaking congregation of ber of the Council of the Evangelical Amman and the German Church in Germany), Propst Karl-Heinz Protestant Institute of Ar• Arrival of the German delegation via the King Hus• Ronecker (head of the Lutheran Church chaeology in Amman. The sein Bridge: In the forefront from left to right: Mr. of the Redeemer in Jerusalem), and Mrs. delegation then paid a Manfred Kock, Chairman of the Council of the EKD, Ronecker. The German delegation ar• brief visit to the Lutheran Propst Karl-Heinz Ronecker, Mrs. Ingeborg Roneck• rived in Jordan via the King Hussein church in Amman before er. Bridge on April 29th. They were wel• heading comed by members of the German Em• for tal ks bassy, the German speaking congre• with mem• rife'**- gation of Amman, the German Protes• bers of the mi tant Institute of Archaeology in Amman, royal fami• Jordanian officials, and members of the ly Department of Antiquities of Jordan. In the After a short briefing, the delegations evening, a headed for the recently excavated reception "Baptism Site", where Dr. Ghazi Bisheh, was held in director general of the Department of honor of Antiquities, introduced the guests to the visit of the excavation and explained the his• the Chair• tory of the ancient site with its pools, man of the cisterns, chapels and churches. This Council of site, close to the Jordan River, must have the Evan- been an important place for worship• gel i cal By pers and pilgrims, at least during Byz• Church in Mr. Kock and his delegation are welcomed at the baptism site by Dr. antine times. Dr. Mohammad Waheeb, Germany Ghazi Bisheh (second from right), director general of the Depart• at the Ger• the head of the excavation team, then ment of Antiquities of Jordan, and Dr. Mohammad Waheeb, field guided the delegation through the ex• man Prot• director of the baptism project. cavations and explained the ongoing estant In• fieldwork which should be completed stitute of Archaeology in in early 2000. Amman. During the re• From the River Jordan, the delega• ception, which was attend• tion went to Amman where the mem• ed by more than 180 bers had been invited for talks at the guests, Mr. Kock empha• Royal Academy for Islamic Civilization sized the importance of the Research (ATal-Bait Foundation). In April presence and work of the 1997, the Evangelical Church in Ger• German speaking congre• many and the Royal Academy for Is• gation for a lasting Chris• lamic Civilization Research had held a tian-Muslim dialogue. He symposium on "Religion and Secular• also stressed his determi• ism" in the framework of the Christian- nation to continue support• Muslim dialogue. This meeting was fol• ing the work of the Ger- Dr. Waheeb introduces Mr. Kock and his delegation to the excavations at the baptism site. OCCIDENT A ORIENT- December 1999

man Protestant Institute of Archaeolo• gy, which has been under threat of do- sure due to severe finandal cuts. How• ever, impressed by the institute's work, its role, and its acceptance in the Jor• danian sodety, Mr. Kock stated that he will do his best to keep the work of the institutes in Amman and Jerusalem go• ing. This short but highly intensive and informative visit to the Hashemite King• dom of Jordan ended in the institute's garden with a farewell and "hope to see you soon again in Amman".• Members of the accompanying delegation: Dr. Scheffler, Propst Ronecker, Bishop Dr. Koppe, Mrs. Kock. The New PelLa Bnonze Age Temple: The Longest 'Migdol' Eoen Found

By: Stephen Bourke, Sydney University (Australia)

The four most recent seasons at Pella (as is the Shechem temple). Work to Canaanite El, head of the local panthe• in Jordan have concentrated on a mas• date has concentrated on the southern on, originally a mountain-based storm sive Bronze Age structure, which was and western interior, with a 30 x 5 meter and/or war deity. From present indica• revealed this season as the largest ex• strip excavated along the southern tors, the Pella temple was constructed ample ever excavated of the south Le• quarter of the building interior along around 1600 BC and was destroyed for vantine Migdol' Tower or Fortress Tem• with a 10 x 20 meter strip within the the last time somewhere around 900 ple. With overall dimensions likely to western interior. The entire southern BC There are four main structural phas• exceed 32 by 24 meters, it is consider• long wall has been exposed, with an es in the life span of the temple, al• ably larger than the previous largest internal raised brick paved corridor run• though most finds date to the middle' example known (26 x 22 meters), ning along its interior. The outer edge phases of the structure, between 1450- which was discovered in German/ of the central pillared hall (featuring 1150 BC American excavations at the important three large half metrer wide basalt col• Finds from the 55-60 % of the interi• Biblical cult center of Shechem (locat• umn bases, dosely resembling the re• or explored to date have been spec• ed a few kilometers from modern Nab- constructed Shechem temple), and the tacular. They include parts of seven lus in the Palestinian administered West complete southern tower (approxi• conical fenestrated stands (dosely par• Bank). The Pella example is closest in mately 5x5 meters square and modi• alleled at the nearby temple complex overall design to the Shechem temple fied subsequently to narrow the origi• of Beth Shan), a life-sized basalt statue (thought to be the famous temple of nal monumental entranceway as at head (best paralleled at Ebla), a quan• El-Berith mentioned in Judges 9: 46- Shechem and Megiddo) have all been tity of ceramic bowls, jugs and jars (all 49), although it shares several design exposed in the first strip. The western bearing tree of life' motifs), a large cra• features with the Hazor Area A temple excavations have completely exposed ter with bulls' head' protome handles, (also attributed to El by its excavators), the Holy of Holies, featuring a reused several hemispherical bowls, a WS and a similar design history with a slight• orthostat lined doorway (as at Hazor), painted alabastron, and fragments of ly smaller temple from Megiddo (Tem• flanking columns (with smaller basalt two asymmetrical bowls (elements sim• ple 2048). Its closest Jordanian parallel bases), and a massive stone-paved floor, ilar to assemblages from Lachish and lies with the much smaller rural shrine flanking mudbrick benches and a Beth Shan). In addition, a large num• excavated at Tell el-Hayyat, a few kilo• stepped altar/podium off center to the ber of bi-colored spherical and conical meters south of Pella in the north Jor• south of the entrance. glass beads, several elongated multi• dan Valley. The Migdol temple form has been colored glass, agate, amethyst and car- The Pella temple is oriented east/west associated with the worship of north nelian barrel beads, and small numbers 5« OCCIDENT A. ORIENT- December 1999

of magnificent lapis lazuli and gold Together, these finds make up an practice was less concerned with the beads were found scattered over the impressive assemblage, considering systematic recovery of the zoological southwestern corner of the Holy of that we have explored less than half and botanical evidence which we now Holies, perhaps from at least one large the temple interior. The type and dis• know to be vital to any reconstruction necklace or beaded collar. tribution of finds are consistent with the of ancient behavioral patterns. Our Glyptic consists of four local Syro-Mi- presence of a gilded basalt cult statue zoologist has already achieved surpris• tannian 'Common Style' faience cylin• (perhaps similar to that from Hazor Area ingly good matches between ancient ders, two Kassite Babylonian cylinders, C); the statue has lapis lazuli eye and temple offering lists and the animal one (unfinished) cylinder of lapis lazuli, fingernail inlays, is wearing a number bone remains buried in small pits un• as well as several large glass 'cylinder of glass and stone bead necklaces, and der our temple floors. It may be that blanks' (or just possibly spacer beads). is seated on a copper and ivory inlaid the botanical evidence will eventually Other finds include ceramic and faience wooden throne holding a bronze spear. be shown to correlate with the very zoomorphic rhyta, faience cups and Our primary aim through these finds strict foddering requirements attested buckets, two glass plaques, fragments is to document the temple's internal to in Ugaritic dietary laws. We also of ivory, lapis lazuli and polished bone layout and gain some understanding of hope to reconstruct a complete tem• furniture inlay, a bronze spearhead, a the form and execution of actual cultic ple offering assemblage (bowls, jugs, small furniture inlay studded with ani• practice. More importantly, we intend jars, altars, etc.), and if we are lucky, mal heads, a votive snake, several ar• to focus on how both layout and cult perhaps even the cult statue and rowheads, a small but beautifully mod• practice may have changed over the throne. Fragments of most of these eled Reshef figurine, fragments of two life of the temple, which spans one of items have already been recovered and Egyptian stone jars (one reused from the most critical periods (ca. 1650-850 we hope a relatively complete assem• the Old Kingdom), a gold earring and BC) in the development of religious blage awaits our trowels. • numerous foil fragments, a duster of ideas in the Near East. This will be an colored faience tiles, several finely important advance, because most Mig- worked basalt bowls, and a ladle. dol temples were excavated when field

General view of the recently excavated Bronze/Iron Age temple at Pella, looking east. (Photo by Rami G. Khouri). OCCIDENT A ORIENT December 1999 59

Seancbi'ng for* Medfeual Honmaz: The Lost Cnusaden FoRfness of Petwa

By: Manfred Lindner, Naturhlstorlsche Gesellschaft Nurnberg (Germany)

was noted appeared to be the founda• tion of a ruined structure of 60 by 30 paces, located on a low mound. Ac• cording to Musil, the compound re• placed the older al-Karn, both of which were intended to defend Crusader Pe• tra against invaders from the west (Musil 1908, 220,247).

Eliminated candidates When visited by N. Glueckin 1934, Fig. 2. the site had deteriorated: "Kh. en- Neq'ah [is] a small, completely de• stroyed ruin, out of which nothing could taean ('AmretaJ. 1998, 507). be made. No shards were found by In his search for Hormuz together with it." (Glueck 1934/35 EEPII. 87). In the the NHG, E. A. Knauf was certain that 1970s, the Inspector of Petra severely Musil's Hormuz, or 'Kh. an-Naq'a* as reprimanded several Bedouins who the site is now spelled by K. 'Amr, could Fig. 1 Nabataean to Byzantine "At- were caught in the act of building hous• not have been the Crusader fortress. Yet nub", no Crusader site (1995). es out of the ashlars of the same place. it must have been located in the same The houses, which were built in defi• area in which the road or track between During one of his adventurous wan• ance of the Department of Antiquities, Petra and Naqb Nemala was to be con• derings in the northern Petra region, make use of former foundations and now trolled. Kh. al-Qarn, far out in the plain, A. Musil tried to identify a certain place cover part of the rocky hill above and was not even considered a Crusader in the Bayda area as the long lost "Hur- to the east of the modern road (Fig. 1). fort, and in fact it proved to be a Naba- muz", the third historically known Cru• In the interior, salvaged arches and di• taean-Roman settlement (fortress ?) of sader fortress of Petra. Musil claimed agonally cut ashlars can be made out. the first to early Second Century AD. that the ruin was called "Hormuz." Walls of about 7 meters with durable However, we do not know whether the cornerstones of flinty material are pre- Bedouins customarily used this name, Bedouin. The spot located about 20 or if Musil got it from a letter of Sala- meters above the road offers a panora• din's cited by Imad el-Din and again ma view of ). Mansar, J. Adabde, Umm by Ibn al-Atir. Be this as it may, what el-Biyara, Madhbah, the Wadi Musa- Tayyiba road, and Ain Braq. The site was ex• amined several times by groups of the Naturhis- torische Gesellschaft Nurnberg (NHG) and by a departmental archaeo• logical survey in 1996; it was judged by the latter to have been Nabataean (First and Second Centu- ries AD), Byzantine (fourth to sixth centuries), and Late Islamic. An Fig. 4 Looking from Naq'a II to Naq'a Fig. 3 An-Naq'a II at the precipice of Jabal Baida (1998). elaborate rock-cut wine I and the 'Amarin Housing (1996). press was declared Naba- 60 OCCIDENT&. ORIENT- December 1999

('Amr.etal. 1998, 515). Beyond Hormuz pound built against a rocky mound with Another site, " Atnub", also offered From the southwestern entrance/exit the presumed openings looking toward hope; this site is built of regularly cut with remnants of a bolting by walls, a the south, a scatter of Nabataean-Ro- and laid ashlars between sandstone out• quarry is passed from which the tabular man pottery was found explaining the crops, and was used as a well defend• white sandstone of the an-Naq'a II walls find of a single Nabataean fine-ware ed and stocked place using the out• was taken. Then the path winds up to a shred at an-Naq'a II. crops as "towers" (Fig. 2). The exami• plateau inclining upward toward the On another rock, a very weathered nation undertaken in 1995/96 (prior to southeast. Around a large ruined com• quadrilateral niche with three idol pil- the departmental survey) included drawing the site and analyzing the sur• face pottery. It was concluded from this that it did not belong to the Cru• sader period, but to the Nabataean- Access Byzantine period. An elaborate nefesh, a Dushara pillar in a niche, two wine presses, a rock-cut channel and a (hid• den) cistern confirmed the dating and Naqa 11 eliminated Atnub, as it was called by 21. 09. 1998 NHG, as a candidate for a Crusader for• tress (see Jahresmitteilungen der NHG 1995/96). This result was confirmed by the above-mentioned survey of "Bay- da 16" ('Amr, etal. 1998,510). N Hoimuz found at last The search for "Hormuz" then went on. In the same year (1996), I was led by my friend Dakhilallah Qublan to a ruin field on the steep precipice of ]a- bal Bayda high above Kh. an-Naq'a (Figs. 3 and 4). At first sight, the site was regarded as a fortified Late Islamic village. It seemed to belong to a group of similar villages (e.g. Kh. Rweishde, Kh. Mu'allaq. Kh. Anajil), marking a period of unrest and insecu• rity in the Petra region around the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. An- Naq'a II, as it was called by NHG, was revisited in the following year, this time together with E. A. Knaufand U. Hiib- Access ner. Both convinced me that an-Naq'a was nothing other than "Hormuz", the third Crusader fortress of Petra. Case• mate-like, built with about 15 compart• ments at the rim of the precipice, it Tree was, in fact, quite unlike the other Late Islamic villages (Fig. 5). There was a Rock dosable entrance/exit through a gorge Visible Wall to the southwest. The finds were, with Hypothetical IJall one notable exception, hand-made rr Late Islamic pottery which was known f r Unrkud Rock to have been used by the Crusader personnel at Petra, and fragments of 10 round and oval hand mills (Lindner 20 m 1999, forthcoming). Fig. 5 Sketch map of an-Naq'a II (Hormuz) by Ulrich Hiibnerand Ingrid Kunne (1998). OCCIDENTS. ORIENT- December 1999 61

lars was noted. Runoff from the upper catchment basin. Fine sand indicated "feet", and of ostriches, animals which fringe of the plateau was collected in a that there had been frequent flooding clearly lived here only in the dreams of square cistern with a wall of carefully with water which eventually should hunters who had previously seen them cut ashlars conducting water to it. The have drained toward Siq Umm el-Hi- in the Araba (Fig. 6). The second item presence of a tin vessel by the reser• ran. Barred by a wall (which was not was a Greek inscription with the name voir revealed that it is still being used found), a large pond may have formed of a man who did not wish to be for• at present. The runoff was collected after it rained. gotten, together with a couple of in• again in a round, rock-cut cistern orig• At the southern rim of the plateau decipherable rock pictures (Fig. 7). The inally enclosed by a wall, before it two incongruous items were noted. The discovery of Naq'a III, as it was logical• dropped steeply down into a large first was rock engravings of a camel, of ly designed, may also explain the Na- bataean-Roman past of Naq'a I. The latter probably fulfilled a similar func• tion already at that time. Based on its Late Islamic pottery, the successor quite probably became the roadside outpost for the Crusader stronghold of Naq'a II. In both periods, the cooperation of two sites allowed for effective control of people using the tracks from Kerak- Shobak or from Naqb Nemala to Petra, 1. e., coming from Syria or across Wadi Araba from Egypt or Gaza.

References Amr, Kh., Ah. al-Momani, S. Farajat and H. Fallahat, "Archaeological Survey of the Wadi Musa Water Supply and Wastewater Project Area". In: ADA] 41, 1981,503-508. Glueck, N., "Explorations in Eastern Palestine," II. 1934/1935,87. Lindner, M., "Von spatislamischen Fig. 6 Rock engraving of ostriches atan-Naq'a III (1998). Dorfern in die Friihbronzezeit, zu den Edomitern und zum Minister fur Tour- istik und Altertumer: Die archaologische Expedition 1996in)ordanien". In: Jahr- esmitteilungen der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft Nurnberg, 1997,41 -44. Lindner, M., "Von den Bergen Edoms bis ins Wadi Araba: Aus dem archaolo- gischen Umfeld der antiken Stadt Pe• tra". In: jahresmitteilungen der Naturhis• torischen Gesellschaft Nurnberg, 1998, 25-32. Lindner, M., "Archaologische Expe• dition nach Jordanien 1998". In: Jahr• esmitteilungen der Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft Nurnberg, 1999,93-96. Lindner, M., "Late Islamic Villages in the Greater Petra Region and Medieval Hormuz'". Forthcoming. Musili, A., "Arabia Petraea II Edom", 2. T., 1908,220, 247.•

Fig. 7 Rock engraving of a Greek inscription atan-Naq'a III (1998). 62 OCCIDENT* ORIENT - December 1999

Ba'ja - The AncYiaeology of a Landscape: 9000 Yeans of Human Occupation

By: Hans-Dieter Bienert, German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman (Jordan), Roland Lamprlchs, Dresden (Germany), and Dieter Vieweger, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal (Germany)

The Ba'ja region is situated in southern in height were Jordan, approximately 10 km north of detected, and a Petra, the ancient Nabataean city (Figs. large collection of 1 -2). Today it is accessible via an asphalt sandstone ring road leading from Wadi Musa to Beida, fragments were which then continues as a dirt road and some of che out• a rather difficult trail into the Wadi standing findings Arabah. After passing the Beida from the site. First junction, the dirt road passes through preliminary reports the Siq Umm el-Hiran and enters the have already been jabu plain (Fig. 2). As travelers enter published (Bienert/ the Jabu plain, their attention is arrested Gebel 1997a; by a huge round mountain, Ba'boul al- 1997b; 1998a; Ba'ja. The mountains just east of 1998b). Ba'boul al-Ba'ja are called Ba'ja. The Beside Ba'ja II, first archaeological research in this Lindner identified region, an area approximately 10 km three other sites north of the ancient Nabataean city of which he named Petra, was first undertaken by Dr. Ba'ja I, Ba'ja III and Manfred Lindner and his team from the Ba'ja IV (Lindner Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Niirnberg 1989; 1996). Ba'ja (Germany). In 1983, Lindner IV is situated Fig. 1 Plan of the Ba'ja region (sketch by M. Lindner). conducted an initial survey of the area approximately 2 km (Lindner 1987; 1996). south-southwest of In the summer of 1984, while surveying the Ba'ja region, Lindner and his team discovered a number of prehistoric and historic settlements. The most ancient site, which Lindner named Ba'ja 11, dates back to the Late Pre- Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB: 6,500 6,000 BC). Its setting is quite spectacular; as it sits on a terrace between mountains (Fig. 3) which covers about 12,000 square meters; moreover, the former settlement can only be reached through a narrow siq. Within the siq, at least two barriers of huge fallen rocks must be passed before one can reach the ascent to the Neolithic settlement. Here, in 1997, a large-scale excavation was undertaken by the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman. During a CT^CV Ba'boul Ba'ja *fBI month-long campaign, an area of 250 square meters was uncovered (Fig. 4). Fig. 2 Aerial photograph of the Ba'ja region (photo by Royal Geographic Typical PPNB walls of up to 2.5 meters Center, Amman). OCCIDENTS. ORIENT - December 1999 63

theal-Ba"jasiq. Here. times the region was Lindner's team heavily cultivated and identified ancient that the water collected terrace walls and in the siq was used to house foundations on irrigate the fields. This an area of 200 x 200 idea is supported by a m. Pottery scattered large number of old over the surface dates terrace walls which can back to the Early be found along the wadi Bronze Age, the of Ba'ja and at Ba'boul Nabataean period, al-Ba'ja (Fig. 7). The and the Late Roman presence of a rock-cut period (Lindner wine press may also 1989, 189; 1996, indicate wine production 273-274). However, at the site, while two since the discovery dams of probable by Lindner, the site Nabataean origin can be has suffered severe found at the foot of the damage by road Fig. 3 View from Ba'ja ill towards Ba'ja ii (photo by M. Lindner). Ba'ja massif. Both of works and agricultural them are still in use activities (Lindner 1996, nowadays and have been 274) restored and rebuilt in recent Located near the al- times (Fig. 9). Ba'ja siq are a number of On the northern slope of the ancient, most likely wadi of Ba'ja (Fig. 8), dose to Nabataean, rock-cut the entrance to the al-Ba'ja siq, canals (Figs. 5-6) which Lindner identified the ruins of belonged to an ancient a village, Ba'ja I, which is of water network; this uncertain origin (Lindner 1989, network carried water 184; Lindner 1996, 249-252). that was collected by a Pottery from an initial site dam at the entrance to survey pointed to a Nabataean the siq towards the ]abu and late Islamic (Ayyubid- plain. Rock-cut in• Ottoman) occupation. Ac• stallations still identify the cording to Lindner, the village position of the former (Fig. 10) consisted of up to 50 dam (Fig. 5). It is very units (houses), while collapsed likely that in Nabataean Fig. 4 The 1997 excavations at Ba'ja I walls and house foundations

Fig. 5 The entrance into the siq of Ba'ja with rock-cut remains. Fig. 6 Rock-cut canals, leading water from the siq of Ba'ja of an ancient barrier. towards the Jabu plain. 64 OCCIDENTS. ORIENT-December 1999

can still be clearly seen in the field. In the most outstanding setting for the sites is our intention to continue our search 1998, another site survey was discovered by Lindner: "Circa 40 for an accessible road up to the site. undertaken by Dr. Bienert and Dr. meters north of the Siq exit leading up Lindner and his team explored the site Lamprichs, who collected surface to Ba'ja II, there is a series of chimneys twice, first in 1984 and then in 1986 pottery. Their findings did confirm a and fissures with tiny worn footholds to (Lindner/Farajat 1987). On both late Islamic-Ottoman date for the climb up. About 140 meters above the occasions, a sketch of the mountain top Village, with previous occupations village of Ba'ja I, a rugged mountain was made showing the visible dating to the Nabataean and Late top consisting of dome- or tower-like installations on the site. All of the Roman / Byzantine periods; however, foundations together with cisterns, pottery collected dates back to the Iron it was not possible to confirm the grinding plates and Edomite pottery Age II (Lindner/Farajat 1987; Zeitler existence of a an Iron Age settlement indicate an Edomite mountain 1992). However, up to now no despite a few sherds which were found stronghold or an easily defendable indications of an Edomite settlement in dating back to that period (Bienert / acropolis of a settlement down in the the jabu plain have been found, and it Lamprichs 1999). plain" (Lindner 1989, 187). Several appears that Ba'ja III has, as mentioned Ba'ja III (Figs. 8, 11, and 12) offers attempts by teams (Fig. 13) from our by Lindner, been a pure mountain institute to reach stronghold, comparable to Umm al- Ba'ja III have Biyara and some other similar sites in failed due to the the region. very difficult Thanks to the generous financial path. However, it support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation

Fig. 7 Some of the terrace walls which stretch along the eastern slope of Ba'boul al-Ba'ja.

Fig. 8 View of the sites of Ba'ja I and Ba'ja I

Fig. 10 The settlement of Ba'ja I with collapsed house walls. Fig. 9 A modern dam closing off a rock fissure in the Ba'ja massif. OCCIDENT*. ORIENT- December 1999 65

(Koln, Germany), it was ADAJ42,1998b, 75-90. possible to plan for a new Bienert, H. D., R. project in the Ba'ja region. Lamprichs, "Der ar- In October 1999, a three- chaologische Fundplatz and-a-half-week Ba'ja I. Keramik der archaeological campaign Oberflache eine Aus- investigated the sites of wahl". In: Jahrbuch Ba'ja I and Ba'ja III as well Ugarit Forschungen 30, as the Ottoman village of 1999. Fersh with its ancient Lindner, M., "Von Nabataean occupation. The Petra durch den Sik project was directed by Dr. Umm el-Hiran nach Hans-Dieter Bienert Ba'adscha (Baga)". In: (director of DEI-Amman), M. Lindner (Hrsg ), Dr. Roland Lamprichs Petra, Neue Ausgrab- (Dresden, Germany) and ungen und Ent- Fig. 11 Mountain top with the settlement area of Ba'ja III (photo by Prof. Dr. Dieter Vieweger deckungen Munchen/ M. Lindner). (Kirchliche Hochschule Bad Windsheim 1986, Wuppertal). Support and logistical help 112-130. was provided by the Petra Stone Lindner, M., "Ba'ja". In: D. Homes- Preservation Project (CARCIP), the Fredericq, J. B. Hennessy (eds.). Department of Antiquities of Jordan, and Archaeology of Jordan, II. 1, Field the Petra Regional Council (PRC). The Reports, Surveys and Sites A-K. Leuven focus of the project is not on a single 1989, 184-190. site of a certain period, but rather on Lindner, M., "Neue archaologische the region itself and its human Erkundungen und Grabungen der occupation overtime. For us it seems Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft (NHG) necessary not only to concentrate on a Nurnberg in Sudjordanien 1986-1990". specific period, but to investigate the In: Archiv fur Orientforschung 36/37, traces of human occupation in all 1989/1990,354-361. periods. By doing so, we shall attempt Lindner, M., "Edom Outside the to get a better picture of the settlement Famous Excavations: Evidence from history of that region. A detailed report Surveys in the Greater Petra Region". on the archaeological investigations and In: P. Bienkowski (ed.). Early Edom and the expedition to Ba'ja III will be Moab. The Beginning of the Iron Age published in Occident and Orient, Vol. in Southern Jordan. Sheffield 1992, 5, no. 1, 2000. 143-166. Lindner, M., "9000 Jahre Siedlungs- References geschichte der Ba'ja-Region in ' Bienert, H. D., H. G. Gebel, "Ba'ja: Fig. 12 A rock-cut structure at Ba'ja Jordanien ein Forschungsgebiet der Investigations Into One of III (photo by M. Lindner). Naturhistorischen Gesellschaft the Earliest Settlements in Nurnberg". In: Das Altertum Jordan". In: Occident &. 41, 1996,245-278. Orient 2, 1, 1997a, 13-14. Lindner, M., S. Farajat, "An Bienert, H.D., H. G. Edomite Mountain Strong• Gebel, "Ba'ja: Early hold North of Petra (Ba'ja III)". Neolithic Settlers in the Petra In: ADAJ31, 1987, 175-185. Mountains". In: Occident &. Zeitler, J. P., " Edomite Orient 2,2, 1997b, 2-4. Pottery' from the Petra Bienert, H. D., H. G. Region". In: P. Bienkowski Gebel, "Ba'ja". In: American (ed ), Early Edom and Moab. Journal of Archaeology 102, The Beginning of the Iron Age 3, 1998a, 584-585. in Southern Jordan. Sheffield Bienert, H. D., H. G. 1992, 167-176. • Gebel, "Archaeological Excavations at Late PPNB Ba'ja: A Preliminary Report on the 1997 Season". In: Fig. 13 On the way to search for an access to Ba'ja III. 66 OCCIDENT*. ORIENT- December 1999 Unban Archaeology in the Highlands of Centual Jondan: The Tell Madaba Ex actuations, 1PP8-PP Seasons

By: Timothy P. Harrison, Department of Near &. Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto (Canada)

In the modern Middle East, with its changing economicand socio-political the western slope of the tell acropolis long history of urbanism, the conse• organization of communities on a re• (Field B). These excavations were con• quences of urban continuity present a gional level. Drawing on the historical tinued and expanded during a field daunting challenge to archaeological perspective represented by the archae• season held from June 2-July 15, 1999. research. The city of Madaba, located ological record, this research effort seeks The specific project goals for this phase 30 km southwest of Amman amidst the to: (1) document the changing subsis• of TMAP are to: (1) assemble exten• fertile rolling plains of the Central Jor• tence strategies of specific communi• sive, quantifiable collections of botani• dan Plateau, represents a case in point. ties overtime; (2) identify the underly• cal, faunal, ceramic, and lithic materials Continuing an urban tradition of some ing social factors that may have influ• for each of the principal phases of oc• 5,(XX) years, the modern town engulfs enced decision making processes; and cupation at the site; (2) map and record the ancient settlement, which is pre• (3) assess the impact which adaptive associated architectural remains; (3) served in the form of a large low-lying responses have had on the fragile bal• conduct the preliminary processing and tell and acropolis that still form a visible ance critical to maintaining ecological laboratory analysis of the material evi• rise in the town center. Nevertheless, equilibrium and long-term viability in dence recovered; and (4) integrate the Madaba's historical prominence neces• a marginal, or transitional, environment. architectural and artifact records in a sitates a thorough assessment of its role Given the current concern in Jordan for relational database that will facilitate re• in the long and eventful history of the developing, or re-introducing, subsis• construction of the archaeological his• Central Highlands of Jordan. tence strategies that conserve scarce tory of the region. By the end of the The Tell Madaba Archaeological natural resources, these research objec• 1999 field season, excavations had suc• Project fTMAP) was conceived with the tives address issues of contemporary rel• ceeded in uncovering a six-phase strat• goal of pursuing this investigation. By evance and importance. ified sequence spanning four broad cul• focusing on the central site of Madaba, Following a preliminary exploratory tural horizons preliminarily dated to the the project has been working since 1996 season in 1996, full-scale excavations Late Ottoman, Early Roman/Nabataean to expand an emerging regional data• were initiated in 1998, their aim being (1st Century B.C. to 1st Century AD), base and to facilitate analysis of the to clarify the archaeological history of Late Hellenistic (2nd-1st Century BC),

Tell Madaba, 1999 excavations, Field B, looking east. OCCIDENT*. ORIENT- December 1999 67

and Iron IIB (9th-8th/Early 7th Century of the 1999 season, excavations in the antine and Early Islamic levels) were BC) periods. Excavations are sched• probe uncovered the corner of an un• removed or leveled. The pottery re• uled to continue in the year 2000, and hewn stone structure extending from covered from these pits consisted pre• will be devoted primarily to investigat• the east balk, possibly signaling the dominantly of Late Ottoman handmade ing the Iron Age (and earlier) levels at bottom of this phase. wares, including several Ottoman the site. A four-phase sequence spanning the pipes. This Late Ottoman building ac• The earliest deposits excavated so far, Late Hellenistic-Early Roman/Nabatae- tivity corresponds to the well-attested which date back to the Iron IIB period, an period was superimposed over the (and historically documented) late nine• seal against the inner face of a monu• Iron Age levels. The pottery of the teenth century resettlement of Mada• mental fortification wall (Field Phase [FP] upper two phases is distinguished by ba. 6). The upper levels of this phase iden• the appearance of large quantities of Finally, in the process of clearing the tify the final use of this wall as a free• classic Nabataean painted wares (both outer face of the Iron Age fortification standing structure toward the end of imported and local imitations), indicat• wall, a series of Late Byzantine/Early the Iron IIB. The wall is preserved to ing that a decisive shift occurred in the Islamic structures (possibly shops) were almost 5 meters in height along its ex• ceramic industry at Madaba during the found abutting this wall. Although orig- ternal face, and reaches approximately 1 st Century BC, and by implication, that inally exposed during bulldozing ac• 7 meters in width at its greatest ex• Madaba had begun participating in a tivity in the mid-1980s, it was never• tent. Its external face had been ex• southern, Nabataean-oriented sodoeco- theless possible to delineate a two- posed previous to our excavations, and nomic and cultural network. phase architectural sequence spanning ^_ was originally constructed directly on The final stratigraphic phase in Field the Late Byzantine/Early Islamic transi• bedrock. During the 1999 season, a B is represented by an arched wall that tion (6th-7th/8th Centuries AD). The probe was excavated against the wall's runs along the crest of the tell, and a floors of the rooms, including one sec• inner face. By the end of the season, series of associated trash pits. Large ond-story floor, were paved with mo• the probe had reached a depth of ap• foundation trenches had been cut into saics. One room contained a wealth of proximately 2 meters and had uncov• earlier levels to secure the structure, and smashed pottery vessels, including a ered more than six courses of the wall, although difficult to ascertain, our in• set of unused candlestick lamps, a num• bringing the total depth of the Iron IIB vestigations suggest that in the process ber of bronze and iron utensils, and the deposit excavated to date in Field B to of constructing the building, substan• fragmentary remains of a painted more than 3 meters At the very end tial portions of the site (primarily Byz• fresco. •

General view of the 1999 excavation in Field B, on the west side of the Tell Madaba acropolis, looking north (photo by Rami G. Khouri). 68 OCCIDENT*. ORIENT - December 1999

Contact ano Change in the Nean East: Studies in Ancient Economy and Infrastructure at the Department of Special Projects in the Humanities (Uniuersity of Mainz/Germany)

By: Theodor Kissel and Jeorjios M. Beyer, Sonderforschungsberelch 295, Mainz (Germany)

The Department of Special Projects social anthropology, has been used to number of scientific disciplines, each in the Humanities (SFB) (Cultural unC describe the concepts of registration with its own unique methods and ca• Linguistic Contacts: Modes of Change and to explain processes of change. pacities, combined with interdisciplinary in Historical Areas of Tension in North• Three elements of contact-induced cooperation leading to new insights and east Africa and Western Asia), financed change are the most prominent: means patterns of interpretation, should also by the National Endowment for Re• of contact, bearers of contact, and types be of interest for the social develop• search (DFG), took up its work in Janu• of contact. Means of contact (artifacts, ments now taking place in the region ary 1997 at the Johannes Gutenberg texts, language) are indications of con• and elsewhere. University, Mainz. Topics of this re• tact; in other words, they represent the search are the political, cultural and lin- contact which must have taken place Economic and Cultural Contacts guistical contacts in an area extending and which can be inferred from them. from Western Asia and Northern Africa Bearers of contact (traders, consecrators, The section of the project dealing with to the Mediterranean Sea. This histor• envoys, interpreters, sailors, mercenar• ancient history, namely, "economic, ical area once saw empires unfold and ies, colonists, nomads, prisoners of war, technological and cultural contacts in the world religions come into being and, slaves, etc.) are individuals and social area of the Fertile Crescent and border• through this, had and continues to have groups through which the contact takes ing regions from Hellenistic times to the a formative influence on material and place. Finally, types of contact (trade, beginning of Arabian times" (lead by cultural development throughout the diplomacy, migration, colonization, Prof. Dr. L. Schumacher, with Dr. The• region. wars, travel, transfer of technology and odor Kissel, M A. and Jeorjios M. Bey• The SFB covers the time from ancient science, etc.) are types of human ac• er, M A.) works on the topographical, history to the present, and its broad tivity through which contact takes place. infrastructural, administrative and per• interdisciplinary approach can be seen Focus on a common question by a sonnel structures which make possible from the great number of faculties tak• ing part: Egyptology, Ethiopian Stud• ies, African Philology, Ancient Histo• ry, Ethnology (from 2000 onwards). Is• lamic Studies, Classical Archaeology, Semitic Studies, Turkology, Compar• ative Linguistics, and Near Eastern Ar• chaeology. Main fields of study are: state and religion in Northeast Africa and Western Asia; forms of settlement, art and economy in Northeast Africa and Western Asia; language in North• east Africa and Western Asia; and re• ligion and society in more recent times. Corresponding to the title. "Cultural and linguistic contacts," the phenom• enon of contact and communication between cultures and ethnic speech communities has been given a central • - ; <• - —. "- * place in the research. Network mod• Roman road near Rusheideh at the eastern edge of the Jabal Druse/Syria el terminology, which originated in (Photo: Th. Kissel). OCCIDENTS. ORIENT- December 1999 69

economic ties and the exchange of archaeological findings and written this research is the study of the ancient goods in the Near East. Cultural and records. road network for more than one era linguistic processes of change are ana• Kissel's study takes note not only of (Kissel 1999). From this, important con• lyzed in the context of economic infra• the actual course of the roads, but also clusions can be drawn about duration, structure (Th. Kissel, Economic Infra• of the installations connected to them importance and intensity of use, as well structures, and J.M. Beyer, Economic (settlements, posts, forts, guard stations, as indications about the continuity of Organization and Cultural Contacts in wells, cisterns, milestones and bridg• historical settlements. Diachronical Syria). es) and the administrative apparatus, studies were first tried for the main which was connected to the use and Antiochia-Nisibis road (Kissel 1998). Ini• Economic Infrastructures financing of state travel (see his com• tial results regarding processes of parison of the Assyrian kalliu-express- change, communication and long-term Up to now, the research on roads in system, the Achaemenid courier-sys• contacts were obtained by the SFB by the geographical area of Syria and Jor• tem and the Roman cursus puplicus). studying Egyptian, Assyrian, Achae• dan consists of a number of in-depth By conquering distances, develop• menid and Roman sources. Added to studies of ancient roads (see the work ing space, and connecting peoples, this study was an analysis of topono- of Bauzou, Graf and Kennedy on the routes are the material base for com• my, especially expressive, concerning Via Nova Traiana). Most of this research munication and contact. Therefore, they etymology and semantics. Because of concentrates on strictly defined prob• are especially useful in the verification these results, this interdisdplinary meth• lems, e.g., the course of a single road of material and ideational cultural inter• od will be used paradigmatically to in a single period of time. Thus far, action and in showing the processes of study other routes in the area under however, almost no research has been change which have resulted therefrom; research. done on infrastructure as a defining el• hence, the importance of the SFB re• A second line of research stresses in• ement of a major landscape, or beyond search. ternal communication in smaller areas one era. To make up for this lack, Kis• Problems of continuity, discontinuity (limestone massif, Hauran, Decapolis) sel is working on a diachronical study and functional change are studied by and its connection with a broader, tran- of arteries of communication (roads, riv• examining the Near Eastern routes, cov• sregional network of roads. Especially ers, etc.) in the historical area of the ering the period from the neo-Assyrian for regionally secluded economic areas Fertile Crescent based on a synthesis of era to late antiquity. The main topic of such as the northern Syrian limestone

Roman bridge near Jemarrin (north of Bosra) across the Wadi Zedi/Syria (Photo: Th. Kissel). 70 OCCIDENTS. ORIENT- December 1999

massif with its internal structures of vil• production and interchange which ad• production has not been explained suf• lages, a tightly connected network of hered to the laws of the market. The ficiently. different levels of travel and trade (lo• different degrees of government influ• The results of the research done thus cal, regional, and beyond) opens a door ence and tension between local and far (Beyer 1998) have shown the de• to the outside world. state administrations, including cross- gree of sophistication of the economic border traffic, can be seen most dearly infrastructure even in relatively self-con• Economic Organization in the studies of "small independent tained rural areas. Some research has areas" such as the Tetrapolis, the lime• dealt with the relations of different It was once considered most impor• stone massif. Palmyra and the Hauran. forms of settlements of varying size and tant to first establish what base was Because of their internal structures status (polis-metrokomia-kome- needed to facilitate economic contacts and the numbers of cities, villages, and epoikion, etc.). Research on "indepen• and the normally resultant cultural phe• farmsteads which are still visible today dent systems" has resulted in the es• nomena in northern Syria. Studies over and which are increasingly the focus of tablishment of a set of criteria for deter• the past few decades dealing with the archaeological studies, rural areas are mining regional specialties, which are history of the economy have tended to most useful for researching questions useful for defining regularities in the draw a unified picture, mostly concen• about regional differences in organiza• economic relations of different economic trated on the governmental interchang• tion, state regulation, and the possibil• units. Simple contact, which is inevita• es of the Roman Empire. The basis for ity of economic contacts both with the ble with geographical proximity and this was in most cases the idea of a Greek dominated centers and the East. connection to the same infrastructure, detailed network of governmental and Unfortunately, the economic activities may leave only barely recognizable trac• institutional regulations whose effects of the rural areas in Syria have so far es; hence, it requires the development reached the outermost corners of the been only partially researched. Excep• of predse criteria. Improvement of such empire and provided the foundation for tions are the groundbreaking studies by criteria is possible at the junction of the the Roman economy. In contrast to this Tchalenko, Tate and Callot of the lime• individual areas of research (settlement viewpoint, Beyer works from an under• stone massif, as well as the ongoing and infrastructure, administrative and standing of the economic organization research by the IFAPO on the Hauran. social structures, and demographic of the Roman empire as one founded The status of the individual institutions structures). on state-directed and state-supervised and settlements taking part in trade and For the most part, the dassification of

Sergilla (Jabal Zawiye), Roman baths (Photo: J. M. Beyer). OCCIDENTS. ORIENT-December 1999 71

material is based on the criteria for ana• tact with the same people and the con• Davies, J. K., "Ancient Economies: lyzing economic processes developed stant exchange of the same products Models and Muddels". In: H. Parker by Davies. Based on his fundamental does not cause easily discernible chang• and Chr. Smith (eds ), Trade, Traders observations, Davies developed three es in contact patterns. On the other and the Ancient Qty. London/New "independent variables": 1) the quan• hand, trade which takes place across York, 1998, 225-256. tity and importance of goods ex• regional borders, and which thereby Graf, D. F, "The via nova Traiana in changed and services offered; 2) the reaches outside a dosed sodal system, Arabia Petraea". In: JRA 14, 1995, 141- institutions and infrastructures in which opens possibilities of communication 167. economic exchange takes place; and and contact which encourage process• Kennedy, D., "Roman Roads and 3) the mentalities of those taking part es of change. Routes in North-East Jordan". In: Levant in the exchange. This latter includes, 29, 1997,71-93. in the broadest sense, all culture-relat• References: Kissel, Th., "Konstanten der Infrastruk- ed factors, from local, individual cus• tur. Historische Wegekontinuitat im nor- toms and conventions to language, re• Bauzou, Th., "Le sectuer nord de la dsyrisch-obermesopotamischen Kultur- ligion and ethnic identity. via nova en Arabie de Bostra a Phila- raum am Beispiel der FluBubergange Only the sum of all available am Mittleren Euphrat". criteria together with sufficient In: L. Schumacher (ed ), material provides valid data for Religion Wirtschaft Tech• determining the pattern and nik. Althistorische Bei• relations of economic process- trage zur Entstehung neu• es of exchange and their influ• er kultureller Struktur• IP - ence on the bearers of contacts muster im historischen involved. The terms "strong" Raum Nordafrika / Klein• and "weak" ties, a theoretical asien / Syrien. St. concept used by all of the SFB Katharinen 1998, 179- researchers, can be applied 202,(=MAS 1). here to the description of "non- Kissel, Th., "Ugarit In• native" individuals and groups ternationale Handels- active in trade who have some metropole im Schnitt- kind of mediating function, punkt des vorderasia- which can be seen in the bor• tisch-ostmediterranen der area of the field of research. Behuo - trapetum-oilpress (Photo: J M.Beyer). Verkehrsnetzes". In: M. These individuals and groups Kropp und A. Wagner can, because of their mobility, act as delphia". In: ).B. Humbert and A. Des- (eds ), Schnittpunkt' Ugarit. Frankfurt, catalysts for change. reumaux (eds.), Khirbet es-Samra 1, Berlin, Bern, New York, Paris, Wien Jordanie: la voie romaine, le cimitiere, 1999, 69-96 (= Nordostafrikanisch / Road Junctions les documents ephigraphiques, Turn- Westasiatische Studien II). hout 1998, 101-256. Tate, O, "Les campagnes de la Syrie The situation of contacts for the north- Beyer, J M. "Sie brauchen kaum et- du Nord du lie au VII e siede. Un ex- "ern Syrian limestone massif was re• was aus der Stadt wegen des Austaus- emple d'expansion demographique et searched during two field trips, one in ches untereinander—Bemerkungen zu economique a la fin de I'antiquite I". 1998 and the other in 1999 ( Beyer/ Ursprung und Verhaltnis einiger Sied- Paris 1992. Kissel). In certain regions, such as the lungsformen im syrischen Kalksteinmas- Tchalenko, C, "Villages antiques de plains between )abal al-A'la, |abal Bar- siv von der hohen Kaiserzeit bis in die la Syrie du Nord". Paris 1953-1958. • isha and Jabal Halaqa or east of ]abal Spatantike". In: L. Schumacher (ed), Zawiye, it could be proved that local Religion Wirtschaft Technik. Althis- and regional routes are tightly inter• torische Beitrage zur Entstehung neuer linked. This, in turn, was connected to kultureller Strukturmuster im his- a road system which crossed regional torischen Raum Nordafrika / Kleinasien borders at certain junctions. Local trade /Syrien.St. Katharinen 1998, 179-202, took place by the exchange of goods (=MAS 1). required on a daily basis in a small com• Beyer, J. M., Th. Kissel, "Wandel munity or in its immediate surround• durch Handel? Verkehrsknotenpunkte ings. A high frequency of interactions als Interaktionsfeld lokaler und iiberre- characterizes this exchange of goods; gionaler Wirtschaftskontakte". Forthcom• such "stable" contacts have very little ing. potential for innovation. What this Gallot, O., Huileries antiques de Sy• means is that stable, continuous con- rie du Nord. Paris, 1984 72 OCCIDENT & ORIENT- December J999

Ba'ja V: A Newly Dfscooewed Neolithic Site in the Ba'ja Region

By: Dieter Vieweger, Klrchllche Hochschule Wuppertal (Germany), Hans-Dieter Bienert, German Protestant Institute of Archaeology In Amman (Jordan), and Roland Lamprlchs, Dresden (Germany)

In the framework of the 1999 Ba'ja tered over an area of about 80 square fore, for the time being we are unable project which conducted archaeologi• meters. The tools discovered so far date to define the specific nature of the site. cal excavations and surveys in the Ba'ja back to the PPNB; however, further Bulldozing and agricultural activities as region and at Fersh, a new Neolithic site study on the artifacts is necessary to date well as the construction of a large pool was found about 100 meters north of them more precisely. No visible struc• have inflicted heavy damage on the Ba'ja 1. During a survey of the vicinity tures which could have been associat• site. Following the terminology intro• of Ba'ja I, team members collected a ed with the flint tools were detected duced by Dr. Manfred Lindner, the site number of flint tools. A further search on the surface. Spots of ash indicate was called Ba'ja V. Further research on of the surface area revealed further flint the probable presence of fireplaces, but the artifacts to be undertaken soon will tools, such as arrowheads, blades, bl- it is uncertain whether they are con• provide more details on the site itself. • adelets and scrapers, which were scat• temporary with the lithic artifacts. There•

Three arrowheads found at Ba'ja V.