Discovering Edom Polish archaeological activity in southern Jordan Discovering Edom Polish archaeological activity in southern Jordan edited by Piotr Kołodziejczyk Kraków 2018 Reviewer: Klaudia Stala Editor: Piotr Kołodziejczyk Project Coordinator: Katarzyna Radziwiłko Translation and proofreading: Authors, Magdalena Rot, Piotr Godlewski, Mikołaj Przywara, Keith Horechka, Eliot Braun Photographs: Piotr Kołodziejczyk, Maciej Bernaś, Kamil Kopij, Adam Koprowski, Jarosław P. Bodzek, Barbara Witkowska, Katarzyna Radziwiłko, Michał Wasilewski, Agnieszka Ochał-Czarnowicz, Przemysław Nocuń Layout and setting: Wydawnictwo Profil-Archeo Magdalena Dzięgielewska Kraków 2018 ISBN 978-83-952339-4-4 (Profil-Archeo) ISBN 978-83-948382-8-7 (Jagiellonian University, Institute of Archaeology) DOI 10.33547/DiscEdom2019 Publishers: Wydawnictwo Profil-Archeo Magdalena Dzięgielewska Euclid Foundation for Science Popularization Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University Task financed under the agreement no. 951/P-DUN/2018 from the funds of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for activities promoting science. Zadanie finansowane w ramach umowy nr 951/P-DUN/2018 ze środków Mini- sterstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszech- niającą naukę © Copyright by the Euclid Foundation for Science Popularization & Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University in Kraków CONTENTS Discovering Edom, Piotr Kołodziejczyk, Katarzyna Radziwiłko............. 7 1. Polish archaeological contribution to the research and protection of Middle Eastern cultural heritage. Remarks on the last decades, Piotr Kołodziejczyk.................................................................................... 11 2. HLC Project 2014-2019. Research activity of Jagiellonian University in southern Jordan, Piotr Kołodziejczyk.................................................... 31 3. Results of "Archaeological Study of Dajaniya & Tuwaneh" (ArTu: DTu) 2018 survey of Dajaniya (Ma’an-Husseiniyeh), Southern Jor- dan, Jarosław Bodzek, Kamil Kopij, Łukasz Miszk, Paweł Ćwiąkała, Edyta Puniach, Małgorzata Kajzer, Agnieszka Ochałek, Dawid Mrocheń, Aleksandra Słodowska, Katarzyna Sawicka, Kacper Widuch, Hubert Dec, Maciej Bernaś, Justyna Ruchała, Paulina Cierplich, Gabriela Maniak, Dajana Mielczarek.................................................................................... 51 4. Results of "Archaeological Study of Dajaniya & Tuwaneh" (ArTu: DTu) 2018 survey in Tuwaneh (Tafila-Hesa), Southern Jordan, Jarosław Bodzek, Kamil Kopij, Łukasz Miszk, Paweł Ćwiąkała, Edyta Puniach, Małgorzata Kajzer, Agnieszka Ochałek, Dawid Mrocheń, Aleksandra Słodowska, Katarzyna Sawicka, Kacper Widuch, Hubert Dec, Maciej Bernaś, Anna Wójcik.................................................................................................. 69 5. Preliminary report from the excavations at the site of Qasr ed-Deir (At-Tafila) in the season of 2017, Przemysław Nocuń, Agnieszka Ochał-Czarnowicz................................................................ 87 6. Archaeological tourism: a chance or a threat to southern Jordanian community. Case study of HLC Project, Katarzyna Radziwiłko .......... 99 7. Nature, science and tourism. Polish research on the natural envi- ronment of southern Jordan and the tourist potential of the region, Michał Wasilewski..................................................................................... 121 8. My encounters with the language and culture of Jordan. Polish stu- dents in Jordan, Diana Pokrzywa............................................................ 143 Arabic summary) 154) فاشتكا |مودإ ةكلمم .9 DISCOVERING EDOM There are places on Earth that are truly unique – so saturated with traces of the past that they almost echo with the voices of people who lived there centuries ago. Stroll- ing through the wilderness of southern Jordan or visiting desert archaeological sites in this part of Jordan, we discover not only monuments and details about the life of past communities, but also today’s problems of their protection, conservation and often complicated functioning in the modern world. Being a treasury of knowledge about our past, southern Jordan – the historical land of Edom – should be a constant field of scientific activity that can offer not only new monuments or traces of the past, but also an enormous amount of information that will allow us to expand our knowledge about ancient times. The archaeologist’s privilege is not only to study the past and come into contact with monuments, but also to rejoice in the beauty of this region and to experi- ence the friendliness and hospitality of the people who live in this unique place. In 2014, a series of new Polish research projects began in southern Jordan. Archae- ologists and students from the Jagiellonian University are conducting surface research and excavations within the districts of At-Tafila and Ma’an. The projects are directed by a group of scientists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Jagiellonian Univer- sity. In cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Antiquity, Polish researchers are looking for traces of human activity in this area dated from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. The area of exploration and research is located in the vicinity of impor- tant archaeological sites such as the Edomite capital of Buseira and the Sela rock cliff, and also near Wadi Feynan – the famous copper valley which played a key role in the production of this raw material and its export to neighbouring areas, especially in the Bronze Age. Also standing in this part of Jordan are its most famous monument, Petra the rock city of the Nabataeans, and the crusaders’ castle in Shawbak. The longest-lasting research activity of the Kraków archaeologists is a project devoted to the period of the Bronze Age. Findings from this period can help an- swer questions about the presence and activity of human groups during this period in Edom. The long-term goal of the research is to search for and analyse the routes and paths of movements of people in prehistoric periods in this area, as well as environ- mental changes and their impacts on the functioning of past societies. The whole of DISCOVERING EDOM 8 the activities and research undertaken as part of the project is the beginning of a broad body of work aimed at getting to know the region and describing its cultural land- scape and the role of environmental changes in its transformation. This project will help scientists understand the region’s functioning across the centuries, and also aid its development by identifying tourist attractions and drawing attention to cultural and environmental attributes worth protecting and popularizing. The works of the Kraków researchers in Jordan have been recognized by the Na- tional Science Centre, which provided a grant to expand them in order to learn more about the history of southern Jordan in the Bronze Age, the exploration of which is one of the most interesting research problems of contemporary archaeology in the Middle East. This period, which lasted approximately 1,750 years (3700–1950 BC), was full of events and changes crucial for the development of human culture. The first centres of urban character were created, the technology of production of many objects developed (e.g. metallurgy), and long-distance trade flourished. The areas of Egypt and the Middle East saw a barrage of social changes in this period: the birth of the first kingdoms of a spatial nature (Egypt in the predynastic, archaic and Old Kingdom periods) and city-states controlling minor areas (Mesopotamia, Syria-Palestine); the shaping and gradual deepening of the hierarchical, complicated structure of individual communities; and the development of cults and funerary customs. Writing appeared for the first time as well as developed ideology of power and religion. Population shifts and the impact of mobile nomadic groups are evident, especially in southern Jordan, which could not remain an empty area, lying in the vicinity of dynamically changing areas. Through archaeological excavations on selected sites, the researchers from Kraków are trying to describe the stages of human activity of this period. The aim of the analyses will also be to answer the question about possible contacts of the region with Egypt and the rest of the Levant, i.e. the areas where important changes took place at that time, and where the state of research on the Bronze Age is more ad- vanced. Excavation works are supplemented with specialist laboratory analyses, thanks to which it is possible to establish the exact age of discovered relics, as well as the methods of their production and use. A little later, the work of two more Polish projects began. The first of them con- cerns the period of the Middle Ages. Archaeologists are exploring the castle-monas- tery located in the area of At-Tafila – Qasr ed-Deir. After the initial seasons we may assume that Qasr ed-Deir should be seen as a compact, multiphase complex and its origins should most probably be dated to the Roman – Byzantine Period. The complex was developed and reconstructed more than once and the last great alterations should DISCOVERING EDOM 9 be dated to the Mamluk period. The future analysis of the stratigraphy of masonry elements combined with the analysis of the archaeological material should yield more precise results (as the archaeological excavations are hopefully to be continued in the following years). The second of the above-mentioned projects is focused on the Roman period