Gen man Pnotestant Institute of Anchaeologp in Amman The Institute: HfsCowy, Actfoftfes, Facilities In the late seventies the German Prot­ Amman are funded by the Lutheran estant Institute of Archaeology in Church of Germany. Amman was founded as a branch of the German Protestant Institute for Ar­ The institute in Amman has chaeology of the Holy Land in Jerusa­ its own building which is situated at Vol.1. No. 1 June 1996 lem, which had been founded at the the north west edge of Amman, in end of the last century after a CONTENTS visit of Emperor Wilhelm II to • The Institute 1 Jerusalem. The Jerusalem in­ • Preliminary report stitute started work in 1903 on Gadara 2 and has been based since • New hope for 1982 on the Mount of Olives Petra facades 4 in East Jerusalem. The main • Water supplies of research topics of the German Early Bronze Age Protestant Institute of Archae­ towns 6 ology during the first 60 years • Fellows in residence 6 of this century were historical • Excavations at and biblical-topographical Abu Snesleh 7 The German Protestant Institute staff in front of the questions. The directors of the • jerash cathedral institute building in Amman. institute during this period project 8 were Gustaf Dalman, Albrecht • Something unusual 8 Alt and Martin Noth, all well known dose vicinity to the University of Jor­ • The prehistory of scholars of Old Testament theology. dan and the American Center for Ori­ Jordan 9 The subsequent directors were Ute ental Research (ACOR). The building • Donors to the library 10 • Petra church project. Wagner-Lux and August Strobel. In was erected between 1976 and 1980 Petra papyri 10 the 1970s actual archaeological field- with funds provided by the "Foun­ • South cemetery work at different sites began: August dation Volkswagenwerk Hannover excavation 1 1 Strobel worked in Ain-ez-Zara, a site (Germany)". The institute has been • Readers' survey 12 at the Dead Sea, where Herod the (continued on page 12) Great is supposed to have built a bath close to the hot • Published twice a year in spring. In 1994 Volkmar Fritz Amman, Jordan, by the German became the director of the Protestant Institute of Archae­ institute in Jerusalem, and is ology in Amman - POBox 183, also the general director of both facilities in Jerusalem and Postal Code 11118, Telephone 842924, Fax 836924. Amman; he carries out field work in Kinneret. Ute • Editor: Hans-Dieter Bienert. • Technical and editorial assis- Wagner-Lux launched the first tance: Rami G. Khouri, Jean- major excavations in Umm Qais in 1974, where the in­ Claude Elias - Al Kutba, Publish­ Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Dr.Saleh Ersheidat stitute has worked, with a gap ers, Amman. (centre, in tie) and Hans-Dieter Bienert (to his left) dis­ • Newsletter logo above by Samir of five years, ever since. Both cussing protection and renovation issues during a Shraydeh. institutes in Jerusalem and recent visit to Umm Qais (Gadara). 1 2 Newsletter of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman - June 1996 PReli'minany Repowt on Gadxraa / Umm Qais Preliminary report for the 1996 spring season In Cadara/ of the Hellenistic city, could not be Umm Qais carried out by the German Archaeological In• traced on the southwestern edge of the Hellenistic acropolis (Beit Melkawi stitute (DAI) Berlin In cooperation with the Technical Uni•II). The corner we excavated turned versity of Cottbus. out to be rebuilt probably in the sec• ond half of the first century A. D. By: Adolf Hoffmann, Techni• City wall: The original sec• Area of the northeastern cal University of Cottbus (Germany) ond century B. C. Seleucid city wall, temple : Continuing on last season's and Gunther Schauerte, Staatliche now uncovered along almost the excavations, two main areas were in• Museen zu Berlin - PreuBischer complete length of the southern flank vestigated. In the south, a paved area Kulturbesitz (Germany) in 1995 research at Gadara concentrated on the city wall and on a complex northeast of the acropolis hill that turned out to be a large sanc• tuary, with a podium temple in the centre surrounded by a spacious and probably walled temenos. South of the acropolis hill several traces of the Hellenistic zig-zag city wall, with ar• row-shaped towers and a city en• trance, could be identified. After a di• sastrous destruction of the city wall it was reerected in Roman-imperial times and concomitandy the city was remarkably enlarged and protected by a new wall. This new western city wall can be traced along its entire length of 1.7 km, including strong fortifica• In foreground, the excavated portion of the via Sacra, leading to the temple, at Umm Qais/ tion works at its westernmost trench. Gadara. Trlkonchos building : This year's work (07.04.-08.05.1996) aimed to clarify the connections of the Trikonchos with the adjoining archi• tectural remains in the southwestern corner of the Hellenistic city (Beit Melkawi II). There is no positive ar• chitectural evidence that the Trikonchos was actually a church. The architectural form of the Trikonchos was probably a part of a domestic complex and was later used as a burial chapel. The mosaic in the adjoining room to the southwest (excavated in 1992 and 1993) had a design com• parable to those found in the side aisles of some Byzantine churches in Jordan, but the extreme northerly po• sition of this room precludes the ex• istence of a nave in connection with Excavated portions of the Hellenistic/Roman city wall at Umm Qais Gadara, with the Ger• the Trikonchos. man dig house, the restored Beit Melkawi, above it. Newsletter of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman - June 1996 3 was exposed in a narrow trench. This year the area was expanded in order to try to determine its extent and func• tion. The excavations have uncovered a north-south length of at least 22 metres of a 30-metre-long via sacra. The foundations are very substantial — two metres of very large lime• stone rubble resting on bedrock. Di• rectly to the east of the paved path is a slightly lower strip of foundation stones approximately 2.5 metres in width. These foundations also go down to bedrock and may form part of a Propyl on. At the temple a trench was opened on the east and south sides in order to try to understand the con• struction of the temple and its con• nection to the paved area to the south. The north end of the trench was ex• cavated down to bedrock. We found that this area had been a quarry. There is a partly cut block still in situ. The quarry was abandoned and covered with fill. The original surface of the temenos surrounding the temple seems to have been robbed out, al• though traces of what may have been a surface of crushed and compacted limestones were found on the east side of the sub-structure. A plan of the site of Umm Qais Gadara; excavated areas include the temple complex (1), the Trikonchos building (2) and the city wall (3). Above this level was a layer of ashy destruction debris containing large quantities of broken roof tiles and some architectural fragments. These included some pieces with cut pro• files, one block with a triglyph and traces of plaster, and a large block which was the end of the right side of the pediment. Other finds amongst the debris were two small limestone lion's heads and the broken torso of a female statuette. The pottery of the early 1st Century B.C. found in the foundations of the via sacra, and the old fashioned doric architecture of the temple sug• gest that the whole complex might have been constructed in pre-Roman The German excavation team at Umm Qais. Gadara shown with the visiting German Em• times. • bassy Cultural Attache Ingrid Liedgens (top row, centre, in sunglasses). Newsletter of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman - June 1996 Neco Hope FOR Petna Facades German Government supports establishment of a Jorda• that had to be kept open; they also nian Conservation and Restoration Center In Petra coated and painted their facades, a finish that could be renewed if the (CARCIP) through long-term GTZ project. need arose, and they must have busily restored their monuments in order to By: Helge H. Fischer (Project torical monuments the world over, keep them in shape, in respect for their Director of CARCIP) loss of interest and appreciation. ancestors but also maybe out of per• sonal pride. Everyone who has walked Once, however, civilization through the ancient city of Petra must loses interest in cultural achievements After the Nabateans left, all have noticed the numerous evident of the past, the forces of nature slowly this maintenance ceased. The monu• but efficiently take over: wind, signs of decay of the monuments. ments were reintegrated into the cycle weather, gravity and, above all, the Most of us who go to Petra don't go of nature, the cycle of erosion and action of water, take their toll. The ef- there in search of evidence of accel• decay. Channels got clogged, fractures erated disintegration: to the con- ^_ were left open, and water was trary, we go there to study and allowed to attack the monument admire the best preserved ex• CARCIP -- from within and from outside. amples of Nabatean architecture, CONSERVATION AND That is ultimately why most of the ones that show the least RESTORATION CENTER them have almost completely traces of decay, such as the disappeared, and why only a Khazneh, the Urn tomb, the Pal• IN PETRA few of them, almost miracu• ace tomb or Ed Deir.