THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO BEYOND THE WALLS OF JERICHO: KHIRBET AL-MAFJAR AND THE SIGNATURE LANDSCAPES OF THE JERICHO PLAIN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN LANGUAGES AND CIVILIZATIONS BY MICHAEL DEAN JENNINGS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JUNE 2015 i Copyright © 2015 by Michael Dean Jennings. All rights reserved. ii To Mom and Dad x 2 “Potrei dirti di quanti gradini sono le vie fatte a scale, di che sesto gli archi dei porticati, di quali lamine di zinco sono ricoperti i tetti; ma so già che sarebbe come non dirti nulla. Non di questo è fatta la città, ma di relazioni tra le misure del suo spazio e gli avvenimenti del suo passato.” “I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades’ curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling you nothing. The city does not consist of this, but of relationships between the measurements of its space and the events of its past.” Italo Calvino, Le città invisibili iii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF PLATES ......................................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ x ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. xii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE -- Modeling the Landscape of the Jericho Plain ............................................... 11 1.1 Landscape model -- introduction ........................................................................................ 11 1.2 Landscape model -- overview of the Jericho plain ............................................................. 13 1.3 Landscape model -- settlement zones ................................................................................. 18 1.4 Settlement typology ............................................................................................................ 30 1.5 Summary ............................................................................................................................. 34 CHAPTER TWO -- After Tell al-Sultan: a new urban signature ................................................. 36 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 36 2.2 Jericho’s urban core in historical and epigraphic sources .................................................. 40 2.3 Locating the new urban core ............................................................................................... 42 2.4 Archaeology of the urban core -- the Russian Museum site ............................................... 46 2.5 Archaeology of the urban core -- Tell al-Hassan ................................................................ 47 2.6 Tell al-Hassan Project (THP) 2012 excavations ................................................................. 53 2.7 Tell al-Hassan conclusions ................................................................................................. 66 2.8 Early Islamic Jericho -- continuity and continuation .......................................................... 68 2.9 Suburbs ............................................................................................................................... 74 2.10 Persistent landscapes ......................................................................................................... 83 iv 2.11 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER THREE -- Setting the Stage for Khirbet al-Mafjar: the development of satellite settlements on the Jericho Plain .................................................................................................... 88 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 88 3.2 Tulul Abu al-‘Alayiq and the Royal Estate: cash crop production in the Jericho plain ..... 91 3.3 Political/military aspects of Hasmonean development of the Jericho plain ....................... 99 3.4 Jericho and Roman Palestine ............................................................................................ 103 3.5 The formation of a Byzantine oasis: introduction ............................................................. 109 3.6 The Rise of Christian Jericho ............................................................................................ 112 3.7 Settlement Zones 4 & 5 -- Jericho’s monastic hinterland ................................................. 117 3.8 Monasteries and the economic landscape ......................................................................... 125 3.9 Monasticism and the political landscape .......................................................................... 129 3.10 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 131 CHAPTER FOUR -- Beyond the Wadi: Locating Khirbet al-Mafjar ........................................ 134 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 134 4.2 How to build an Umayyad palace ..................................................................................... 139 4.3 The Umayyad agenda in Jericho ....................................................................................... 148 4.4 Beyond the Wadi: Khirbet al-Mafjar as a settlement type ................................................ 174 4.5 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 178 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 181 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 191 APPENDIX 1 – CERAMIC FINDS FROM THP'12 ................................................................. 208 APPENDIX 2 – COIN FINDS FROM THP'12 .......................................................................... 214 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: General location of the Jericho plain ............................................................................... 1 Figure 2: Physical features and key sites of the Jericho plain ........................................................ 4 Figure 3: Aerial photo of Khirbet al-Mafjar and its surroundings .................................................. 7 Figure 4: Key physical features in the landscape model ............................................................... 13 Figure 5: Division of the landscape into ten zones of settlement ................................................. 18 Figure 6: Settlement zone key: Zone 1 ......................................................................................... 19 Figure 7: Settlement zone key: Zone 2 ......................................................................................... 20 Figure 8: Settlement zone key: Zone 3 ......................................................................................... 21 Figure 9: Settlement zone key: Zone 4 ......................................................................................... 22 Figure 10: Settlement zone key: Zone 5 ....................................................................................... 23 Figure 11: Settlement zone key: Zone 6 ...................................................................................... 24 Figure 12: Settlement zone key: Zone 7 ...................................................................................... 25 Figure 13: Settlement zone key: Zone 8 ....................................................................................... 26 Figure 14: Settlement zone key: Zone 9 ....................................................................................... 27 Figure 15: Settlement zone key: Zone 10 ..................................................................................... 28 Figure 16: Settlement zones easily watered by 'Ayn al-Sultan ..................................................... 29 Figure 17: Basic settlement types in hydrological and hydraulic context .................................... 32 Figure 18: General location of the urban core and surrounding features ..................................... 37 Figure 19: Jericho and Elisha's Fountain on the Madaba map ..................................................... 41 Figure 20: Modern Jericho overlaid with Byzantine and early Islamic evidences ....................... 43 vi Figure 21: Tell al-Hassan basilica ................................................................................................. 47 Figure 22: Tell al-Hassan and environs ........................................................................................ 51 Figure 23: THP'12