RLP 2006 Season

The limestone formation required to form the type of karstic caves used by Chalcolithic peoples for burial is available in Jordan in the north Central valley in what is termed the Wadi es Sir formation. While sections of the northern plateau had been previously surveyed by archaeological teams, these surveys were not directed at cave sites and these sites require particular expertise to investigate.

Our season ran from Nov 5 – Dec 14 2006 and comprised a team of archaeologists and specialist cavers focusing primarily upon Wadi Yabbis/Rayyan [and tributaries] and the Wadi Kufrinja [and tributaries] because they both exhibit well-known archaeological sites of the period. We also investigated smaller wadis that lie between these major wadis (Wadi Hammam, Wadi Ain Zoubia, Wadi ez Zagh, Wadi Abu Leila, Wadi el Haruth/Rashid, Wadi Saufara).

Team

Dr Jaimie Lovell (Director)

Najeh Abu Hamdan (DoA Representative)

Dr Alex Wasse (Field Director)

Adam Evans (CIC Caver)

Frag Last (Caver)

Henry Rockliff (Caver, Industrial Rope Access Technician)

Jo Hardy (Archaeologist)

Iona (Kat) McRae (Archaeologist)

Matt Williams (Archaeologist)

Results

At the end of the 2006 season of the project we had 39 RL sites (i.e. registered) and 87 B (blank) caves. Of the 39 RL sites, 13 had late prehistoric material associated with them.

A 150 m long, thin cave in the Wadi Irjan (RL53) contained our most exciting find: two Bronze Age (?) copper alloy objects - an axe and a chisel. This cave has been well protected from exploration because access involves crawling through a tight squeeze for circa 5 m through to an area with "bad air" and a colony of bats. The copper objects were immediately visible because they were sticking out of the side of the passage and, due to decay, were bleeding green onto the surrounding rock. We sought special permission to remove the objects for the purposes of conservation. Immediately post-conservation it appeared that the objects corresponded to copper objects found in the 'Cave of the Treasure' in the Judean Desert, but metallurgical analysis by Lloyd Weeks (Nottingham University) shows them to be bronze. The cave is still an active cave today - it is wet and damp and unsuitable for habitation. It is most unlikely that this cave would have been used for anything other than storage or as a depository for the dead. Small niches in the sides of the passages showed evidence of human bone, and other finds of groups of polished stones suggest that the area was a repository for many different types of artefacts.

Another cave, located close to Rasun (RL54) revealed Neolithic material in the form of Yarmoukian jars cemented by carbonates into a passage below Middle Bronze and Iron Age material. This cave is circa 50 m across with small side passages (requiring further exploration) and accessible via a 12-15 m pitch.

In addition to this material we have a number of cave sites with evidence of Chalcolithic material bleeding out of them (e.g. RL58, 59 and 60), or in loose association with them. This is often complemented by material from earlier or later periods. These caves, however, exhibit no direct evidence for burial/ritual use. One or two have fragments of what might be ossuary vessels but these might equally represent something more generic.

We therefore have evidence for two types of cave use in the region:

generic cave use that may have involved burial - this is found largely in the lower foothills overlooking the ghor on the edges of the limestone outcrops; and

use of caves for caching of objects for storage or for some other reason.

RLP 2007 Season

The Wadi es-Sir limestone formation is also found in small sections of central/southern Jordan in the area from Kerak to Madaba - while sections of this region have been previously surveyed by archaeological teams, these surveys were not directed at cave sites. In addition, parts of this area have not been surveyed at all.

Our season ran from Nov. 4 - Dec. 13 2007 and comprised a team of archaeologists and specialists cavers, focusing primarily upon Wadi Mujib, Wadi Hidan and Wadi Zerqa/Ma'in (and tributaries) because they lie opposite some of the well-known caves in Israel and Palestine. In addition, we spent 2 weeks in our 2006 survey area (in the northern highlands) surveying additional areas and working with geologists Drs. S. Robinson (University College London) and S. Black (University of Reading), who sampled our caves for speleothem data.

Team

• Dr Jaimie Lovell (Director)
• Sate' Massa'dah and Khaled Tawarnah (DoA Representatives)
• Dr Alex Wasse (Field Director)
• Jo Hardy (Archaeologist)
• Frag Last (Caver)
• James Rhodes (Archaeologist, Caver, Industrial Rope Access)
• Henry Rockliff (Caver, Industrial Rope Access)
• Adam Spilaine (Caver, Industrial Rope Access)
• Lita Tzortzopoulou-Gregory (Archaeologist)

Results

While we initiated a programme of 'intelligence gathering' via local Bedouin in the area, we also began with a series of transects to randomly sample sections of our chosen wadis. There were many small caves, some requiring vertical access (i.e. ropes), and scatters of late prehistoric material on the slopes, but very few caves could be tied to material on these slopes and most were empty and considered blank. In addition, especially in the southern area of our survey, we encountered a number of open-air sites with Chalcolithic pottery that appear to be associated with a number of cairns. In total this season (north and south), we recorded 30 new RL sites and 170 blanks. What follows is a brief précis of the highlights.

The most promising site in the Wadi Mujib (west of the dam) was RL31, which required rope access and contained a ledge handle probably dating the the Late Neolithic. Nearby Bronze Age caves (RL67-8) and a further Late Bronze/Iron Age open-air site (RL69) were discovered on the opposite site of the wadi. In addition, the area west of the dam was further explored and resulted in RL36 and RL63 in a tributary wadi. None of these caves were more than 50m deep and none produced Chalcolithic pottery. To the east of the Mujib dam, we located the well-known Malaga cave (RL61). A dense scatter of multi-period artefacts suggests that the cave was used in the historic period in association with the nearby fort.

The largest cave in the Wadi Hidan (RL70) was approximately 20m deep and 20m wide. It contained potential prehistoric ceramics, although these are yet to be securely dated. A number of blank caves were located in this wadi, in addition to one small cave with microliths (RL40).

Further north, in the Zerqa/Ma'in area, an earlier Canadian survey had not found much. We therefore did our best to gain intelligence on possible caves in the Wadi es-Sir limestone belt that they did not focus on. A possible cave, with water running out of it (B177), was located but did not turn out to contain artefacts. We also walked transects in the Wadi around Ayn Jadida area, near Mt. Nebo, where large late prehistoric sites are known from Danish survey and excavation in the area.

Our initial impression of the cave use in the southern sector suggests that deep caves are not present in the Wadi Mujib/Hidan/Zerqa-Ma'in area, in direct contrast to the northern highlands, where large (by Jordanian standards) caves including Zoubia (RL5). While it is likely that late prehistoric people used the small caves in the area:

These have largely been cleaned out since that time; and

Cairn tombs, which are likely to date to the Chalcolithic/EBA on the basis of associated pottery, were probably the more common burial type in the area.

In addition to our work in the south, we spent two weeks in the northern highlands (our 2006 survey area) sampling speleothems from the deeper caves and surveying further territory around Tubna. Sites RL46 (Hanzeera) and RL47, a large Iron Age cave near Zoubia, were notable discoveries. We continued to find a number of blank caves, or heavily used caves, e.g. RL71.