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South Jordan Iron Age II Survey and Excavation Project
Dr
Charlotte Whiting (CBRL Fellow)
Introduction
The aim
of the South Jordan Iron Age II Project (SJIAP) is to enhance our understanding
of the nature of Iron Age II settlements in southern Jordan as a springboard for
reassessing traditional models of social, economic, and political structures of
late Iron Age society in the region. By combining a macro-scale (regional) and
micro-scale (site-by-site) approach to allow a detailed contextual analysis of
the dynamics of individual sites and their local environs to be undertaken, the
goal is to develop alternative ways of understanding the Iron Age southern
Levant. These aims were pursued in 2004, 2005, and 2006 by excavations at
Khirbet el-Dabba - a late Iron Age site on the plateau between Showbak and Wadi
Musa - surface survey of the area surrounding it, EDM mapping of Iron Age sites
within the survey area, and detailed GIS work on the survey results.
The Site
Our
excavations at Khirbet el-Dabba have revealed a significant complex of late Iron
Age architecture very different in nature from other Iron Age sites in the area.
The site is 4.6 ha in size and comprises of a large round casemate wall
enclosure which intersects with a later rectilinear casemate wall system. The
walls are built of large flint blocks up to 2.5x1x1m in size and are preserved
up to five or six courses in places. The walls surround substantial stone-built
structural remains including at least two large-scale rectilinear buildings.
Except for Buseirah, most sites of
this period in southern Jordan comprise of clusters of simple rectilinear
structures without any large prominent structures or enclosure walls. Khirbet
el-Dabba in contrast represents something completely different – the presence of
two large casemate wall systems, in addition to at least two large-scale
rectilinear buildings within those walls, mark it as distinct. Although the
function of the site is not yet clear, Khirbet el-Dabba is clearly not just a
simple agricultural settlement and instead represents an unusual site in terms
of size, function, and complexity within the context of the Iron Age sites which
surround it. Detailed EDM mapping of Khirbet el-Dabba and other Iron Age sites
discovered during the SJIAP survey has produced excellent plans which can now be
effectively compared with architecture from the surrounding area and other
adjacent regions to elucidate these differences.
2004
- 2006 Excavation
Excavations
have revealed well-preserved Iron Age deposits allowing us to confidently date
the site to the late Iron Age (7th and 6th centuries BC)
on the basis of ceramics finds. Two trenches in particular revealed artefacts
lying in-situ on the floors of two of the rooms of the round casemate
wall. The finds comprised of partially complete vessels – including decorated
bowls and storage jars with stamped handles - various ground stone artefacts,
and fragments of horse figurines.
We have
paid special attention to sampling for archaeobotanical data from clearly
stratified contexts likely to contain carbonised plant remains. These remains
have the potential to provide data on the environment and agricultural
activities in and around the site during the late Iron Age. This is the first
time that such a study has been undertaken for an Iron Age site on the south
Jordanian Plateau. Carbonised botanical remains will also be submitted for
dating – thereby providing the first C14 dates for an Iron Age site on the
Plateau.
2004 - 2006 Surface Survey
In addition
to excavation, the project incorporated detailed surface survey of a 400km² area
surrounding Khirbet el-Dabba based on aerial photographs and satellite imagery.
The use of these resources to identify areas of interest for sampling proved
highly successful in this topographically complex landscape. It allowed not only
the discovery of previously unknown larger sites, but also of smaller remains
difficult to spot on the ground such as lithic and ceramic scatters associated
with ephemeral structural remains, field systems, long wall lines that criss-cross
the landscape.
An exciting
development of the survey was the discovery that the landscape in the survey
area is covered in thousands of large, rock-built rijm tumuli. Excavation
of these tumuli in the 2006 season showed that these structures are tombs; the
tumuli found in the SJIAP survey area therefore constitute a vast,
well-preserved, mortuary landscape hitherto unrecognized in southern
Jordan. Recording these tomb fields in more detail was an area of focus in the
2006 field season.
Preliminary Findings
Post-excavation analysis is currently underway, with studies of the ground
stone, lithics and small finds from Khirbet el-Dabba already completed. Studies
of the excavation pottery will take place during 2007, with a program of
INAA
analysis taking centre-place to attempt to elucidate Iron Age ceramic production
and distribution patterns on the south Jordanian Plateau.
Preliminary
analysis of the survey finds shows that the use of the landscape was intensive
from the Chalcolithic period onwards, with markedly different areas of the
landscape being exploited in different periods. Chalcolithic/EB activity is
widely spread across the landscape from the Wadi Arabah to the desert, located
mainly on wadi terraces and near water sources, but with very few visible
settlement remains. Iron Age activity is mainly focused on the plateau and in
the area leading down into the Wadi Arabah with a variety of site types located
on hilltops as well as in flatter agricultural areas. Iron Age activity in the
desert area is limited to areas with water sources. This is in contrast to the
Nabataean to Byzantine periods, when settlement expands into all areas with a
wide variety of settlement types not necessarily located near water sources.
Medieval and Ottoman settlements are without exception located near springs,
mainly off the plateau edge adjacent to the Wadi Arabah, but also on the
plateau. These early results are promising in terms of providing detailed
observations concerning landscape use and exploitation strategies through time
(e.g. field systems and water management), as well as varying economic,
communication, and settlement patterns across time and space, especially with
regard to the Iron Age II period.
It
is hoped that by providing a detailed, contextual body of data for the study of
the Iron Age in southern Jordan, this research will have implications for
modelling Iron Age society on both a local and a regional scale. At a local
scale, the research will investigate the nature of economic and social
structures at individual sites in southern Jordan. On a regional level, this
research offers the opportunity to evaluate new and alternative models for
understanding the nature of late Iron Age society in the southern Levant.
Publications
Whiting, C. (2005) The Southern Jordan Iron Age II Project.
CBRL Newsletter, 2005, 45-46
Whiting, C. and Porter, B.W. (2005) South Jordan Iron Age
II Pottery Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis Project, CBRL Newsletter,
2005, 46-47
Whiting, C. (2006) The South Jordan Iron Age II Project,
CBRL Bulletin, 2006, 36-38
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