The basalt desert (al-harra) east of the Early-Bronze Age I site of Jawa in north-eastern Jordan was, for a long time, considered to be populated only on a seasonal basis by nomadic pastoralists, if at all. However, recent explorations within the framework of the first phase of the Jawa Hinterland Project, which lasted until 2014, revealed substantial evidence for socio-economic activities in this region dating to the time between the 5th and early 3rd millennium BC. Among the discoveries, two sedentary hillfort sites, Khirbet Abu al-Husayn and Tulul al-Ghusayn (see CBRL Bulletin 2015), dating into the 4th millennium, have to be emphasized.
These discoveries initiated the launch of a second phase of the Jawa Hinterland Project funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG: MU 3075 3-1), which focuses on the evidence for a sedentary colonization of the harra in the Late Chalcolithic/ Early Bronze Age (4th millennium BC), characterized by permanently inhabited, fortified settlements partly associated with artificially irrigated terraced gardens. In April 2016 the second field season of this project was carried out with the initial plan to reinvestigate the hillfort site Khirbet Abu al-Husayn (KAH), which is located on the eastern edge of the harra and where visible architecture was documented in 2013. This time we planned to carry out small-scale excavations to gain information about possible dwelling structures and retrieve organic samples for 14C dating. However, flooded claypans on the way to KAH prevented us from reaching the site. Therefore, the fieldwork was relocated to Khirbet al-Ja’bariya, a hillfort site that was identified by the author on satellite images in summer 2015 and subsequently photographed from the air by the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (APAAME) project and the author in October 2015.
Khirbet al-Ja’bariya
Khirbet al-Ja’bariya (KaJ) is situated on a basaltic ridge at an elevation of c. 733 masl about 25 km east-south-east of Jawa (32.317736° N/37.280445° E), on the northern bank of the Marrab al-Ja’bariya, close to the section of the Wadi Rajil that is located between the Qa’ Shubayka and the Amman–Baghdad road. The investigations focused on the documentation and characterization of the site. Soundings and excavations were made in some of the dwellings to gain information on building techniques and obtain small finds and organic material for dating. Sediment samples were collected for sedimentological, archaeobotanical and phytolith analyses.
Fig. 1. Aerial photo of Khirbet al-Ja’bariyah with indication of gates, gardens and excavation/sounding areas (© W. Abu al-Azizeh and B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI Orientabteilung, based on photographs taken by APAAME).
Fig. 2. View of a section of the double-faced fortification wall (scale 0.5 m) (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI-Orientabteilung).
Fig. 3. View of the preserved inner face of a fortification wall section (scale 0.5 m) (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI- Orientabteilung).
Fig. 4. View through the northern gate (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI-Orientabteilung).
Fig. 5. Excavated dwelling with fireplace in the centre (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI-Orientabteilung).
Fig. 6. Excavated dwelling with grinding slabs in the roof debris (indicated by arrow) (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI-Orientabteilung).
Fig. 7. View on the row of gardens on the southern slope (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI-Orientabteilung).
KaJ is characterized by a fortified area on top of the ridge and dwelling areas and terraced gardens on the northern and southern slopes. The double-faced construction of the fortification wall is in large parts still preserved. The width of the wall varies between c. 1.10 m and 1.80 m. Masonry is visible in almost all sections of the wall, and in some sections the inner and/or the outer face masonry is preserved up to 2 m high.
Fig. 8. Possible Neolithic petroglyph showing a cheetah hunting an oryx (© B. Müller-Neuhof—DAI-Orientabteilung).
Fig. 9. Remains of a double-apsed dwelling structure on a site in the Wadi Ghusayn (©B. Müller-Neuhof–DAI-Orientabteilung).
The enclosed area on top of the ridge is characterized by a basalt outcrop and zones with no visible outcrops, which are sub-divided by low walls that are partly interlinked by doorways. Three gates were identified, of which the southernmost had collapsed. Winding access paths lead towards the gates. Interestingly, dwelling structures have not been encountered in the fortified area. Instead, dwellings are located on the southern and the northern slopes and at the foot of the ridge. The southern slope is characterized by a comparatively dense occupation with 28 mostly small, single roomed sub-circular dwelling structures with lengths between 3 and 5 m and widths between 1.80 m and 4.00 m. The upper part of the slope, just in front of the basalt outcrop on which the fortification wall is built, is characterized by four more or less adjoined garden terraces. Outlets on the southern side of the low terrace walls indicate the management of water flow derived from local precipitation in the immediate vicinity of the site. Remains of grinding stones on the surface of this occupation area and within the two partly excavated dwellings provide further evidence of agricultural activities and the processing of agricultural products.
Fig. 10. Map showing all identified fortified EBA settlements in the Northern Badia (©W. Abu-Azizeh–DAI-Orientabteilung).
Fairly diagnostic pottery fragments and lithic artefacts have been found on the surface of the site, but the soundings and small-scale excavations only produced a few lithic artefacts, all of them undiagnostic. Only grindings slabs and hand-stones were encountered in the excavated dwellings, where they had originally been placed on the presumably flat and mud plastered roofs. The excavations also revealed fire places with abundant charcoal material, which promise to be suitable for significant 14C dates. The northern slope is characterized by a sparse occupation density, consisting of six dwellings and a row of six gardens, which are located on the foot of this slope.
The dwellings, the fortification walls and, in particular the gardens have structural parallels at Jawa and Tulul al- Ghusayn, and tentatively date the site into the Early Bronze Age I period. This is supported by the diagnostic pottery and lithic artefacts found on the surface of KaJ. It is possible that at least the ridge was used in the Neolithic period, indicated by a petroglyph with a scene depicting a cheetah hunting an oryx (), as well as in post EBA periods, indicated by cairns within the fortified area on top of the site and Safaitic and Arabic inscriptions.
With the discovery of Khirbet al-Ja’bariya, which is now the fourth fortified hillside identified in the harra after Jawa, Khirbet Abu al-Husayn and Tulul al-Ghusayn, the hitherto common evaluation of the harra as an empty region in the 4th millennium BC, has to be revised. On the contrary, it seems that this region was quite densely occupied during that time. Although 14C dates are not yet available from Khirbet al-Ja’bariya and Khirbet Abu al-Husayn, the reoccurrence of certain site characteristics at these ‘hillforts’, including dwelling areas outside (Khirbet al-Ja’bariya, Tulul al-Ghusayn), small single-roomed dwellings (Khirbet al-Ja’bariya, Tulul al-Ghusayn, Jawa), and rainwater harvesting agriculture on terraced gardens in connection with an abundance of grinding stones (Khirbet al-Ja’bariya, Tulul al-Ghusayn, Jawa), as well as the similar character of the pottery and lithic remains from the sites, suggest they are contemporaneous, dating around the middle of the 4th millennium BC (Early Bronze Age I). However, there are other sites in the area. Unfortified settlements with small dwelling structures, mostly with a double apsidal layout in Tulul al-Ghusayn (see CBRL Bulletin 2015) and dated to the middle of the 4th millennium BC, have been identified on satellite images of the harra and also on the ground, e.g. in the Wadi Ghusayn in the eastern part of the harra. Moreover, satellite images and aerials photos revealed that the Roman fortress Qasr al-Usseikhim, which is located east of Azraq, was built on an EBA I hillfort site consisting of a fortification wall and double-apsed dwellings within the fortified area and on its southeastern slope. We can almost certainly assume that at least five fortified EBA I sites existed in the harra. These discoveries provide important information regarding the EBA colonization of this region, but, more importantly, the identification of mid-4th millennium BC fortified settlements in the harra fuels the debate on the emergence of fortifications in the Levantine EBA, previously understood to be located in the southwestern Levant and chronologically placed during the EBA II.
This research was funded by the German Research Foundation.