Piotr Bienkowski

Burton MacDonald

Russell Adams

Jordan is a country with a very long and fascinating history that is strikingly documented by archaeology. A major introduction to this region, detailing each phase of Jordan's archaeology and history in a series of chapters specially written by leading experts, this title also includes sections on individual topics, such as ecology and architecture. Illustrated with numerous line drawings, maps and photographs, this comprehensive reference work should be useful for anyone engaged with the history and civilization of this region of the Middle East.

The Archaeology of Jordan

Burton MacDonald presents an in-depth study of the archaeology and history of human presence over the past five-six thousand years in the southern segment of the Transjordan/Edomite Plateau and the Dead Sea Rift Valley to the west. The evidence from archaeology for the area spans the entire period though the time for which literary evidence is available is only the past 4000 years, from the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1550 BC). Once literary evidence is available, however, it complements the archaeological record and, as can be amply demonstrated, the written records can be clarified only through the archaeological data. These two sources are, thus, used to describe environments, resources, industries, settlement patterns, and the lifestyles of the inhabitants of this pivotal region. The result is a “story” of the people who lived in the area from the Bronze Age through the Islamic period. What is evident is that there were differences in certain archaeological periods in settlement patterns, as well as lifestyles, between those who lived on the southern segment of the Plateau and those who lived in the Dead Sea Rift Valley or in the lowlands immediately to the west. Moreover, it is obvious that when there were periods of trade and industry, for example, the spice trade and copper mining and processing, the population of the area was higher. Stable governance brought about growth in population and prosperity. But other factors also played their part in these ebbs and flows of population: climatic fluctuations affecting the availability of water and arable land; the development and adoption of new technologies in farming practices, raw material extraction and industrial methods, processes and transportation; and political change resulting in periods of relative stability and instability in government.

The Bronze Age to the Islamic Period (3800/3700 BCAD 1917)

The Southern Transjordan Edomite Plateau and the Dead Sea Rift Valley

Geoffrey A. Clark

Hani Hayaineh

Larry Herr

Jurg Eggler

D. Scott Quaintance

"The objectives of the Shammakh to Ayl Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan project were: to discover, record, and interpret archaeological sites in an area of approximately 590 km 2 between Shammakh in the north and Ayl in the south in the southern segment of the Transjordan Plateau; to determine the area's settlement patterns from the Lower Paleolithic (ca. 1.4 mya) to the end of the Late Islamic period (AD 1918); to investigate the Pleistocene (as late as ca. 10,000 B.C.) sediments and lakes in the eastern segment of the survey territory; to document the many farms, hamlets, and villages that provisioned the major international sites of the area, for example, Ash-Shawbak, Petra, and Udhruh; to investigate further the Khatt Shabib or Shabib's Wall, a low stone wall running in a generally north-south direction through the area; to record the inscriptions, rock drawings, and wasms (tribal brands) within the area; and to link up with previous work that the project director and others have carried out in southern Jordan. These objectives were accomplished by the transecting of 108 random squares and the documenting of 366 sites that range in date from the Lower Paleaolithic to the end of the Late Islamic period. Analysis of the materials, primarily lithics and sherds, collected in the random squares and at the sites indicate that the area experienced its highest density of population during the Middle Paleolithic, Neolithic/Chalcolithic, Iron II, Nabataean and Roman, Byzantine, and Late Islamic periods. Relative to the settlement patterns of the area, it can be concluded that the area was a rural one where the chief activities were agriculture and pastoralism. The many farms, hamlets, villages, and camp sites documented show that the area most probably provisioned, during various archaeological periods, the major international sites of the area. The project has particular relevance for understanding the major site of Petra during the Nabataean, Roman, and Byzantine periods. In addition, it is important relative to the site of Udhruh during these three periods plus the Early and Late Islamic periods and the site of ash-Shawbak, located immediately to the north of the project's territory, during the Middle Islamic period. Finally, the project contributed to the writing of the archaeological history of southern Jordan from Wadi al-Hasa in the north to Ras an-Naqab in the south and from the desert on the east to the international border between Jordan and Israel on the west"--Amazon.com.

The Shammakh to Ayl Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan (2010-2012)

Larry G. Herr

Michael C. A. Macdonald

Presented here are the results of the ARNAS project, a systematic survey of the southern segment of the Transjordanian Plateau, that is, the Edomite Plateau. Encompassing the region from the village of Ayl in the north to the edge of the escarpment at Ras an-Naqab in the south, members of the ARNAS team investigated the settlement patterns of this region beginning with the Lower Paleolithic (ca. 1.4mya) and running up to the end of the Late Islamic period (AD 1918). Although segments of the ARNAS territory have been investigated for the past one hundred years, a comprehensive and systematic survey of the area had never been undertaken prior to the work of the ARNAS team members. The main goal of the project was to discover, record, and interpret archaeological sites within the survey territory.

The Ayl to Ras An-Naqab Archaeological Survey, Southern Jordan (2005-2007)

Annotation Archaeologist McDonald presents the history of the identification of an array of biblical sites and offers his own suggestions for site locations based of information from the biblical texts, extra-biblical literary information, toponymic considerations, and archaeology. Some of the specific sites examined in this book include the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; the Exodus itineraries; the territories and sites of the Israelite tribes, such as Reuben and Gad; as well as Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Gilead. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Burton MacDonald

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