Mohammad Najjar

Early Bronze Age metallurgy: a newly discovered copper manufactory in southern Jordan

Recent excavations in southern Jordan have revealed the largest Early Bronze Age (c. 3600-2000 BC) metal manufactory in the ancient Near East. On-site Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyses of the finds provide new evidence concerning the scale and organization of metal production at a time when the first cities emerged in this part of the Near East. Materials and lead isotope analyses of the metallurgical finds provide important data for reconstructing ancient metal processing and for identifying trade networks.

High-precision radiocarbon dating and historical biblical archaeology in southern Jordan

Recent excavations and high-precision radiocarbon dating from the largest Iron Age (IA, ca. 1200–500 BCE) copper production center in the southern Levant demonstrate major smelting activities in the region of biblical Edom (southern Jordan) during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE. Stratified radiocarbon samples and artifacts were recorded with precise digital surveying tools linked to a geographic information system developed to control on-site spatial analyses of archaeological finds and model data with innovative visualization tools. The new radiocarbon dates push back by 2 centuries the accepted IA chronology of Edom. Data from Khirbat en-Nahas, and the nearby site of Rujm Hamra Ifdan, demonstrate the centrality of industrial-scale metal production during those centuries traditionally linked closely to political events in Edoms 10th century BCE neighbor ancient Israel. Consequently, the rise of IA Edom is linked to the power vacuum created by the collapse of Late Bronze Age (LB, ca. 1300 BCE) civilizations and the disintegration of the LB Cypriot copper monopoly that dominated the eastern Mediterranean. The methodologies applied to the historical IA archaeology of the Levant have implications for other parts of the world where sacred and historical texts interface with the material record.

The beginning of Iron Age copper production in the southern Levant: new evidence from Khirbat al-Jariya, Faynan, Jordan

The authors have explored the workplace and house of copper workers of the early Iron Age (twelfth to tenth century BC) in Jordans Wadi Faynan copper ore district, showing that it belongs in time between the collapse of the great Bronze Age states and the arrival of Egyptians in the area under Sheshonq I. They attribute this production to local tribes – perhaps those engaged in building the biblical kingdom of Edom.

Architecture, sedentism, and social complexity at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A WF16, Southern Jordan

Recent excavations at Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) WF16 in southern Jordan have revealed remarkable evidence of architectural developments in the early Neolithic. This sheds light on both special purpose structures and “domestic” settlement, allowing fresh insights into the development of increasingly sedentary communities and the social systems they supported. The development of sedentary communities is a central part of the Neolithic process in Southwest Asia. Architecture and ideas of homes and households have been important to the debate, although there has also been considerable discussion on the role of communal buildings and the organization of early sedentarizing communities since the discovery of the tower at Jericho. Recently, the focus has been on either northern Levantine PPNA sites, such as Jerf el Ahmar, or the emergence of ritual buildings in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B of the southern Levant. Much of the debate revolves around a division between what is interpreted as domestic space, contrasted with “special purpose” buildings. Our recent evidence allows a fresh examination of the nature of early Neolithic communities.

Ghwair I: A Small, Complex Neolithic Community in Southern Jordan

Abstract The past several years have witnessed exciting developments in defining the transition to food production in the Near East. In particula1; the documentation of large mega-sites has caused considerable revision in our comprehension of the trajectory of early Neolithic village life. At the same time, recent excavations at smaller villages have also provided considerable new data. One such site is Ghwair I, a small but exceptionally preserved Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) village located in the Wadi Feinan of southern Jordan. This paper summarizes the results of interdisciplinary archaeological investigations at Ghwair I, One of the projects primary research objectives was to examine if a “rural” and “turban” (or “core/periphery”) distinction could be made between Ghwair I and mega-sites. Our findings suggest that Ghwair I was not a peripheral village linked to larger sites. Rathe1; it was an unexpectedly complex settlement that may have served as a local regional center. we also sought to precisely define the sites chronology, artifactual variability, village development, and social structure. Our results show that Ghwair I isfirmly dated to the Middle PPNB; that artifactual diversity and variability is considerable, especially amongst chipped and ground stone; that the village became increasingly complex throughout its occupation; and that social o1lJanization was sophisticated as reflected by artifacts, burials and both residential and non-residential architectural features. Finally, initiated an ecologicalstudy to determine if small settlements such as Ghwair I caused the same negative efficts as have been proposed for some larger sites. The evidence here is ambiguous, but does not suggest the same degree of human effict as at larger settlements. This paper concludes with a discussion of Ghwair Is place within the wider Neolithic world.

Some Thoughts on Khirbet En-Nahas, Edom, Biblical History and Anthropologya Response to Israel Finkelstein

Abstract Israel Finkelsteins recent comments inTel Aviv regarding our paper on the Iron Age excavations at Khirbet en-Nahas in southern Jordan contain numerous misinterpretations of the data. This short response outlines why those comments are erroneous. In particular, we describe why the formation of complex societies in Iron Age Edom did not occur under Assyrian tutelage.

Terrestrial laser scanning (LiDAR) as a means of digital documentation in rescue archaeology: Two examples from the Faynan of Jordan

Traditional rescue archaeology has focused on the rapid excavation or the cursory documentation of endangered archaeological sites, typically in urban settings. However, when the archaeologist is in remote field situations and encounters an endangered site or a recently exposed robbers pit, little documentation is typically possible in the short time available to pursue such fortuitous projects. This leads to the loss of a significant amount of potentially useful cultural heritage data. With the advent of new point cloud technologies, more data can now be collected to preserve endangered sites prior to, or even during, their destruction. Over the 2011 field season of the University of California, San Diegos (UCSDs) Edom Lowlands Regional Project (ELRAP) in the Wadi Faynan of Jordan, two day long rescue archaeology projects, at Khirbat Faynan and Umm al-Amad, were undertaken utilizing terrestrial Light Detecting and Ranging (LiDAR) as their primary documentation tool. Such rapid documentation was possible with the aid of several modifications to the standard laser scanning equipment, which not only allowed the equipment access to the tight spaces these projects entailed, but required that fewer scans be taken than with traditional laser scanning. The use of free-station scanning also significantly decreased the amount of time needed for data capture in the field. However this increased the amount of post-processing and potential human registration error. The data sets created via “Rescue LiDAR” now preserve a detailed record of these two sites. This data would have been lost to posterity had rapid and adaptable scanning technology not been available.

Khirbat Nuqayb al-Asaymir and Middle Islamic Metallurgy in Faynan: Surveys of Wadi al-Ghuwayb and Wadi al-Jariya in Faynan, Southern Jordan

Khirbat Nuqayb al-Asaymir, in the Faynan region of southern Jordan, is one of the best-preserved Middle Islamic–period copper production sites in the southern Levant. Two seasons of survey in Wadi al-Ghuwayb and Wadi al-Jariya revealed much about the site and the landscape surrounding it, which during the Middle Islamic period was exploited primarily for mining and pastoral activities. The finds from these surveys, focusing on those collected at Khirbat Nuqayb al-Asaymir, are presented here. A new model explaining the revival of copper mining and smelting activities in Faynan during the Middle Islamic period, linking copper from Faynan to the expanding Jordanian sugar industry, is also proposed.

Ancient texts and archaeology revisited ― radiocarbon and Biblical dating in the southern Levant

The Iron Age sequence in the southern Levant is one of the most evocative and provocative in ancient history, since it coincides with events remembered in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). The authors show how a scientific chronological framework can be created and contribute an independent voice to the historical debate. They also show that, if archaeology is to complement history, such a framework requires an especially rigorous application of precision, in context definition, data handling and Bayesian radiocarbon dating, and urge such application to forthcoming work at the key Biblical site of Megiddo.

Death and architecture: The Pre-Pottery Neolithic A Burials at WF16, Wadi Faynan, Southern Jordan

The neolithic of the Levant marks the earliest appearance of sedentary farming communities in the world. The transition from hunting-gathering to farming began between 20,000 and 10,500 years ago, the latter marking the start of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period, during which domesticated cereals, sheep, and goat begin to appear (Kuijt & Goring-Moris 2002 ). Whether there was a relatively rapid transition during the preceding PrePottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period (11,700–10,500 BP), perhaps as a response to the dramatic global warming that marks the end of the Pleistocene, or a more gradual emergence arising from long-term subsistence intensifi cation during the Epipalaeolithic (20,000–11,700 BP) remains an issue of contention (for general reviews see Mithen 2003 ; Barker 2006 ) . It is undisputed, however, that the transition to sedentary farming lifestyles encompassed all aspects of economy, technology, architecture, social organisation, ideology, and ‘culture’ in the widest possible sense. Archaeological evidence indicating that attitudes towards life and death were transformed as part of this process should not be surprising as the harvesting and then sowing of domesticated crops are fundamentally related to manipulating the process of regeneration. The documentation and interpretation of Epipalaeolithic, PPNA, and PPNB mortuary evidence is inevitably constrained by the quality and quantity of data available. This is notably limited for the PPNA period, which many see as the critical phase of transition from hunter-gatherer to farming lifestyles. In this contribution, we present new evidence concerning PPNA mortuary practices from the site of WF16 in southern Jordan. The number of burials located at this settlement is unusually high for a PPNA site. It stands at around forty burials found within the limits of the excavation ( Table 6.1 ), but the total number of burials must be higher, considering the spatial and stratigraphic extent of the unexcavated part of the settlement. The excavation report is still undergoing preparation, and osteological analysis has yet to be undertaken. As such, any interpretation of this data set remains both incomplete and provisional. But even from the evidence currently available, WF16 contributes greatly towards our knowledge of PPNA burial and the transformation in mortuary practice across the hunter-gatherer–farming lifestyle transition in southwestern Asia. We will show that the relationship between the living and the dead at WF16 was defi ned not only by the different ways in which the people were treated at death, but also through diverse attitudes towards their remains for a prolonged period post-mortem. The roles played by memory, curation, secondary intervention, and manipulation of human remains created multiple layers of mortuary practice at WF16, which was also part of the life of the settlement itself, with real consequences for its living community. This is best seen through the manner in which the dead continued to be part of the settlement through careful choreography of burials, the treatment of the human remains, and the repeatedly changing architectural make-up of the settlement the burials were positioned within.