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Decapolis
... Nysa-Scythopolis belonged to a group of Graeco-Roman cities that were supported by the Hellenistic dynasties -first the Ptolemies and later the Seleucids -and these cities later formed a group named Decapolis (Tal, 2011;Lichtenberger, 2020). One of the major formation phases of these cities was in the time of Antiochos IV, who founded several towns in the region in the 160s BCE (Lichtenberger, 2008). ...
Fragments of wall paintings retrieved from Hellenistic Tell Iẓṭabba (Nysa-Scythopolis), an archaeological site located in the area of the Beth She'an Valley (Israel), are the subject of this study. This research aims to characterize the plaster and color pigments of wall paintings retrieved from the site in order to gain new information concerning their nature, their origin and the technologies that were used to paint the walls of a Hellenistic settlement in the Near East. For that purpose, visual testing inspection, XRF, SEM-EDS, and XRD analyses were applied combined with archaeological and geographical data. As the site was founded in the 160s BCE and destructed in 108/07 BCE, the material analyzed is not only stratigraphically well-secured but also well-dated to the mid-second century BCE. The walls of the dwellings under discussion were painted by the fresco method and the white-hued plaster was made of calcium carbonate matrix with embedded aggregates. The red and yellow paints were identified as red and yellow ochre pigments, respectively. The brown paint was a mixture of red ochre, yellow ochre, magnetite mineral and carbon black-based pigments. The black paint was identified as carbon black-based pigment. The pigments were mixed with fine plaster powder. The plaster and pigments were most likely regionally (if not locally) produced and supplied and provide us with information about the technical knowledge of the inhabitants of the Seleucid settlement.
... Jerash, ancient Gerasa, formally founded in the wake of Alexander the Great's eastern conquest, was one of the numerous urban centres in the Levant (Kennedy, 2007;Kraeling, 1938;Lichtenberger and Raja, 2018a;Zayadine, 1986). As part of the Decapolis (Lichtenberger, 2020) a group of Hellenized citiesit stimulated the spread of, first, Greek and then, Roman culture throughout the region and was an important centre for administrative, economic and religious purposes. The city thrived as an urban site for more than 900 years during the Roman, Byzantine and Early Islamic periods before a catastrophic earthquake in AD 749 brought a stop to almost all activity Raja, 2018b, 2020a). ...
Past peoples left behind preciously little for us to reconstruct their daily lives and histories. However, some types of archaeological material stand the test of time better than others thanks to their durability and ubiquity, and foremost among them: the ceramic evidence. Pottery often serves as a proxy for the reconstruction of a variety of aspects of a past life: the wealth of city inhabitants, the function of spaces (Smith, 1987), cultural transmission between craftsmen (Coto-Sarmiento et al., 2018) or trading interactions (Brughmans and Poblome, 2016). However, to take full advantage of the wealth of information that can be derived from pottery evidence it is essential to use robust analytic methods establishing the full distribution in ceramic use and discard and its evolution over time.
Here, we present a comprehensive data analysis of ceramic material coming from the Northwest Quarter of Jerash, present-day Jordan. It is one of the first examples of full quantification of an archaeological site of this age in the region. More than 625 000 pieces of pottery have been collected, recorded and analysed. We describe the process of data preparation, cleaning, exploratory analysis and statistical examination as well as visual-isation. All steps of data analysis have been undertaken in the Python scripting environment making the process entirely transparent, reproducible and reusable for other researchers. We showcase how full quantification combined with quantitative analysis can lead to detection of significant trends in pottery evolution over centuries and enable robust comparative studies in the region and beyond.
Jordan has a complex history that has left tangible traces in numerous archaeological sites scattered throughout the country. This unique heritage of inestimable cultural value must be documented, thoroughly researched, and protected in order to prevent its destruction and loss. In this context, knowledge and documentation can be achieved through the application of non-destructive geophysical and geomatic methods. This work represents a synthesis of the results of twenty years of projects carried out at the archaeological sites of Basta, Petra, Um-Hamat (Karak), Umm ar-Rasas, Wu’Ayra, Madaba, and Shawbak. This study enables the exploration of new buried structures in the ground and the documentation of the state of preservation of the structures. It provides an up-to-date overview of Jordan’s rich archaeological heritage and supports restoration projects.
The paper deals with civic coinages in the Southern Levant during and after the first Jewish revolt. It traces the increase of mint output and looks at the coin iconography. The impact of the Judaea Capta coins on the local coinages has long been recognized, but this paper discusses less explicit reflections of the revolt. Some of the coinages evoke Roman victory. These images, which have never been systematically studied, underline the regional impact of the conflict. Furthermore, regional variations appear; e.g., the cities on the coast responded differently to the events than cities in Galilee or in the Decapolis.
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