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A Late Roman Pastoralist Ironworking Site in the North-Eastern Black Desert, Jordan
Abstract
IN: Drawing the Threads Together - Studies on Archaeology in Honour of Karin Bartl. Edited by Alexander Ahrens, Dörte Rokitta-Krumnow, Franziska Bloch and Claudia Bührig. Münster: Zaphon, pp. 209-225.
... The extensive basalt boulder fields of this harra landscape make any kind of movement through it difficult, but past environmental conditions in the region may not have been as desolate as today. Historical ecological data from the desert are still extremely scarce, but there is evidence that conditions were episodically wetter and greener in the past than at present (see Akkermans 2019; Akkermans & Brüning 2020;Huigens 2019). The immensely rich archaeological record of the basalt expanse suggests more favourable environmental conditions in the past, which would have supported an abundant population of peoples in the area in antiquity (Kennedy D 2011). ...
... Ostrich eggshell, limestone, and sandstone may have been locally acquired and worked. Iron was definitely worked in the harra in the late Roman period, and an earlier production cannot be excluded (Akkermans & Brüning 2020). Other goods probably arrived as part of exchange networks, in the form either of raw materials or as final products. ...
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 50, 1-17. Burial cairns dot the basaltic uplands of north-eastern Jordan, yet these graves have never been investigated systematically. This situation is now changing. Current excavations in the Jebel Qurma region, close to the borders of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have focused on the numerous cairns as well as their complex histories of use. This project identified different types of burial, including ring cairns, round and apsidal tower tombs, and cist graves. Radiocarbon dates, OSL dates, and grave inventories date the cairns to the Bronze Age and, in particular, the Iron Age. Through extensive survey and excavation in the area, this paper brings to light entirely new insights into the mortuary practices of Jordan’s north-eastern badia.
... The extensive basalt boulder fields of this harra landscape make any kind of movement through it difficult, but past environmental conditions in the region may not have been as desolate as today. Historical ecological data from the desert are still extremely scarce, but there is evidence that conditions were episodically wetter and greener in the past than at present (see Akkermans 2019; Akkermans & Brüning 2020;Huigens 2019). The immensely rich archaeological record of the basalt expanse suggests more favourable environmental conditions in the past, which would have supported an abundant population of peoples in the area in antiquity (Kennedy D 2011). ...
... Ostrich eggshell, limestone, and sandstone may have been locally acquired and worked. Iron was definitely worked in the harra in the late Roman period, and an earlier production cannot be excluded (Akkermans & Brüning 2020). Other goods probably arrived as part of exchange networks, in the form either of raw materials or as final products. ...
Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 50, 1-17.
Burial cairns dot the basaltic uplands of north-eastern Jordan, yet these graves have never been investigated systematically. This situation is now changing. Current excavations in the Jebel Qurma region, close to the borders of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, have focused on the numerous cairns as well as their complex histories of use. This project identified different types of burial, including ring cairns, round and apsidal tower tombs, and cist graves.
Radiocarbon dates, OSL dates, and grave inventories date the cairns to the Bronze Age and, in particular, the Iron Age. Through extensive survey and excavation in the area, this paper brings to light entirely new insights into the mortuary practices of Jordan’s north-eastern badia.
The Safaitic rock art of Jordan’s Black Desert is a fascinating yet under-examined subject. In this contribution, I discuss the representations of weapons in the rock art of the Jebel Qurma region in north-east Jordan. Additionally, I will give an overview of the material evidence of weaponry produced by recent excavations in the region’s burial cairns. Detailed visual analysis distinguished four categories related to weaponry in the rock art: bows, pole weapons, swords/daggers, and shields. Patterns in the use of these objects vary for each category. Most notable are the firm association of lances with riders on animal-back, and the archers that are predominantly depicted on foot.
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In: Peter M. M. G. Akkermans (ed.) 2020: Landscapes of Survival - The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Jordan’s North-Eastern Desert and Beyond, Sidestone Press (Leiden), pp. 305-316.
The arid and desolate, basalt-strewn uplands of northeastern Jordan have been perceived as the natural home of pastoralist communities, which lie on the very fringes of the early urban polities of the eastern Mediterranean. However, current fieldwork in the area has revealed the presence of many and diverse sites from the late prehistoric to the early historic periods that were finely tuned to their harsh environment. Some of these sites include rich assemblages, including rock art and inscriptions on stone. This paper investigates the hunter-herder communities that successfully exploited the “margins” in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. It is argued that these desert populations were forced into obscurity by the Roman military intrusion in the region in the third century CE.
Microstructural Characterization and Conservation Treatment
- Archaeometallurgical Finds
- Northern Barsinia
- Jordan
Archaeometallurgical Finds from Barsinia, Northern Jordan: Microstructural Characterization and Conservation Treatment, Journal of Cultural
Heritage 13, 314-325.
- G O Rollefson
- Y M Rowan
- A M R Wasse
- A C Hill
- M M Kersel
- B -Lorentzen
- K Bashaireh
- J Ramsay
Rollefson, G. O. -Rowan, Y. M. -Wasse, A. M. R. -Hill, A. C. -Kersel, M. M.
-Lorentzen, B. -Al-Bashaireh, K. -Ramsay, J.
2016 Investigations of a Late Neolithic Structure at Mesa 7, Wadi al-Qattafi,
Black Desert, 2015, Neo-Lithics 1/16, 3-12.
Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project Archive Report (unpublished)
- Jordan Jebel Qurma Bone Samples
Jordan Jebel Qurma Bone Samples, Jebel Qurma Archaeological Landscape Project Archive Report (unpublished), Leiden.
Stiebel, G. D. -Magness, J.