Mount Nebo Research Articles

The Mediating Effect of Tourists’ Satisfaction on the Relationship Between Destination Image and Tourists’ Loyalty: A Study of Selected Archaeological Sites of Jordan

Tourism has become an essential sector for the economy of many countries. The tourism industry in Jordan has been rapidly developing due to its unique and remarkable assets, such as Petra, the Dead Sea, and Mount Nebo. This study aimed to investigate the mediating effect of tourists' satisfaction on the relationship between destination image and tourists' loyalty in selected archaeological sites of Jordan. A conceptual model was developed based on previous empirical studies, and data were collected by distributing questionnaires to a random sample of 380 tourists who visited archaeological sites in Jordan specifically: Petra, mount Nebo, The Dead Sea and The Baptismal site. The findings of this study revealed that destination image had a significant impact on tourists' satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, tourists' satisfaction mediated the relationship between destination image and tourists' loyalty. The study also found that tourists' satisfaction had a significant impact on their loyalty towards the archaeological sites. These findings suggest that enhancing the destination image and improving tourists' satisfaction can lead to increased loyalty towards archaeological sites in Jordan. The study provides valuable insights for managers of archaeological sites to develop effective strategies for improving the tourism industry in Jordan, the most important of which is to focus on developing the destination image through promoting the unique historical aspects for the archaeological sites, as well as increasing the marketing efforts toward them, and creating a digital map for archaeological sites that would help tourists to explore and access these sites easily, in addition to improving the quality of services, facilities and infrastructure to meet the expectations of tourists and enhance their satisfaction.

A Shrine to Moses: A Reappraisal of the Mount Nebo Monastic Complex Between Byzantium and Islam. By Davide Bianchi. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Science Press, 2021. 240 pp. 46 color & b/w plates, 1 map. €148.00 paper.

A Shrine to Moses: A Reappraisal of the Mount Nebo Monastic Complex Between Byzantium and Islam. By Davide Bianchi. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Science Press, 2021. 240 pp. 46 color & b/w plates, 1 map. €148.00 paper.

Mount Nebo and the development and the end of an era: Jacinto Convit (1913-2014) and Francisco Kerdel-Vegas (1928-2020)

In the second half of the 20th century, an important series of scientific and sociopolitical events took place in Venezuela. These developments were related to changes in the world and particularly in the United States. In dermatology, beneficial and marked advances germinated and grew. They were propelled in Venezuela by particular characteristics in the local development of this specialty and critically by personal features of two major leaders, Dr Francisco Kerdel-Vegas, who died June 18, 2020, at the age of 92, and Dr Jacinto Convit, who died in 2014 at the age of 101. The interaction of these two cooperating leaders and the scientific and social environment with which they acted are presented.

Sustainable Tourism Development in Jordan. Measuring Customer Satisfaction of American Tourists Visiting Petra and Mount Nebo in Jordan

This study investigates the effect of selected factors on the choice of tourist sites in Jordan. These selected factors form the basis for the satisfaction level of American tourist visiting Petra and Mount Nebo. The selected factors are chosen based on the perception of quality of services by American tourists who are focused on three main factors of “destination services” related to “accommodation, facilities at destination and the travel agency”. The opinions and feedbacks of the tourist guides were analysed to provide more insight into the satisfaction level of the American tourist. Specific questionnaires were distributed among American tourists via 10 travel agencies to gather data. Besides, all the tourist guides who supported this study were interviewed for cross-checking purposes. The findings suggested the Americans were generally satisfied with their vacation to Petra and Mount Nebo except for cleanliness at the nearby towns and the sites. This paper seeks to provide data on the satisfaction level of American tourists and the factors that need to be prioritized to enhance higher level of customer satisfaction. This will further improve the destination services for a particular tourist site. Besides, stakeholders need to further improve their tourism aspects to enhance tourist satisfaction.

Enchanted Ground: The Spirit Room of Jonathan Koons by Sharon Hatfield

The mediumship of Jonathan Koons is much less well-known than that of the Fox sisters, though during the 1850s his Spirit Room at Athens, Ohio, became a desirable destination for Spiritualists keen to seek contact with the spirit world. There they experienced a wide variety of phenomena that would shortly become staples of the movement. Local resident and nonfiction author Sharon Hatfield has made a painstaking examination of Koons’s life and career based on the available evidence, setting it in the context of the developing religion of Spiritualism.
 Koons was born in Pennsylvania in 1811. He moved to Mount Nebo–actually a large hill in Athens County, southeastern Ohio, in the foothills of the Appalachians–in 1835, where he farmed and became patriarch to a sizeable family. In his youth he had had a mystical experience involving a ‘visit to the realm of light’ which led him to believe he had met an angel. Originally Presbyterian, he abandoned the religion as he found its Calvinism uncongenial, becoming as he put it an ‘infidel’. He lacked a formal education but read widely.
 In early 1852 he encountered reports of the Fox sisters’ mediumship and decided to investigate the subject. He attended séances and, initially skeptical, was told he himself had a gift. Trying it, he found a new religious faith. He also discovered that other members of his family, particularly his eldest son Nahum, had mediumistic abilities. After a while, they were told by Spirit to build a dedicated room to hold about 20-25 people, indicating that séances were to include more than his immediate friends and family. Koons duly built a log cabin on the farm to the given specifications and furnished it, including with musical instruments, as instructed. The stage was then set for public séances.

Commingled crypts: Comparative health among Byzantine monastics in the Levant.

Early Byzantine (A.D. 330-842) monastic rules stipulated that entrants relinquished familial connections, personal belongings and secular relationships to become part of the ascetic collective that continued in death, resulting in bioarchaeological marginalization, as was the case of the monastics excavated from the Chapel of Robebus at Mount Nebo, Jordan (ca. A.D. 491-640). It was hypothesized that compared to contemporary monastic groups, the Mount Nebo monastics experienced poorer health and gravitated to Mount Nebo, owing to its association with the Prophet Moses and proximity to the Dead Sea, Livias baths and Jordan River, all associated with curative benefits, especially for those suffering from leprosy. The commingled remains of 73 adult males from Mount Nebo and the articulated skeletons (n = 27) from the Sanctuary of Agios Lot at Deir 'Ain 'Abata (Jordan) were assessed for paleopathology, then compared with a contemporary commingled group from the Monastery of Saint Euthymius at Khan-el-Ahmar (Judean Desert) (n = 117). No skeletal evidence of leprosy was observed among the groups. Most Mount Nebo individuals did not reach an older age, yet injuries, severe osteoarthritis, lower leg osteoperiostitis and antemortem tooth loss were common. The paleopathological profile was similar at Deir 'Ain 'Abata, but paleopathology was negligible at Khan-el-Ahmar. The similar paleopathological profiles of the Jordanian monastic groups suggest that the proximity to the Dead Sea may have attracted monastics to both sites, in addition to spirituality, but leprosy was not a factor based on the skeletal evidence.

The monastic mosaic at Mount Nebo, Jordan: biogeochemical and epigraphical evidence for diverse origins

Abstract

Site of Jesus Baptism: From Discovery to World List Heritage

The Baptism Site “Bethany beyond the Jordan” (Al-Maghtas) is located in the Jordan RiftValley, north of the Dead Sea between two major sites Jerusalem to the west, and Mount Nebo to the east. The site was discovered during 1996,excavations revealed the presenceof threedistinct archaeological areas on the eastern bank of Jordan River, first,Tell al-Kharrar, also known as Jabal Mar Elias (Elijahs Hill) second, the area of the Monastery with its Large Pool, and third,Churches of St. John the Baptist. “Bethany beyond the Jordan” is of immense religious significance to the majority of denominations of Christian faith all over the world, who have accepted this site with its architectural remains and arts as the location where Jesus of Nazareth was baptized by John the Baptist. This reference encouraged generations of monks, hermits, pilgrims, priests and believers to reside in and visit the site, and to leave behind testimonies of their devotion and religious activities, dating to between the 1st and the 18th century AD.At present, the site has regained a popular status as pilgrimage destination for Christians, who continue to engage in baptism rituals on site. The site has gained the recognition of various churches around the world as World List Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2015 and considered as the actual site where early believers formed the early community of Christianity. The recovered architectural remains such as churches,mosaic floors,caves, andwater system,represent a majorcomplex built during Byzantine Period to commemorate sacred events for early believes.Since the excavations completed during 2002,the site has been extensively developed by the joint ofJordan Ministry of Tourism and Department ofAntiquities, but sensitively so - visitor numbers are controlled and the Visitors' Centre has been located at some distance from the site in an effort to preserve its sanctity. Other facilities include a restaurant, parking, and new churches werebuilt in the Baptism Sitefor praying.

Eli Don't Hunt

Eli Don't Hunt Castle Freeman Jr. (bio) I had no choice, Jane liked to tell her friends. Nobody else would come.Why not? Deer season, said Jane. Deer season. Of course. Nobody would come. Nobody could. Nobody was around, I was told. Who told you? The deputy. Deputy … Deputy … What's his name, again? ________ Treat. It was Deputy Treat who set Jane straight. She had walked into the kitchen with her shopping, found the small round hole in the middle of one of the glass panes in the window over the sink. She called the sheriff's number. They said somebody would be along. Jane waited in the front room. She wouldn't wait in the kitchen. The hole in the glass was level with her eyes as she stood at the window. She showed it to the deputy. She knew what it was. "That's a bullet hole, isn't it?" Jane asked Treat. "I'd say so." Treat turned and looked around the kitchen, up and down. The hole in the window glass was about the size you could pass an ordinary pencil through. There were glass crumbs on the sill and in the sink. Two long cracks went like spokes from the hole to the woodwork around the window pane. "The window's finished," said Jane. "Part of it, anyway," said the deputy. "That glass will have to be replaced." "Sure will." "I'll have to get somebody out here." "Why?" asked the deputy. "Look, you get a new piece of glass, drop it in there. Points. A little putty. Done. Put your husband on it. You've got a husband, don't you?" "As a matter of fact," said Jane, "no. I'll have to call somebody." "Good luck," said the deputy. "Good luck? What do you mean?" "Good luck getting anybody. Today. This week, the next couple of weeks. Nobody's around." "Not around? Where are they?" "Everybody's in camp." [End Page 99] "What camp?" "Deer camp. This is deer season, you know." "I guess I'd forgotten," said Jane. "You bet," said Treat. "Rifle season. First day, today. Everybody's at deer camp. They're hunting. Nobody's around. Look there." He stepped across the kitchen and bent to the floor at the wall opposite the window. He picked something off the floor, put it on the counter beside the sink. A small copper-colored cone, a little lopsided at the apex. "That's the bullet?" Jane asked. "Just lying there, on the floor?" "Sometimes they kind of run out of juice, bullets," said Treat. "No telling where a bullet will end up." "I stand at that window," said Jane. "I'm at the sink right there. Every day. It could have killed me." "It could have, but it didn't. You weren't here." "I'll call Arthur. Arthur Tavistock. Do you know him?" "Artie? Sure." "He once came and fixed a window upstairs that the ice broke. Artie Tavistock. He could fix this." "I don't doubt he could, except for what I said: he's in camp. He's in camp up on Mount Nebo with Cola and them." "What about O'Hara? Rory O'Hara? He's a builder, isn't he?" "He is. But he's up at camp with the others. He and Cola are cousins." "What am I supposed to do, then?" "I don't know what to tell you," Deputy Treat said. "Well, but, wait a minute. One thing you could do. You could try Eli." "Eli? Eli Adams?" The deputy nodded. "Call Eli," he said. "Why call Eli? Isn't he in deer camp with the rest?" "Eli don't hunt," said Treat. He grinned. "Never has. His old lady don't let him. Or, she didn't." ________ "Eli? Eli's like the village idiot, isn't he?" asked Bram. "The village idiot?" "Isn't he? You're talking about Eli Adams, right?" "Of course he's not the village idiot," said Jane. "What a thing to say. What gave you that idea? Now, it's true, Eli probably didn't go to Princeton. But, then, neither did you...

The Discovery of Gharabaa Byzantine Caravanserai, Near Site of Jesus Baptism-Jordan River

Field archaeological survey in Jordan Valley on the eastern bank of Jordan River recovered architectural Byzantine remains of Gharabah caravansaries, close to site of Jesus Baptism along the historical pilgrim's route from Jerusalem to Mount Nebo. The main objective of this article is to shed light on the importance of the recovered architectural remains& to link the site with other newly discovered stations along the pilgrims route from Bethany Beyond the Jordan to major Byzantine sitessuch assite of Jesus baptism. By systematic excavations, data analysis and comparative studies the work concluded in revealing two large water pools connected to each other by a long canal, and a major structure consists of a number of rooms and otherassociated facilities The discovery of Gharabah caravansaries considered as a progress step toward identification of lost pilgrims stations during the Byzantine Period from 4th - 6th AD.

The <i>Book of Ruth</i> in the time of the Judges and Ruth, the Moabitess

This article addresses two issues in the Book of Ruth that have not yet received much scholarly attention: why is the narrative plotted in the time of the judges, whilst the time of narration dates to the postexilic period, and why is one of the protagonists Ruth, the Moabitess, whilst the law in Deuteronomy 23:3�4 (HB 4�5) clearly forbids the presence of Moabitess and Ammonites in the community of YHWH? A suggestion is made that a possible explanation to both these questions may be found in tensions regarding Israel�s identity in the Second Temple period. Two different yet not completely opposite viewpoints are illuminated: that of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah who envisioned an exclusive Israel that is construed along genealogical and religious lines, and that of the Book of Ruth where solidarity with the people of Israel and the worship of YHWH are embraced by foreigners. Both sides are concerned about the identity of Israel and loyalty to YHWH, yet they employ a different jargon in order to argue for the inclusion or exclusion of foreigners. Furthermore, Ezra and Nehemiah consider mixed marriages as a serious threat to Israel�s identity, and they justify the expulsion of foreign wives on the basis of the Book of Moses. According to the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses interpreted the Torah for the children of Israel at Mount Nebo in Moab: Moab thus functioned as an interpretive space for the Torah. The Book of Ruth proposes an alternative interpretation of the Torah, also from the plains of Moab and the exegesis comes in the person of Ruth, the Moabitess.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article challenges the point of view that the Book of Ruth is a charming narrative of loyalty and love. Research reveals that this Book is a polemic document and its main contribution is to the intradisciplinary field of biblical hermeneutics that requests a re-interpretation of texts for changing circumstances.

The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng: A Millennium of Adaptation and Endurance eds. by Anson H. Laytner and Jordan Paper

Reviewed by: The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng: A Millennium of Adaptation and Endurance eds. by Anson H. Laytner and Jordan Paper Rene Goldman (bio) Anson H. Laytner and Jordan Paper, editors. The Chinese Jews of Kaifeng: A Millennium of Adaptation and Endurance. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2017. vii, 270 pp. Hardcover $105.00, isbn 978-1-4985-5026-0. The volume reviewed here is the latest English language compilation of studies on the subject of the Chinese Jews to have been published over a period of three quarters of a century. The monumental three-volume compilation Chinese Jews: A Compilation of Matters Relating to the Jews of K'aifeng by the Canadian Anglican bishop of Kaifeng William C. White, published in Toronto in 1942, stands out as the first of its kind. A subsequent anthology that stands out is Jonathan Goldstein's two-volume The Jews of China. In addition to these collections of scholarly articles produced were comprehensive, multilingual bibliographies, authored by Rudolf Loewenthal, Michael Pollack, and the most complete of all: Donald D. Leslie's Jews and Judaism in Traditional China: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Any study of the Jewish presence in China would need to take into consideration the historical existence of the two kinds of Jewish presence in China: (1) That of Chinese Jews properly speaking, of whom a uniquely ancient community survives in the city of Kaifeng in Henan province. These bear Chinese surnames, are fully Chinese in culture, yet retain a Jewish identity in the sense that some of them call themselves Chinese Jews, while others regard themselves as Chinese with Jewish ancestry. (2) Jews in China. This category includes descendants of Mizrahi Jews from Iraq and India, who settled in Shanghai in mid-nineteenth century in the wake of British colonial expansion; Ashkenazi Jews, a major part of whom fled the pogroms of Russia, and who settled in Harbin, Shanghai, and Tianjin; and Jewish refugees mainly from Germany and Austria fleeing from the Holocaust. The first two chapters delve into the origins of the Jewish presence in China: Nigel Thomas investigates the early commercial activities of Jewish merchants traveling the Silk Road of the Steppes, while Erik Zürcher traces a historical overview of eight centuries of the Chinese diaspora. In the Tang and Northern Sung periods there existed Jewish communities in six or seven Southern port cities, of which scarcely a trace remains other than mentions of contacts between them and their Kaifeng brethren. A fortuitous encounter between Matteo Ricci, founder of the Jesuit mission in Beijing in 1605, and Ai Tian, a Chinese-Jewish candidate to the examinations for the mandarinate arriving from Kaifeng, revealed to Europe the existence of this remote, isolated community. In the following century this community received visits from several Jesuits. It had by then briefly recovered from the [End Page 282] devastation inflicted in the 1640s by the rebel Li Zicheng, a flood of the Yellow River, and then the Manchu invasion and founding of the Qing dynasty. Among the leading figures of the community at that time were two outstanding brothers, both mandarins and recipients of the jinshi or highest degree, both learned in Hebrew and in Chinese: Zhao Yingdou, who authored a guide to the moral precepts of Judaism entitled "Preface to the Illustrious Way," and Zhao Yingcheng, whose book "Vicissitudes of the Holy Scriptures" gave an account of the destruction of the city and the synagogue, and of their reconstruction and the repairing of the Torah scrolls saved from the flood, under his guidance. Alas, neither book survived the disintegration of the community and of its religious life in the nineteenth century. The Kaifeng Jews left no written documents other than four historical inscriptions engraved on stone stelae, a memorial book, and a few inscriptions from the synagogue. Moshe Bernstein devotes an admirable chapter to Zhao Yingcheng and proposes that his Hebrew name Moshe was richly deserved, for like the Biblical Moses who led his people to the Promised Land, Moshe Zhao repatriated the Jewish survivors of the calamities that befell Kaifeng to their home town. Unlike Moses who died a venerated elder on Mount Nebo, Moshe Zhao led in reconstruction but resigned from his...

Population response of reintroduced bighorn sheep after observed commingling with domestic sheep

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) often die from respiratory disease after commingling with domestic sheep. From 2000 to 2009, we observed commingling between domestic and reintroduced bighorn sheep in 3 populations in UT, USA. We investigated how commingling affected survival of radio-collared female bighorns that were released initially (founder) and those that were subsequently released (augmented). We predicted that the proportion of young surviving to their first winter and population growth would be lower after observed commingling with domestic sheep. We observed groups of bighorns year-round on 2,712 occasions and commingling between domestic sheep and bighorns in 6 instances. On Mount Timpanogos, survival rates were best modeled as constant for females (n = 57) before and after observed commingling with domestic sheep. Survival rates of female bighorns, however, decreased significantly in Rock Canyon (n = 21) and on Mount Nebo (n = 22) for founder, but not augmented bighorns after observed commingling with domestic sheep. Also, the proportion of young surviving to their first winter was almost 3 times lower and population growth was reduced for bighorns after observed commingling with domestic sheep in Rock Canyon and on Mount Nebo. Commingling between domestic and bighorn sheep reduced population parameters in 2 of 3 bighorn populations we studied; however, on Mount Timpanogos, interactions between those 2 species were not fatal for radio-collared female bighorns. Wildlife biologists should manage for spatial separation of these 2 species and consider the location of hobby farms and trailing operations of domestic sheep near release sites for bighorns.

Lot's Wife on the Border

In January or February of 384c.e., the Christian pilgrim known to us as Egeria left Jerusalem, where she had been based, and headed east. According to her own account, she felt impelled by God to climb Mount Nebo. With her traveled “some holy men from Jerusalem, a presbyter and deacons, and several brothers (monks).” The trip, which took them through Jericho and Livias, went very well. Her guides were able to point out further local sites, and, after some instructive detours, they reached their goal. Mount Nebo was high and steep, but the group of pilgrims, now swollen in number by the addition of local monks, made the climb successfully. Close to the summit they found a church commemorating the site of Moses's death. After a short service consisting of readings from Scripture and prayers, the local holy men asked Egeria if she would like to see “the places which are described in the Books of Moses.” This proposal “delighted” her, and together they climbed up to the actual summit.

Unified until Proven Disunified?: Assumptions and Standards in Assessing the Literary Complexity of Ancient Biblical Texts

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)Serge Frolovs response to Philip Yoo's article on Deuteronomy 34 purports to expose [the] source-critical approach as self-contradictory and to raise serious doubts about its [source criticism's] epistemological validity. I argue here Frolov's article does nothing of sort. Instead, both Yoo's and Frolov's articles show how a researcher's specific assumptions-whether those of Yoo or of Frolov himself-can limit researcher's analysis. Yoo stratifies Deuteronomy 34, a text Frolov rightly states has never been pivotal to source-critical project, based on a set of assumptions derive from his specifically Neo-Documentarian approach. Frolov's response discards all source-critical assumptions and presents a somewhat harmonizing, inductive reading of Deuteronomy 34 smooths over some mild problems within chapter itself and also its contrasts with some other biblical traditions.1Yoo begins with an unstated assumption Pentateuch was created out of four source documents, and he moves on to state three of sources-J, E, and P-included an account of Moses' and he is open to probability D includes a death account of Moses.2 This is his sole reason for assigning two words reporting Moses' death, ... (and Moses died; 34:5*), to all four sources.3 In most other cases (including rest of 34:5), Yoo assigns parts of Deuteronomy 34 to J, E, D, and P by comparing these parts of Deuteronomy 34 to other pentateuchal passages assigned by him to these four sources as they are contained in a database of assignments of pentateuchal texts to J, E, D and P he does not give in his article. For example, Yoo (following others) assigns Moses' ascent of Mount Nebo in plains of Moab in 34:1a to P based on its connections to Deut 32:49, a verse Yoo assigns to P but which many other contemporary source critics would not.4 Sometimes he adds additional arguments. For example, he presupposes a complete source analysis of Pentateuch (not given or referred to in article itself) in arguing description of Joshua's succession to Moses in Deut 34:9 cannot be assigned to J because of the lack of mention [in J] of a character named Joshua up to this point.5 Furthermore, he notes connections of 34:9 to P materials anticipating this laying on of hands in Num 27:18,23, while arguing 34:9 is not compatible with description of Moses' commissioning of Joshua in 31:7 (assigned by Yoo to D) and Yhwh's commissioning of Joshua in 31:14, 23 (assigned by Yoo to E). Finally, a major assumption for Yoo is that R, whenever possible, fully preserves and uses his sources,6 and this leads him to make sure his source assignments connect with each other as much as possible and produce maximally readable texts.In sum, Yoo presupposes Deuteronomy 34 is a conflation by a redactor (R) of four sources found across rest of Pentateuch-J, E, D, and P-each of which is preserved virtually completely across Pentateuch, whose parts can be recognized primarily through similarity to other parts of same source (as analyzed by Yoo), along with occasional conflicts of parts of Deuteronomy 34 with other pentateuchal source materials (as assigned by Yoo). Since Yoo neither gives nor cites an overview of pentateuchal source texts are basis of his analysis, it is ultimately impossible for any reader of his article (without access to his source database) to verify crucial parts of his argument (the distribution of criteria, plausibility of source attributions used to derive them, absence of certain features from a source) or his general claim Pentateuch is created out of four sources by a redactor who preserved them almost completely.7Frolov is not as explicit about his assumptions as Yoo, but his article appears guided by one major premise, briefly stated in a footnote, that it is methodologically sound to follow Bible's default framework as long as it is possible. …

Late Antique Pilgrim Monasteries in Galilean Loca Sancta

From its early stages, monasticism was related to pilgrimages due to the crucial role that the monks played in looking after the needs of pilgrims, either secular or religious. The inextricable link between pilgrims and monks is attested in many holy sites in Palestine, both in deserted and inhabited landscapes. Jerusalem and its hinterland, together with the pilgrim roads that lead to Mount Nebo in the east, Mount Sinai in the south and Egypt in the south-west, were dotted with dozens of pilgrim churches that were served and maintained by monks whose activities are documented both in literary sources and archaeological finds. Although there are almost no written sources mentioning a pilgrim monastery in Galilee, archaeological excavations have uncovered remains of monasteries in sites such as Sepphoris, Nazareth, Magdala, Tabgha, Capernaum and Kursi. It seems that the area of Galilee on the pilgrim map of Late Antiquity was much more significant than is apparent from the itineraries of early Christian pi...

On the Orientation of Megalithic Monuments of the Transjordan Plateau: New Clues for an Astronomical Interpretation

Orientation studies have recently received considerable attention in the archaeological domain as a source of information that may shed light on a number of anthropological issues, such as belief systems or landscape and territory understanding by past cultures. This is especially important in those cultural contexts, such as the megalithic phenomena, where there are no written sources. Megalithic monument orientations can in many instances be explained only within an astronomical context, as has been shown by extensive archaeoastronomical fieldwork surveys and by statistical approaches to the problem.'Most of the surveys so far have been concentrated on the western Mediterranean and the European Atlantic facade. However, in present day Jordan, on the plateau to the east of the Jordan River valley are some of the largest and most attractive groups of dolmens in the Levant.2 These stand comparison with the best exemplars of the West (see Figure 1). There have been a couple of preliminary attempts to analyse the orientation of these groups, but nothing systematic or conclusive has been produced so far.3This is especially troubling because specialists are now faced with the rapid destruction of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's megalithic heritage, due to the building expansion which has converted several of the zones where the necropolises are located - and even the themselves - into gigantic quarries, so as to obtain stone for construction and urban development. Figure 2 illustrates the situation. Being partially aware of this,4 the authors planned a rescue campaign in the field in December 2011 to document the precise orientation of as many dolmens as the circumstances would permit, in a number of conspicuous and well documented necropolises.Since the nineteenth century, the British Palestine Exploration Fund has carried out archaeological surveys and expeditions on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, around the main ruins of Rabbat Ammon, the modern Amman, and in the area situated just south of Hauran, along the present Syrian border. The expeditions led by C. Irby and J. Mangles along the Jordan River,5 by C. R. Conder near Amman and in the Madaba areas,6 and by G. Schumacher in the north,7 along the Wadi Yarmuk down to Ajlun, recognized and depicted hundreds of archaeological sites with many dolmen fields between them. These monuments, called by the first English surveyors rude-stones monuments were immediately associated with the western European dolmens and inserted in a general prehistoric period. Irby and Mangles, for example, compare the Dahmiyeh dolmens with those seen in Kent, calling the megalithic structures Kitt's Cotty House.8 Conder, when he described the dolmen fields of Amman, Wadi Hesban, Al Mureighat, Mount Nebo, Wadi Jedid and other megalithic necropolises now vanished along the Dead Sea, sketched all the structures and took precise measurements of the stone slabs. Schumacher, during his travels in the Hauran and Golan regions, to the east of the Galilee Sea and along the Yarmuk river, described hundreds of dolmens in the sites of Ain Dakkar and Tsil, collecting data on the dimensions of the stone slabs and speaking with the Bedouins about the megalithic structures, called by them kubur beni IsraiV? the tombs of the Israeli children. Schumacher mentioned a lot of small fragmentary bones inside the dolmens of the Hauran region, interpreted by the Bedouins as the bones of these people, but he believed they were animal rather than human remains.In none of these early expeditions was pottery collected or attempts made to excavate the monuments, so the question of their dating remained unresolved for many years. The first systematic excavations of a dolmen field were made in the twentieth century. Because of the expansion of the modern city of Amman, the dolmen field in this area was rapidly excavated.10 The second dolmen field excavated was the necropolis of Adamiyeh, to the northwest of Madaba, located close to the important Late Chalcolithic site of Tuleilat al Ghassul. …

Una nuova immagine di Davide da Khirbat al-Mukhayyat? Riflessioni intorno al mosaico pavimentale superiore della cappella del prete Giovanni

The article proposes a new interpretation of the mosaic floor on the upper chapel of the priest John in Khirbat al-Mukhayyat near Mount Nebo. After having studied the numerous hunting scenes and venations of late antiquity, it is proposed that the figure of the shepherd with the sling be identified with David, according to the iconography created in the 4th century in the West and repeated many times in paleochristian art production. Inspired by the new proposed reading, it is then argued that among the Christian mosaic scenes of Jordan, paying particular attention to the two places of worship in Umm al-Rasas (namely the church of bishop Sergius and the church of Lions, in which in addition to the representation of the miracle of the healing of the paralytic and of the Phoenix), it would be possible to trace another image of David with the sling.

LOOKING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS: IDENTIFYING PATTERNS IN COLES CREEK MORTUARY DATA

While the lack of grave goods has been the focus of most scholarly discussion of Coles Creek burial practices, the mortuary analyses presented here focus on recognizing correspondences among sex, age, and burial position. Using assemblages from three Coles Creek sites (Greenhouse, Lake George, and Mount Nebo), I find that while there is significant intersite variability among Coles Creek mortuary programs, certain age groups are consistently treated differently from each other and from everyone else. Thus interments were being made with deliberate care and consideration for those involved and are not nearly as haphazard and disorderly as previously thought.

Fr. Michele Piccirillo, 1944–2008

For many of us it will be hard to imagine Mount Nebo without the presence of Fr. Michele Piccirillo, whose connection with the site commenced in 1968 and continued for more than 40 years. Fr. Piccirillo was a Franciscan priest, an archaeologist and epigrapher, but most of all a man of vision, who gained the trust of local people and the respect of the scientific community through his academic work, his humanitarian and educational efforts, and his strong opinions. Born in Casanova di Carilona near Naples in 1944, Michele Piccirillo joined the Franciscan order in 1960 and was ordained in 1969. He was posted to the Custody of the Holy Land (Custodia di Terra Santa), and studied at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF) in the Monastery of the Flagellation in Jerusalem, becoming curator of the SBF Archaeological Museum in 1974. His defence of a thesis on Iron Age ceramics from Israel and the Palestinian territories at the Institute of Near Eastern Studies at La Sapienza University (Rome) in 1975, gave no indication that his future life would be devoted to Christian archaeology and to the study of mosaics in particular. In 1973 Fr. Piccirillo started work in the village of Nebo, with the conservation of the Diakonikon of the 7th-century AD memorial Church of Moses on Mount Nebo. Work here led to the discovery of a mosaic floor of 6th-century date, that was unique not only in its artistic content, but also through important inscriptional evidence that provided a glimpse of Byzantine society in the region. Although his initial fieldwork was undertaken at Mount Nebo and Khirbet al-Mukhayyat, Fr. Piccirillo worked continuously in the city of Madaba, discovering the Hippolytus Hall, the Burnt Palace (containing mosaics of 6th-century date), and the Church of the Virgin Mary (7th century), which collectively gave rise to the reputation of Madaba as ‘The City of Mosaics’. This work culminated in a conference commemorating the centenary of the Madaba Mosaic Map which was held in co-operation with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, and which underlined the importance of Christianity in the region during Umayyad and Abbasid periods. Subsequent work undertaken at Umm al Rasas revealed the presence of several important churches, among which was discovered the superb mosaic floor of the 8th-century AD Church of St Stephen, which depicts the walled cities of Jordan, Palestine and Egypt, and which confirmed the town as one of Jordan’s key world heritage sites. Fr. Piccirillo played an important role in education, teaching at both the Studium Biblicum Francescanum in Jerusalem, and at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. His willingness to share his knowledge was reflected in his supervision of several theses in archaeology, in general, and mosaic studies, in particular, and in his contribution to the training and development of local specialists. He fully understood the value of the mosaics that he discovered, as objects of historical, cultural and religious value, not only for Jordan but for the whole region. This led him to organize individuals and institutions to create the first centre for mosaic conservation and restoration, which was intended to develop young specialists with a keen interest in, and awareness of, their heritage. As a result of these efforts, the Madaba Mosaic School was opened in 1992, becoming the Madaba Institute for Mosaic Art Restoration in 2007. Combining the skills of the School’s students, the staff of the Department of Antiquities and Italian restoration specialists, Fr. Piccirillo succeeded in undertaking several major conservation and restoration projects. In the year 2000 he opened the Jericho Workshop, a twin of the Madaba Mosaic School, intended to train young Palestinians to restore, protect and maintain their mosaic floors within the Palestinian territories. To enhance the experience of a new generation of researchers, and foster an atmosphere of friendship and shared responsibility Catreena Hamarneh; email: cataron49@yahoo.com