Northeastern Jordan Research Articles

Water Influx Impact on Oil Production in Hamzeh Oil Reservoir in Northeastern Jordan: Case Study

This paper was conducted to delimit the water influx in the Hamzeh oil reservoir, located in northeastern Jordan approximately 150 km east of Amman. Petroleum reservoirs are frequently encompassed by water aquifers that back up the reservoir pressure through water inflow. When the pressure declines in a petroleum reservoir, the water aquifer responds by providing an influx of water. Gradually, the damage is reduced and then eliminated, and more oil is produced from the reservoir. The material balance equation (MBE) is used as the fundamental method for this study, predicting reservoir performance for a period of 11 years. The results for this study prove that the reservoir has a water drive mechanism and that the original oil in place (OOIP) was 24,958,290 m3. The projected oil recovery factor ranges from 10.9 to 25 percent for the Hummar and Shueib formations, respectively, depending on the areal efficiency assumed in the calculations. The water influx for the 11-year period was predicted by an MBE, an unsteady-state model, and the results of the performance reservoir.

The Ḥarrah’s epigraphic heritage: new safaitic inscriptions from the Black Desert in north-eastern Jordan and a Greek inscription referring to Zeus Kyrios

This paper publishes six new inscriptions discovered at three different sites within the Ḥarrah desert in north-eastern Jordan during the 2017 and 2018 seasons of the BES (Badia Epigraphic Survey). The first text is a five-line Greek inscription referring to the god Zeus Kyrios ‘Zeus the Lord’ a form of Zeus whose cult was popular in the Ḥawrān and whose name is recognized as masking that of Baalshamin. The text is authored by a person bearing the Arabic theophoric name of Amrosamsos (Mrʾs²ms¹), who describes himself as ‘the Goareian’, in reference to a district of ‘Arabia’ mentioned in Greek literary sources. The five Safaitic inscriptions are by nomadic tribesmen from the kin groups of the ʿwḏ and Qmr, some of whom are already known from other Safaitic inscriptions. These texts provide us with two new Safaitic verbs (ytm ‘to become an orphan’ and ndy ‘to invoke’), as well as with the first example of a member of the ʿwḏ tribe who refers to his service in a ms¹rt ‘military unit’.

P-Wave Velocity of Limestone Influenced by Saturation: Experimental Study

This study aims to investigate the variation of P-wave velocity as a function of water saturation. In addition, by using a regression analysis, a predictability of saturated P-wave velocity from dry P-wave velocity and rock's hardness has been examined. In order to perform this study, one hundred cylindrical rock core samples, fifty samples each obtained from Ruweished in northeastern Jordan and from Ajloun in northwestern Jordan, have been extracted and prepared with a height of 20 cm and a diameter of 10 cm. P-wave velocity has been measured five times in each sample in dry and saturated states and the average value has been taken. The results indicate that the water saturation leads to an increase of the P-wave velocity, where the increase in more porous samples is less than what has been found in slightly porous samples. Moreover, the saturated P-wave velocity can be predicted through strong statistical models, which link the saturated P-wave velocity with dry P-wave velocity and hardness.

Mineralogy, geochemistry, and stable isotope characteristics of barite deposits from Wadi El Mingar, North Eastern Jordan

Mineralogy, geochemistry, and stable isotope characteristics of barite deposits from Wadi El Mingar, North Eastern Jordan

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well as modern alterations to the landscape including road construction and looting pits. We documented thousands of previously unrecorded and largely unknown prehistoric structures, providing an improved understanding of major shifts in the prehistoric use of this landscape.

The Duties and Tasks of the Desert Patrol in the Northeastern Badia Posts in 1933-1938 AD. (The diary of a Jordanian soldier as a Source)

This study deals with the duties and tasks assigned to the Badia forces in the posts located in the northeastern Jordan Badia region, during the years 1933- 1934 AD and 1937-1938 AD, based on an unpublished primary source, a notebook (Diary), written by hand, and belonging to one of the Desert Patrol soldiers. Using the diary, the study showed the set of tasks that the desert forces performed during that period, including: monitoring the northeastern borders of the Emirate of Transjordan, arresting infiltrators and smugglers, guarding the IPC pipeline, settling disputes between clans, among other tasks. The study followed the analytical historical approach based on extracting information and data from this primary source, analyzing and classifying them, with regard to the subject of the study, in addition to relying on other sources and references.

Old Arabic Minutiae I: ḥattā, laysa, and More from the Inscriptions of the Syro-Jordanian Ḥarrah

Abstract This is the inaugural paper of a series on material attested in ancient North Arabia inscriptions that is of particular importance to the history of Arabic, its linguistic context, and its development and classification. The article edits eleven Safaitic inscriptions, inscribed on seven stones, discovered during the 2019 Badia Survey in Northeastern Jordan. Most of these texts attest new grammatical and lexical features that shed important light on this shadowy phase of Arabic’s pre-Islamic history, including attestations of the subordinating particle ḥt (= ḥattV), the negator ls (= laysa), possible nūnation, and idioms that appear later in the Qurʾān, e.g. tmny h-mt ‘he wished for death (in combat)’ (cf. Qurʾān tamannūna l-mawta).

Assessing the uniaxial compressive strength and tangent Young’s modulus of basalt rock using the Leeb rebound hardness test

Basalt was used as an ornamental stone in any historic and ancient cities in Jordan. Measuring the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and the tangent Young’s modulus (Et) in the laboratory requires premium quality specimens with special core dimensions. This research focuses on correlations both UCS and Et with Leeb Rebound Hardness Test (LRH). In the laboratory, UCS, Et, and LRH were performed on 90 core samples extracted from 30 different rock boulders collected from the neighboring area of Umm al-Jimal, a historic city in northeastern Jordan. A strong power correlation with (R2 = 0.888, RMSE = 5.464) was found between non-destructive LRH value and UCS. On the other hand, a moderately strong linear regression with (R2 = 0.792, RMSE = 4.661) was found between Et and LRH. In conclusion, non-destructive LRHs can be used as indictors for evaluating both UCS and Et during the restoration of the historic city Umm al-Jimal and the rehabilitation of other existing structures.

Drones over the “Black Desert”: The Advantages of Rotary-Wing UAVs for Complementing Archaeological Fieldwork in the Hard-to-Access Landscapes of Preservation of North-Eastern Jordan

The increasing availability and sinking costs of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, has resulted in these devices becoming relatively commonplace on archaeological sites. The advantages of being able to rapidly obtain bespoke high-resolution images from the air are conspicuous to anyone familiar with archaeological fieldwork; meanwhile the possibilities of subsequently processing such images together with their metadata to obtain digital elevation models (DEMs) and three-dimensional (3-D) models provide additional bonuses to analysis and interpretation. The recent use of a rotary-wing drone by the Western Harra Survey (WHS), an archaeological project co-directed by the author in the “Black Desert”, or Harra, of north-eastern Jordan, showcases these advantages in the context of a landscape that (a) is subject to negligible transformation processes and (b) is difficult to access, both by vehicle and on foot. By using processed drone imagery to record in detail prehistoric basalt structures visible on the surface and their surroundings, morphological site typologies hypothesised from satellite imagery were confirmed, relative dating within sites ascertained, structural features and damage documented, spatial relationships to natural resources established, offsite features traced, modern threats to heritage catalogued, and practically inaccessible sites investigated. Together, these results, most of which were only obtainable and all of which were obtained more rapidly by using a drone, represent significant insights into this underrepresented region, and provide a case-study for the benefits of these devices in other landscapes of a similar nature.

Tribes and space in the Syro-Arabian ḥarrah as revealed by the Safaitic inscriptions (ca. 1st century bc to ca. 4th century ad)

Some 2,000 years ago, the nomadic pastoralists who inhabited the basalt and limestone deserts of what is now southern Syria, northeastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia, became literate and cover...

Microfacial Study, Fossil Assemblages and Depositional Environment of Wadi As Sir Limestone Formation, Jordan

This paper studies the microfacies, fossil contents, and the depositional environment of Wadi As Sir Limestone Formation exposed in the Al-tayyar area Zarqa Governorate, Northeastern Jordan. A total number of 35 samples were collected from a 30 m thick quarry section and used to prepare 35 thin sections. Some samples were washed over a 63 μm sieve, oven-dried at 50°C, sieved, and picked for benthic foraminifera analysis. Microscope analysis used to describe the microfacies and fossil contents. Four microfacies types and four lithological units are distinguished and described from the bottom to the top; the chalky unit (Unit-1) composed of bioclastic wackestone and biomicrite microfacies, and the dolomitic unit (Unit-2) immediately is existed above unit 1 composed dominantly of bioclastic mudstone and biomicrite microfacies. Marly limestone (Unit-3) is the following upwardly unit composed of bioclastic packestone and biosparite Microfacies, and the uppermost unit is limestone (Unit-4) consisted of bioclastic grainstone and biosparite microfacies. The fossil contents that were recognized in the studied thin sections and samples; bivalves, gastropods, pelecypods, cephalopods echinoderms, radiolarian, stromatoporoids, bone fragments, Saccaminopsis sp., Cibicidoides sp., Cibicides sp., Cyclammina sp., calcareous algae (Koninckopora and gymnocodiaceans), worm tubes, serpulids, and plentiful ostracods. The current study indicates that the Wadi As Sir Limestone Formation has deposited in a restricted circulation shallow shelf with low energy conditions most probably lagoonal environment.

Living on the Edge or Forced into the Margins? Hunter-Herders in Jordan's Northeastern Badlands in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods

Abstract 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.

Two More Nabataean Inscriptions from the Syro-Jordanian Ḥarrah desert

ABSTRACTThis paper publishes two short Nabataean graffiti discovered in 2015 by the team of the OCIANA project at Tell al-ʿAbd and Marabb al-Shurafāʾ, in the Ḥarrah desert, north-eastern Jordan. Despite their brevity, these new texts appear of interest because the Ḥarrah is an area well outside that in which Nabataean inscriptions are normally found, bringing to twelve the number of known texts from that region, taking the Namārah epitaph into account. Consisting exclusively of onomastica, they contain some personal names already known among the settled and nomadic communities of southern Syria and northern Jordan as well as some new anthroponyms in the Nabataean onomasticon, notably šmʿn, that may correspond to the Arab name Samʿān.

Between Petra and the Ḥarrah: the Nabataeans in new Safaitic inscriptions from the Jordanian Badia

This paper publishes three new Safaitic inscriptions collected during the 2015 mission of the Badia Epigraphic Survey project in northeastern Jordan. The significance of the finds is determined by ...

The Application of Freely-Available Satellite Imagery for Informing and Complementing Archaeological Fieldwork in the “Black Desert” of North-Eastern Jordan

Recent developments in the availability of very high-resolution satellite imagery through platforms like GoogleEarth (Google, Santa Clara County, CA, USA) and Bing Maps (Microsoft, Redmond, WA, USA) have greatly opened up the possibilities of their use by researchers. This paper focusses on the exclusive use of free remote sensing data by the Western Harra Survey (WHS), an archaeological project investigating the arid “Black Desert” of north-eastern Jordan, a largely impenetrable landscape densely strewn with basalt blocks. The systematic analysis of such data by conducting a holistic satellite survey prior to the commencement of fieldwork allowed for the precise planning of ground surveys, with advanced knowledge of which sites were vehicle-accessible and how to efficiently visit a stratified sample of different site types. By subsequently correlating the obtained ground data with this analysis, it was possible to create a typological seriation of the site forms known as “wheels”, determine that at least two-thirds of sites are within 500 m of valleys or mudflats (highlighting these features’ roles as access routes and resource clusters) and identify numerous anthropogenic paths cleared through the basalt for site access and long-distance travel. These results offer new insights into this underrepresented region and allow for supra-regional comparisons with better investigated areas by a method that is rapid and cost-effective.

Archaeobotanical evidence reveals the origins of bread 14,400 years ago in northeastern Jordan

The origins of bread have long been associated with the emergence of agriculture and cereal domestication during the Neolithic in southwest Asia. In this study we analyze a total of 24 charred food remains from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian hunter-gatherer site located in northeastern Jordan and dated to 14.6-11.6 ka cal BP. Our finds provide empirical data to demonstrate that the preparation and consumption of bread-like products predated the emergence of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The interdisciplinary analyses indicate the use of some of the "founder crops" of southwest Asian agriculture (e.g., Triticum boeoticum, wild einkorn) and root foods (e.g., Bolboschoenus glaucus, club-rush tubers) to produce flat bread-like products. The available archaeobotanical evidence for the Natufian period indicates that cereal exploitation was not common during this time, and it is most likely that cereal-based meals like bread become staples only when agriculture was firmly established.

Technological and microstructural characterization of mortars and plasters from the Roman site of Qasr Azraq, in Jordan

This work presents the analytical results of the mortars and plasters characterization from Qasr Azraq, located in the city of Azraq (north-eastern Jordan). The castle has undergone several interventions and modifications during its service life; the archaeological surveys have shown that the actual building is a medieval reconstruction of a Roman fort, still reflecting the original structure. This research paper encompasses 64 samples from different historical periods and structures of the monument, aiming to reconstruct the timeline of different phases and to highlight technological choices. Conclusions are drawn on the basis of interpretation and integration of in situ observations, historical data and analytical data. The mortars were characterized following a multidisciplinary approach, combining macroscopic observation with petrographic examination, mineralogical analysis (XRD), microstructural and chemical analysis (SEM-EDS) and quasi-quantitative chemical analysis (pXRF) of mortar samples. Moreover, microstructural and mechanical properties of representative samples were studied. The results indicate the use of five different types of mortars, grouped based on composition and characteristics of binder and aggregates, ranging from pure lime mortars to hydraulic, gypsum-lime and earthen mortars. Overall, this paper contributes to the better understanding of building techniques and mortar production technology in the Near East during time.

“Founder crops” v. wild plants: Assessing the plant-based diet of the last hunter-gatherers in southwest Asia

The Natufian culture (c. 14.6–11.5 ka cal. BP) represents the last hunter-gatherer society that inhabited southwest Asia before the development of plant food production. It has long been suggested that Natufians based their economy on the exploitation of the wild ancestors of the Neolithic “founder crops”, and that these hunter-gatherers were therefore on the “threshold to agriculture”. In this work we review the available data on Natufian plant exploitation and we report new archaeobotanical evidence from Shubayqa 1, a Natufian site located in northeastern Jordan (14.6–11.5 ka cal. BP). Shubayqa 1 has produced an exceptionally large plant assemblage, including direct evidence for the continuous exploitation of club-rush tubers (often regarded as “missing foods”) and other wild plants, which were probably used as food, fuel and building materials. Taking together this data we evaluate the composition of archaeobotanical assemblages (plant macroremains) from the Natufian to the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB). Natufian assemblages comprise large proportions of non-founder plant species (>90% on average), amongst which sedges, small-seeded grasses and legumes, and fruits and nuts predominate. During the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, in particular the EPPNB, the presence of “founder crops” increases dramatically and constitute up to c. 42% of the archaeobotanical assemblages on average. Our results suggest that plant exploitation strategies during the Natufian were very different from those attested during subsequent Neolithic periods. We argue that historically driven interpretations of the archaeological record have over-emphasized the role of the wild ancestors of domesticated crops previous to the emergence of agriculture.

The identification of pathways on harra surfaces in north-eastern Jordan and their relation to ancient human mobility

This paper calls attention to the presence of countless ancient paths on the basalt-covered surfaces characteristic of harra landscapes in north-eastern Jordan. These paths have developed over the course of at least the last two millennia, and potentially prior to that, by trafficking of nomadic peoples and animals. These paths facilitated movements through terrains that were otherwise difficult to traverse. Paths can be recognised on high-resolution satellite imagery, which allows for systematic documentation and the reconstruction of potential routes through the landscape. The identification and mapping of these paths is important for better understanding mobility patterns of nomadic peoples who inhabited these desert landscapes in antiquity.

An early Christian Arabic graffito mentioning ‘Yazīd the king’

AbstractThis article is an edition and commentary on an early Christian Arabic inscription discovered near Qaṣr Burquʿ in northeastern Jordan. The text mentions a certain yzydw ʾl‐mlk ‘Yazid the king’ and could date to the sixth or seventh century. We discuss the text's palaeography, its relevance for the history of the Arabic script, and attempt to identify the historical figure to which it refers.