West-central Jordan Research Articles

Home Economics at Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B al-Khayran in West-Central Jordan: Reconstructing Residential Unit Economic and Mobility Behavior through Lithic Analysis

ABSTRACT The shift from foraging to farming economies was deeply intertwined with increasing sedentism and the emergence of house-based corporate units in southwestern Asia, with a number of researchers arguing that in the early Neolithic, households become primary economic units within communities for the first time. In order to understand how this role for households articulated with new subsistence systems, this paper analyzes the knapped stone assemblage from the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B agricultural field house of al-Khayran in the west-central Jordanian Highlands. Results demonstrate that al-Khayran’s residential unit enacted household maintenance activities, intensive cereal production, bidirectional blade reduction, and caching of stone tools in anticipation of repeated temporary occupations at the site. These findings show that the corporate household which occupied al-Khayran enacted novel mobility practices in order to accommodate emergent risks in agricultural economies.

Accommodating agriculture at al-Khayran: Economic relations and settlement practices in the earliest agricultural communities of the southern Levant

Early agricultural practices are often viewed as such a radical transformation that they not only structured and drove the long-term development of subsistence economies, but also required a dramatic reorganization of how community-wide economic relations were reckoned and enacted. This article examines how data derived from loci of economic production can inform us about the structure of economic relations in early agricultural communities, so as to better test such claims of political-economic disruption against the archaeological record. It does so by analyzing the site of al-Khayran in the west-central Jordan. Al-Khayran dates to the southern Levantine Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, the time period when predominantly agricultural economies first emerge in the region. Results show that a typical village-based residential group temporarily and repeatedly inhabited a substantially-built in-field structure while practicing intensive agricultural production. These results indicate that the site’s inhabitants carried out a form of dual residence mobility with heavy investment on-site in perimetrics via landesque capital. Such behavior suggests that at least some residential groups in this time period were indeed corporate groups that agentively intervened in economic systems to actively assert and enact the private holding of the means of production during the emergence of agricultural economies.

Changing Settlement Organization in the Late Pleistocene of the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan

Since the 1980s, surveys in Jordan’s Wadi al-Hasa document dozens of Late Pleistocene hunter–gatherer sites, some of them tested or partly excavated. To track landscape-scale forager mobility and settlement patterns over time, we examine 26 levels from 13 sites dated to the Middle, Upper, and Epipaleolithic using aspects of Barton’s whole assemblage behavioral indicators research protocol, a collection of methods designed to extract patterns from archeological palimpsests. Because forager ethnographies document adaptive strategies that do not map onto the discrete site types employed by archeologists, we evaluate the utility of the latter so far as behavioral inferences are concerned. We show that discrete bimodal contrasts like “curated” and “expedient” and their archeological correlates fail to capture the much more complex reality. Only by using these methods in conjunction with these analytical contrasts can a realistic picture of forager mobility and land use approximating that known from ethnography be attained.

Reduced mineral assemblages of superficial origin in west-central Jordan

Reduced mineral assemblages of superficial origin in west-central Jordan

Solar Radiation Forecasting by Pearson Correlation Using LSTM Neural Network and ANFIS Method: Application in the West-Central Jordan

Solar energy is one of the most important renewable energies, with many advantages over other sources. Many parameters affect the electricity generation from solar plants. This paper aims to study the influence of these parameters on predicting solar radiation and electric energy produced in the Salt-Jordan region (Middle East) using long short-term memory (LSTM) and Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) models. The data relating to 24 meteorological parameters for nearly the past five years were downloaded from the MeteoBleu database. The results show that the influence of parameters on solar radiation varies according to the season. The forecasting using ANFIS provides better results when the parameter correlation with solar radiation is high (i.e., Pearson Correlation Coefficient PCC between 0.95 and 1). In comparison, the LSTM neural network shows better results when correlation is low (PCC in the range 0.5–0.8). The obtained RMSE varies from 0.04 to 0.8 depending on the season and used parameters; new meteorological parameters influencing solar radiation are also investigated.

Iron Age Nebo: Preliminary investigations at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and Rujm al-Mukhayyat, Jordan

ABSTRACT Recent archaeological investigation at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and nearby Rujm al-Mukhayyat in west-central Jordan have sought to determine the nature and date of Iron Age activity at these sites. Identified as the Nebo of biblical tradition and the Mesha Inscription, Khirbat al-Mukhayyat fulfilled a strategic role within the region. Positioned at the western edge of the Transjordanian plateau, the site holds a commanding view of the Jordan Valley and Judean highlands to the west, enabling inhabitants to monitor access to and from the Jordan Valley, as well to take advantage of agricultural opportunity within the region. This strategic position is reflected in Mukhayyat’s contested history under Israelite, Moabite, and eventually Assyrian control. With significant contexts dating to the Iron IIB and Iron IIC at Khirbat al-Mukhayyat, and late Iron Age/Persian period activity at the Rujm al-Mukhayyat, this paper presents the preliminary results of excavation and survey efforts together with ceramic data, providing an important contribution to the study of the Iron Age in this region.

On the Lookout: Directional Visibility Cones and Defense in the Nebo Region, West-Central Jordan

AbstractThis article uses directional visibility analysis to assess the defensibility of two Iron Age (9th–8th cent. BCE) sites from the Nebo region of west-central Jordan: the fortified town of Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and its adjacent watchtower at Rujm al-Mukhayyat. Directional visibility cones illustrate how the improved viewsheds afforded by the watchtower at Rujm al-Mukhayyat were needed to establish line of sight between Khirbat al-Mukhayyat and other settlements located higher up on the Transjordanian plateau. Without the addition of the watchtower, Khirbat al-Mukhayyat would have been cut off from direct communication with nearby towns at Hesban and Ma’in. Despite the increased visibility provided by the watchtower at Rujm al-Mukhayyat, Khirbat al-Mukhayyat retained limited capacity to monitor movement to the south in the vicinity of Ma’in. Further, it could not establish direct visual contact with the important urban centre at Madaba to the southeast. These findings may have implications for understanding the military strategy adopted by the Moabite king Mesha in his mid-9th century BCE campaign against the Town of Nebo, identified with Khirbat al-Mukhayyat.

Preference for periphery? Cultural interchange and trade routes along the boundaries of late Iron Age Moab

ABSTRACTThis article explores the evidence for diversity in the material culture of Late Iron Age sites situated in the semi-arid margins of west-central Jordan. Least-cost analysis (LCA) is used to model a hypothesized secondary north-south route along the eastern boundary of Moab. Sites found along this route are shown to exhibit a disproportionate level of cultural diversity compared to ‘core’ settlements. These effects are especially pronounced at sites with clear cultic associations. The results of this investigation are in line with the recent literature on the archaeology of boundaries and frontiers, confirming that these zones are characterized by heightened cultural diversity and interchange across a range of domains.

The Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in Jordan: Ammonite biostratigraphy and faunal turnover

Well-exposed fossiliferous Upper Cenomanian–Lower Turonian marine sedimentary rocks are present in west-central Jordan. Ammonites serve as an important faunal marker for this interval and can be used to subdivide the Cenomanian–Turonian transition into two upper Cenomanian biozones (Neolobites vibrayeanus and Vascoceras cauvini) and two lower Turonian biozones (Vascoceras proprium and Choffaticeras segne). A revised stratigraphic range of the Vascoceras cauvini Zone in the study area is proposed, consisting of the Metoicoceras geslinianum and Neocardioceras juddii zones of the standard zonation. Based on intercontinental biostratigraphic correlation, a minor unconformity appears to be present around the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary, and a part of the lower Turonian is probably missing. In addition, a faunal turnover is recorded in the uppermost Cenomanian, marked by the disappearance of most of the Cenomanian taxa, including Costagyra olisiponensis (Sharpe), Ceratostreon flabellatum (Goldfuss), Ilymatogyra africana (Lamarck), Rhynchostreon suborbiculatum (Lamarck), Harpagodes nodosus (Sowerby), and Heterodiadema libycum (Desor). This bioevent is thought to be an effect of the Oceanic Anoxic Event OAE 2; the dramatic shifts in species richness and diversity spanning the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary in the study area occurred in response to the major paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental perturbations prevailing at that time. The stratigraphic and paleontological patterns studied in Jordan are very similar to those recorded in Egypt in terms of litho- and biostratigraphy, event stratigraphy, and macroinvertebrate content, suggesting the presence of uniform triggering mechanisms and bio-sedimentary responses in the Upper Cretaceous basins of the Middle East and providing clues for a high-resolution correlation between the two areas.

Book Review of Complex Communities: The Archaeology of Early Iron Age West-Central Jordan, by Benjamin W. Porter

Book Review of Complex Communities: The Archaeology of Early Iron Age West-Central Jordan, by Benjamin W. Porter

Complex Communities: The Archaeology of Early Iron Age West-Central Jordan

Complex Communities: The Archaeology of Early Iron Age West-Central Jordan

Complex communities: the archaeology of early Iron Age west-central Jordan

Complex Communities explores how sedentary settlements developed and flourished in the Middle East during the Early Iron Age nearly four thousand years ago. Using archaeological evidence, Benjamin Porter reconstructs how residents maintained their communities despite environmental uncertainties. Living in a semi-arid area in the present-day country of Jordan, villagers faced a harsh and unpredictable ecosystem. Communities fostered resilience by creating flexible production routines and leadership strategies. Settlements developed what archaeologists call complexity, a condition through which small-scale societies shift between egalitarian and hierarchical arrangements. Complex Communities provides detailed, scientifically grounded reconstructions of how this communal complexity functioned in the region. These settlements emerged during a period of recovery following the political and economic collapse of Bronze Age Mediterranean societies. Scholars have characterised west-central Jordan's political organisation during this time as an incipient Moabite state. Complex Communities argues instead that the settlements were a collection of independent, self-organising entities. Each community constructed substantial villages with fortifications, practiced both agriculture and pastoralism, and built and stocked storage facilities. From these efforts to produce and store resources, especially food, wealth was generated and wealthier households gained power over their neighbours. However, power was limited by the fact that residents could--and did--leave communities and establish new ones. Complex Communities reveals that these settlements moved through adaptive cycles as they adjusted to a changing socionatural system. These sustainability-seeking communities have lessons to offer not only the archaeologists studying similar struggles in other locales, but also to contemporary communities facing negative climate change. Readers interested in resilience studies, Near Eastern archaeology, historical ecology, and the archaeology of communities will welcome this volume.

Extensification in a Mediterranean semi-arid marginal zone: An archaeological case study from Early Iron Age Jordan's Eastern Karak Plateau

The extensification of agricultural systems into marginal lands is a common response to environmental, economic, and political pressures for more cultivable land. Yet the course that extensification takes in particular instances is unpredictable given the choices available to producers. This article investigates an instance of extensification during the late second millennium BCE on the semi-arid Eastern Karak Plateau in west-central Jordan. Architectural, faunal, and archaeobotanical evidence is presented from Khirbat al-Mudayna al-'Aliya, one of several communities that participated in an extensified settlement system on the edge of the Wadi al-Mujib and its tributaries. Producers practiced agriculture and pastoralism in a low-intensity subsistence economy that supported a nucleated settlement of households. Faunal analysis determined goats were kept, and wild animals supplemented diets. Archaeobotanical analysis of charred plant remains from storage bins in a building destroyed by fire indicated that barley was stored in a semi-processed state and that harvesting by uprooting was practiced, thus resulting in the maximization of the straw harvest. The riparian zone beneath the settlement was a key venue for subsistence activities. This Early Iron Age example contrasts with later episodes of extensification whose settlement systems were more dispersed and agro-pastoralist regime more integrated.

Don’t abhor your neighbor for he is a pastoralist: the GIS-based modeling of the past human–environment interactions and landscape changes in the Wadi el-Hasa, west-central Jordan

Recently developed modules in GRASS GIS combine a wide variety of spatial data such as climatic, geological, and cultural in order to estimate how long-term interactions among these factors contribute to the evolution of natural environment and anthropogenic landscapes. Additionally, these modules allow users to visualize anthropogenic impacts of extensive agropastoralism on landscapes by subjecting the pre-defined catchment areas to repeated land use activities. The results emphasize the economic and ecological value of extensive agropastoralism in the marginal landscapes, which make anthropogenic activities more sustainable in the long-term. The results of this research are not only significant for its methodological contributions in anthropological archaeology but also have broader significance for researchers interested in interdisciplinary approaches in assessing the long-term dynamics of human-environment relations.

An Analysis of the Possible Influence of Climate on Settlement Shifts across the Karak Plateau and Surrounding Region, Jordan: Chalcolithic through Umayyad Periods

The physical setting of the Karak Plateau and surrounding region in west-central Jordan provides an excellent opportunity to analyze ancient settlement practices and patterns. The western upland region is typified by agriculturally productive soils, annual precipitation amounts near 500 mm, and physical isolation from regions to the north and south by virtue of the Wadis Mujib and Hasa. The rocky slopes of the Dead Sea escarpment and the arid conditions of the Syrian/Arabian desert define the region's western and eastern borders. This paper explores the movement of ancient site locations across this diverse landscape from the Chalcolithic through the Umayyad periods, against the backdrop of climate and climate change. Though ancient settlement decisions were made on the basis of numerous and often complex factors (environmental and socio-political), this investigation found a definite correlation between climatic conditions and site location decisions. With one exception (the Nabatean Period), site densit...

Measuring Local Diversity in Early Iron Age Animal Economies: A View from Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʿAliya (Jordan)

Author(s): Lev-Tov, Justin; Porter, Benjamin W.; Routledge, Bruce | Abstract: We use faunal evidence from Khirbat al-Mudayna al-ʿAliya, an agropastoral settlementlocated in west-central Jordan, to examine early Iron Age subsistence regimes.Analysis of faunal evidence reveals a low-intensity, nonspecialized animal economy dependenton both domesticated and wild species, including freshwater crabs. The subsistenceeconomy of the settlement, we argue, was structured so as to take maximumadvantage of its location overlooking the Wadi al-Nukhayla, a perennial water sourcesupporting a relatively verdant floral and faunal array. This diverse and flexible organizationmade subsistence in this resource-scarce environment more sustainable. Whenthis profile is compared with other early Iron Age southern Levantine communities, thediversity of ways that animal economies were organized during this period is apparent,signaling the need to investigate the local strategies that communities used to adapt totheir immediate environmental circumstances, not only ecologically but also socially.

Prehistoric Settlement in West-Central Jordan: The Tafīla-Busayra Archaeological Survey in Its Regional Context

Regional surveys in the Levant have led to the formulation of settlement models intended to represent how Palaeolithic foragers adapted to their local landscapes. A common critique of these models is their lack of fit with data from other regions. This is particularly the case for the inland regions of the Levant where lacustrine environments dotted the landscape during the Upper Pleistocene. The Tafila-Busayra Archaeological Survey investigated such a setting in west-central Jordan. This survey report characterizes local Palaeolithic settlement patterns and compares them with a settlement model derived from the nearby Wadi al-Hasa, another area with extensive lacustrine deposits. Despite the similar environmental settings, the results indicate that patterns of settlement vary considerably over short distances within the Levant, and future modeling should attempt to integrate information from neighboring regions.

The Tafila-Busayra Archaeological Survey 1999-2001, West-Central Jordan. Burton MacDonald, Larry G. Herr, Michael P. Neeley, Traianos Gagos, Khaled Moumani, and Marcy Rockman.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsThe Tafila-Busayra Archaeological Survey 1999-2001, West-Central Jordan. Burton MacDonald, Larry G. Herr, Michael P. Neeley, Traianos Gagos, Khaled Moumani, and Marcy Rockman.Piotr BienkowskiPiotr Bienkowski Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Volume 341February 2006 A journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/BASOR25066935 Views: 5Total views on this site Journal History This article was published in the Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research (1921-2021), which is continued by the Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research (2022-present). Copyright 2006 The American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Platform configuration, microfacies and cyclicities of the upper Albian to Turonian of west-central Jordan

We present a comprehensive facies scheme for west-central Jordan platform deposits of upper Albian to Turonian age, discuss Cenomanian and Turonian carbonate cycles, and reconstruct the paleogeographic evolution of the platform. Comparisons with adjacent shelf areas (Israel, Sinai) emphasize local characteristics as well as the regional platform development. Platform deposits are subdivided into fifteen microfacies types that define eight environments of deposition of three facies belts. Main facies differences between Cenomanian and Turonian platforms are: rudist-bearing packstones that characterise the higher-energy shallow subtidal (transition zone) during the Cenomanian, and fossiliferous (commonly with diverse foraminifer assemblages) wackestones and packstones of an open shallow subtidal environment. On Turonian platforms high-energy environments are predominantly characterised by oolithic or bioclastic grainstones and packstones, whereas peritidal facies are indicated by dolomitic wackestones with thin, wavy (cryptmicrobial) lamination. Rhythmic facies changes define peritidal or subtidal shallowing-up carbonate cycles in several Cenomanian and Turonian platform intervals. Cyclicities are also analysed on the base of accommodation plots (Fischer Plots). High-frequency accommodation changes within lower Cenomanian cyclic bedded limestones of the central and southern area exhibit two major ‘cyclic sets’ (set I and II) each containing regionally comparable peaks. Accommodation patterns within cyclic set II coincide with the sequence boundary zone of CeJo1. The lateral and vertical facies distributions on the inner shelf allow the reconstruction of paleogeographic conditions during five time intervals (Interval A to E). An increased subsidence is assumed for the central study area, locally (area of Wadi Al Karak) persisting from middle Cenomanian to middle Turonian times. In contrast, inversion and the development of a paleo-high have been postulated for an adjacent area (Wadi Mujib) during late Cenomanian to early Turonian times, while small-scale sub-basins with an occasionally dysoxic facies developed northwards and further south during this time interval. A connection between these structural elements in Jordan with basins and uplift areas in Egypt and Israel during equivalent time intervals is assumed. This emphasises the mostly concordant development of that Levant Platform segment.

The late Albian–Turonian carbonate platform succession of west-central Jordan: stratigraphy and crises

The lithology and the faunal content of late Albian–Turonian inner shelf deposits of present-day west-central Jordan have been investigated to provide an integrated stratigraphic framework and to subdivide times of platform growth and platform crises. Biostratigraphic data are based on ammonites and calcareous nannofossils, supplemented by foraminifers and ostracodes. Ammonite occurrences of the mantelli to woollgari biozones and three ammonite-bearing marker horizons facilitate a precise subdivision of early Cenomanian–late Turonian deposits. As the distribution of benthic foraminifers represents a sensitive tool for environmental reconstructions, five benthic foraminiferal assemblages are established. Five units, based on stratigraphic and palaeoecological data, are defined and allow long-range correlations and a subdivision of three phases of platform growth and two platform crises. The first crisis, of middle Cenomanian age, is mainly indicated in the central study area, while the second crisis affected the entire platform within the Cenomanian/Turonian-boundary interval. Both events are locally highlighted by a dysoxic facies that shifted southwards during the late Cenomanian and occurred again in the central area during the early Turonian.