With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Archaeological treasure threatened by sweeping urbanisation

Tucked away into the lush hillsides in the north of the Kingdom, Tal Ziraa is quietly becoming one of the most important archaeological sites in the Kingdom.

The hill is located in Wadi Al Arab, an archaeologically rich area some 5km southwest of Um Qais where the borders of Jordan, Syria and Israel meet and where over 100 sites boast a treasure trove of diverse artefacts, telling a complex story mirroring the rise and decline of different cultures and rulers in the region.

“We have 5,000 years of cultural layers - this is really great for the region. You can’t find a site like this anywhere else in the Kingdom,” Dr Jutta Haser, director of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (GIPA) told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

According to the German archaeologist, the most important site is Tal Ziraa, which lies where Wadi Al Arab and Wadi Zahar meet, rising some 40 metres above the surrounding countryside areas.

The GIPA, alongside the biblical Archaeological Institute in Wuppertal and experts from nearby Um Qais, has been excavating the area every Spring and Fall of each year since 2003, as part of the organisations’ greater “Gadara-region project”.

The area was chosen because of its strategic location, leading experts to believe that the site could yield significant archaeological finds.

Instead, the hill has yielded an overwhelming wealth of historical and cultural finds, Haser said.
Read entire article at Jordan Times