June 8, 2004

Weekends

Weekends on the Hesban dig are special times. The early morning schedule is set aside, one is free to sleep in, and life can take a slower pace. Spiritual refreshment has been a priority to some dig participants. One group attended Catholic mass in Amman, others participated in prayers at a mosque or enjoyed informal worship services in nature at Mt. Nebo (with a grand view of the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea) and the Amman National Park.  Another group attended the Amman Seventh-day Adventist Church. Learning more about each other's spiritual journey is a unique feature of this international and interfaith group.

Field Trips

The whole group participated in a number of field trips. Thanks to the generosity of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, admission to the various archaeological and historical sites was free.

Tall Hisban and Madaba

The first trip was to the dig site at Tall Hisban where we received an overview of the project with a tour by Oystein (Sten) LaBianca, project director, and Bethany Walker, chief archaeologist. The site tour served to put into perspective the work in each individual square, giving us a better understanding of how each field fits into the big picture of Hisban's history.

Following the tour of the tall, we drove to Mt. Nebo (the biblical site of Moses' viewing the Promised Land before his death there). We took a tour of the early Byzantine church built on the summit and enjoyed a panoramic view of the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea.

Madaba, the "city of mosaics," was our last stop. Madaba's Archaeological Park encompasses the remains of several Byzantine churches, including the mosaics of the Church of the Virgin and the Hippolytus Hall. The Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, which was built in 1884 over the remains of another Byzantine church, houses a mosaic map dated at around 560 A.D. Its central focus is the walled city of Jerusalem, but it has 157 Greek captions and spans the Holy Land from southern Lebanon to the Nile Delta in Egypt.

Northern Jordan

The second weekend the group toured northern Jordan. Three sites were on the itinerary: Jerash, Ajlun castle, and Umm Qays. Jerash, which has a long chain of human occupation from Neolithic times to the present, is best known for its well-preserved Roman ruins. It was one of the Decapolis cities, a dynamic commercial league of Graeco-Roman cities, and was visited by the Emperor Hadrian in 129 A.D.

Ajlun castle, a fine example of Islamic architecture, was built in 1184 by a nephew of Saladin, who defeated the Crusaders in 1189. A short journey from Jerash, through pine forest and olive groves, Ajlun is a splendid hilltop site and offers a fascinating array of towers, chambers, galleries and staircases to explore.

After a lunch break in the shade, the group headed to another Decapolis city, Umm Qays (biblical Gadara of the Gadarene swine fame). Known as the home of several classical poets and philosophers, including Theodorus, Umm Qays has a splendid hilltop view overlooking the Jordan Valley, the Golan Heights, and the Sea of Galilee.

Petra

Most recently, the group spent the entire weekend in Petra, the rose-red city of the Nabataeans. From their remote staging post, the Nabataeans dominated the trade routes of ancient Arabia, levying tolls and sheltering caravans laden with Indian spices and silks, African ivory and animal hides. Probably the most visited site in Jordan, its grandeur is unmatched. The city is entered through the siq, a narrow desert gorge which threads its way between the cliff walls which soar up to 80 meters over head. The Treasury, Petra's most famous monument which appears dramatically at the end of the siq, is only the first of Petra's secrets.

Our group enjoyed the trip in various ways: some (like Sue Stewart) took a leisurely stroll into the city, taking time to observe details in the walls of the siq, the water channels along the road, the desert plants growing amongst the rocks, and the wide variety of rock and sand colors.  Others expended a little more energy to climb the carved rock stairs to the high spots of the area. Photographers Christie Ribeiro and Kristy Witzel took advantage of the innumerable photo ops. [picture on left] Camp Administrator Keith Mattingly enjoyed meeting and exchanging dig gifts with Brown University excavations' chief, Martha Jankowski, at their site in Petra.[pic on right] Matt Compton received a tour of the excavation by Brown University students. Ivan LaBianca, Rachel Bernardes, and James McDonald hired donkeys to help them climb Mount Aaron (the area's highest peak). Lauralea Banks (pottery registrar), Courtney Hairgrove, James McDonald, Keith Mattingly, and Jonathan Martin climbed not only to the Monastery (Ad-Deir), but to the sundial atop it. [See picture on right] Tom Luttrell and Hannah Ko got a great view from the camels they hired to transport them [picture on left], and Kjelshus Collins hired a donkey to take him to the High Place of Sacrifice and was rewarded with the spectacular view of Petra down below. Meredith Petty enjoyed giving tours of the local tourist shops, and honeymooners Craig and Michele Nabors sipped tea and had some time on their own. Everyone returned to Amman full of wonderful memories and experiences to treasure and share.

Desert Castles

The last weekend trip will be this coming Sunday. Three Umayyad desert castles will be visited: Qusayr Amra, Mushatta, and Kharaneh. These ancient castles, the domain of Umayyad princes in the first half of the 8th century, vary widely in function, architectural style and creative embellishment. They served the Umayyad dynasty's rulers as places of refuge from city life and helped them maintain a close relationship with the tribes whose support they needed. The buildings were located on extensive and elaborately irrigated farmlands and served transient visitors as resting places on their way to Hijaz.

Conferences and Awards

Being in Jordan this summer provided exceptional opportunities for scholarship exchange for some of the dig's core staff. Papers were presented by Bethany Walker (The Politics of Land Management in Medieval Islam: The Northern Jordan Survey, 2004) and Sten LaBianca (Cultural Interaction through the Ages: The View from Tall Hisban and the Madaba Plains) at the 9th International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan held in Petra May 23-27, 2004. At the opening of the conference an award was presented by the conference organizers (Jordanian Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, and Al-Hussein Bin Talal University) to our dig's director with the following citation: "to Dr. Oystein Sakala LaBianca in recognition of your contribution to the Archaeology of Jordan."

On June 3, Bethany Walker presented two papers at the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem. The conference topic was "On the Fringe of Society - Archaeological and Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives on Pastoral and Agricultural Societies." Dr. Walker presented Dr. LaBianca's research in a paper entitled "Geographical and Cultural Factors Impacting Local Food Systems and the Transcient Nature of Secondary States in the Southern Levant" and her own research paper entitled "Regional Markets and their Impact on Agriculture in Mamluk and Ottoman Tansjordan."

Sten LaBianca was unable to attend the conference since he participated in meetings of the board of the American Center for Oriental Research.

Visitors to the Tall Hisban Site

We've been honored by many distinguished visits to our site. These visits have given us an opportunity to explain the significance of Tall Hisban in understanding all the historical periods of the history of Jordan. In addition, the core staff could explain Tall Hisban's role, over its nearly 40-year excavation history, as a center for educating archaeologists in the region. The good-will established between Jordanians and dig participants has been phenomenal, with friendships spanning several generations.

Amongst our visitors, we welcomed Mustafa Barrari, comptroller general of Jordan; David M. Walker, comptroller general of the United States [picture on right]; Burton McDonald, chair of the ASOR Committee on Archaeological Policy; Basim Taraune, mayor of the municipality of Hisban [pic on left]; Amal El-Farhan, Jordan's minister of municipal affairs; Kamal Abdul Fattah, professor of geography at Birzeit University; and Bert DeVries, professor of history at Calvin College.[pic on right] We also have been pleased with the stream of local residents that have shown an interest in the site.

Previous Report: May 31, 2004
 
 Edited 4/1/05 tlc