The discovery of a mass grave in the Jordanian city of Jerash (ancient Gerasa) has provided evidence of the impact on the population of the Justinian Plague. A newly published study of the burial site has revealed that at least 230 individuals were hastily buried on top of each other, rather than in individual graves, within the city’s abandoned hippodrome
Petra is renowned for its extraordinary tomb architecture, but little is known about the builders of these mausolea. George H Nash, Genevieve von Petzinger, Lina Alrabab’h, and James Nash examine this funerary landscape and the traces of those who made it possible.
REVIEW BY MATTHEW SYMONDS This volume honours Professor David Kennedy, a pioneering scholar of ancient Arabia and Rome’s eastern frontier, by bringing together 21 scholarly contributions examining both the archaeology of the wider region, and the way that it is…
The cartouches of an Egyptian king, discovered on a rock face in Jordan a decade ago, have now been documented, and confirmed as an inscription of Ramesses III (c.1184-1153 BC). The first such Egyptian inscription to be found in Jordan,…
Survey work in Wadi Rum is revealing fascinating new insights into the age and variety of its rock art. Genevieve von Petzinger and George Nash share the findings so far.
Ancient city culture was inescapable in the societies where it prevailed. It suffused life to encompass almost everyone. Even the dead.
Fresh knowledge about global trade and travel is coming to light in the Jordanian desert. A survey project is revealing information about the chronology of a small fort or fortlet and presumed caravanserai at the site of Khirbet al-Khalde in southern Jordan. Taking us through archival data, new archaeological finds, and the use of drone imagery, the co directors of the project Craig Harvey, Emanuele Intagliata, and Rubina Raja unravel new narratives about this fascinating desert site.
What is it? This impressive necklace from a Neolithic child burial is composed of over 2,500 beads, made from three varieties of stones, four types of mollusc shells, and – in the case of two beads – a rare example…
Three Roman fortified camps have been identified in southern Jordan through satellite imagery surveying, with research suggesting that they represent evidence of an undocumented military campaign linked to the Roman annexation of the Nabataean kingdom at the beginning of the…
• The story of a Roman frontier fort in Jordan
• Myths and Minoans at Knossos
• Mountain rock art in Kyrgyzstan
• Palmyra: the archive of Harald Ingholt
• Exploring a Peruvian fortress-temple in the desert
It is understandable perhaps, here in Britain, that we have a somewhat partial understanding of Ancient Rome’s border defences – with most attention focused naturally on Hadrian’s Wall, the extraordinary fortified structure that is the largest Roman artefact anywhere in…
Deep in the Jordanian desert lies an extraordinary ruin. It is a Roman fort that can stake a claim to being the best-preserved example anywhere in the former empire. But this relic of imperial power is in urgent need of conservation work. David Breeze, Mark Driessen, and Fawzi Abudanah discuss why Qasr Bshir is special, and the challenges that lie ahead.
Review by David J Breeze John William Burgon’s description of Petra as ‘the rose-red city, half as old as time’ dates to 1845, well within the timeframe covered in this book. It remains an apt statement, underlined by the choice…
Two stelae are examples of some of the oldest artistic expressions in the Middle East.
In AD 749, the ancient city of Jerash was hit by a devastating earthquake. Excavating private houses that collapsed during the disaster has revealed a wealth of information about the Umayyad city. These, though, are just some of the finds encountered during recent archaeological work in the north-western part of the site, as Achim Lichtenberger, Eva Mortensen, and Rubina Raja reveal.