Bab edh-Dhra
Bab edh-Dhra is the modern name of an archaeological site at the southeastern end of the Dead Sea in present-day Jordan , near the Lisan Peninsula . The place was possibly the starting point for the creation of legends about the biblical place Sodom .
The place was inhabited for around 1000 years during the Early Bronze Age and at that time had a permanent water supply due to its location at the exit of Wadi Kerak, which leads down from Kerak . Several phases of settlement and the remains of massive city fortifications were found. Not far from the village are several large grave fields with around 20,000 shaft graves , of which only a few have been archaeologically examined. Thousands of other graves - mostly robbed - lie in the plain to the southwest.
Research history
As early as the 19th century, researchers recognized ruins in the area of Bab edh-Dhra. The walled area of the city from the 3rd millennium BC was only identified during surface investigations in 1924 under the direction of William Foxwell Albright . Discovered. Regular excavations took place from 1965 to 1967 under Paul Lapp , who died unexpectedly in 1970. Two of his collaborators, Walter E. Rast and R. Thomas Schaub, took responsibility for the final publication of the excavations and in 1973 they undertook another survey, in which they found four other Early Bronze Age sites (Numeira, Safi, Feifeh and Khanazir).
Rast and Schaub founded the project "Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain" in order to research the relationships between the places. They carried out four more excavation campaigns in Bab edh-Dhra between 1975 and 1981. 33 shaft graves and four houses of the dead were excavated.
Settlement phases
In the region around Bab edh-Dhra, remains from the Middle and Younger Paleolithic , Neolithic and Copper Age were found.
Early Bronze Age IA (around 3200-3100 BC)
From the Early Bronze Age IA around 60 shaft graves were examined during the excavations in Bab edh-Dhra from 1956 to 1981. The cross sections of the shafts are usually round to oval, only occasionally rectangular. One to several (up to five) burial chambers open sideways at the bottom, each containing several burials and changing ceramic inventories. The chambers vary in shape from round to angular with a diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 meters. The flat, slightly rounded to vaulted ceilings are 0.75 to 1.25 meters high.
Only in a few cases are the skeletons in natural joint connections. Usually the bones are piled up in the middle of the chamber and the skulls - seen from the entrance - lie in a row to the left of it. This arrangement points to secondary burials, and remains of mats were often found under the bones. Handmade vessels predominate in ceramics: wide, deep bowls, large jugs with bar handles, medium and small ones with eyelet handles. Most of it is fine ceramics with thin walls and an orange-red, polished coating. As a decoration, a line of indented points often runs around the vessel below the opening. Other additions are club heads, shell bracelets, stone jugs, decorative pearls, unfired clay figurines and, rarely, items of clothing and wooden objects.
Only small remains of simultaneous settlement were found in some places, they indicate a temporary or seasonal presence of the residents. In connection with the signs for secondary burials, the excavators conclude that during this phase the site was visited by nomadic shepherd tribes from time to time to bury the bones of the deceased in a common place.
Early Bronze Age IB (around 3100-2950 BC)
In the Early Bronze Age IB a village structure was established in Bab edh-Dhra. The material finds and settlement horizons on the lowest stratum , directly above the natural gravel and marl, testify to this in many places . In places stone foundations, remnants of adobe masonry and heaps of ash were found.
In the burial culture there is continuity and innovation. From the Early Bronze Age IB, four shaft graves with similar equipment as in the Early Bronze Age IA were excavated. Two surface graves were created directly above older shaft graves. Two round mud brick mortuary buildings represent the most striking change in burial customs. Their diameter is 3.5 to 3.7 meters, the entrance is flanked by orthostats that support a lintel. From the doorstep it goes down to the chamber floor. The last burial is in the articulation and the earlier ones were pushed aside. So the houses were used for a long time. One of the two shows severe burn marks and contains skulls that show injuries from a sharp weapon. This and the continuous layers of ash on the settlement horizon suggest a violent end to this phase.
Early Bronze Age II (around 2950-2640 BC)
The first signs of an emerging urban culture appear in the Early Bronze Age II. A walling defined the urban area in which the population grew. The two highest areas in the southwest and northeast were used as public areas. In the southwest, with a view over the Dead Sea, a broad space sanctuary (12 × 6 m) has been excavated. Five pillar bases along the center of the room indicate the position of large wooden pillars that supported the roof. At the highest point in the northwest with a view over the Wadi Kerak stood a large building with at least four rooms. Because of its location, as it does not contain any household ceramics and because several rooms are equipped with surrounding brick benches, it is interpreted as an administrative center.
Towards the center of the city, the living and workshop areas are associated with layers of cultural waste meter thick. A deep grain silo plastered with clay and the remains of two wooden tubs were found in a courtyard .
The burials showed a continuity compared to the Early Bronze Age IB with a large round burial chamber containing ceramics from the Early Bronze Age II and a round mud brick mortuary with a cantilever vault . In this phase the first rectangular houses of the dead were built, which when found contained ceramics from FBZ II as well as later goods from FBZ III.
Early Bronze Age III (around 2640-2250 BC)
In the Early Bronze Age III, the city developed to its climax, it was enclosed with a wall up to seven meters wide. The mud brick construction resting on a stone foundation has been verified on three sides; on the steep north slope it is largely eroded. The main gate in the west gave access to a square overlooked by the sanctuary in the south. It was rebuilt at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age III on the foundations of the previous building with modified interior fittings. Within the city, a distinction was made between three main construction phases, each showing fundamental changes, with the last phase deteriorating in quality.
During this time, the deceased were mostly buried in rectangular houses of the dead. Nine of these have been excavated in total. The entrances on the long side were always flanked by large orthostats. The size of the houses is between 2.80 × 4.80 and 7.50 × 15 meters. They were in use for a long time, with the bones of the previous burial being pushed towards the wall. Pottery encompasses a variety of shapes: flat bowls and plates, pots and oil lamps, jugs and cups, also in miniature forms. Several of the houses of the dead seem to have been occupied at the same time, so that the question of how to differentiate between social groups arises. The largest of the houses, in which some gold jewelry was found, may serve as evidence of a social upper class. Other typical finds are bronze knives, curved axes, slate pallets, wooden combs, items of clothing, also made of fine linen, and various pearls and shells as jewelry.
The walled city took up about 4.5 hectares and with a little surrounding area offered space for 600 to 1000 residents. The water resources and arable land enabled a good supply of crops. The following were found in the strata: einkorn , emmer , barley , wheat , grapes , olives , figs , chickpeas , lentils , pistachios and almonds . The size of the flax seeds found suggests irrigation cultivation. Loom weights found in the city and large amounts of linen in the graves indicate a local textile industry. Sheep and goat dominate among the animal bones found, but large mammals such as donkeys and cattle are also represented.
Local trade contacts document ceramic finds only in the area of Numeira. Slate pallets , combs, cylinder seals with Egyptian shapes and ceramics with Syrian shapes speak for long-distance trade . Two metal daggers in the Syrian style were also found, one of which is made of tin-bronze and is one of the oldest "real" bronze objects in the Levant. In addition to unalloyed copper, mixtures with arsenic have also been identified, which may have come from Anatolia, but were in use throughout the Middle East at that time.
Towards the end of the Early Bronze Age III, the city seems to have declined with at least partial destruction.
Early Bronze Age IV (about 2250-2150 BC)
In the Early Bronze Age IV there was again an open village settlement near Bab edh-Dhra, a settlement of the old city area could only be proven in a few areas. In the north, a walled ceremonial place with a stone altar was uncovered. Dozens of animal horns and an incense stand were found in this area. The shafts of the two excavated shaft graves of this era were lined with stones. They contained burials in a single large chamber, some in a skeletal structure, and large quantities of ceramics from the Early Bronze Age IV. This no longer has the variety of forms of the previous epoch. Rather, it resembles ceramics from the Early Bronze Age IB, which the excavators interpret as a sign of simpler living conditions that followed the collapse of urban structures and trade connections.
According to the analysis of C14 data , the settlement of Bab edh-Dhra ended around 2200 BC. Chr.
literature
- R. Thomas Schaub, Walter E. Rast: Bab edh-Dhra ': Excavations in the Cemetery Directed by Paul Lapp. Reports of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain, Jordan 1. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 1989, ISBN 0-931464-51-X .
- Walter E. Rast, R. Thomas Schaub (Eds.): Bâb edh-Dhrâ '. Excavations at the Town Site (1975-1981). Reports of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain, Jordan 2. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake 2003, ISBN 1-57506-088-4 . (Preview on Google books)
- Donald J. Ortner, Bruno Frohlich: The early Bronze Age I tombs and burials of Bâb edh-Dhrâ ', Jordan . AltaMitra Press, Lanham, MD 2008, ISBN 978-0-7591-1075-5 .
Individual evidence
- ^ The Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain
- ↑ a b c d e f The Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain: Bab edh-Dhra '
- ↑ a b Schaub and Rast, 1989
- ↑ JM Adovasio, RL Andrews, AASOR 46 (1979), pp. 181-186.
Web links
- EDSP project website Bab edh-Dhra '
- Bab edh-Dhra Bioarchaeology Bones as objects of study
- Melbourne University website
- Photos from Bab edh-Dhra
Coordinates: 31 ° 15 ′ 14.1 ″ N , 35 ° 32 ′ 3.1 ″ E