Qasr Mushasch

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Qasr Muschasch (also Mushash , Arabic قصر مشاش, DMG Qaṣr Mušāš ) is an archaeological site in today's Jordan . After the nearest town, the complex is sometimes called Qasr al-Muwaqqar (قصر الموقر, DMG Qaṣr al-Muwaqqar ), but this brings with it problems (cf. the section on the history of research and definition of terms ). The word Qasr ( Arabic القصر, DMG al-qaṣr  , castle, fortress') describes larger, mostly square buildings from the early Islamic period that could have both a representative and a military function. As such, Qasr Muschasch is often counted among the so-called desert castles of the Umayyads . In research, the longest time was mainly a series of columns capitals in this heavily damaged buildings known. However, new research by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) shows that there are many different sites spread over an area of ​​around 4 km² around the eponymous Qasr. These come from prehistory, Roman and Byzantine as well as early Islamic times. The facility is not used for tourism and is acutely endangered by illegal robbery excavations , some of which are carried out with heavy equipment.

Research history and definition of terms

The first scientific investigations took place in 1889 by the orientalist Rudolf Ernst Brünnow and the ancient historian Alfred von Domaszewski . In 1901 Alois Musil reported in his book about Qusair ʿAmra also from al-Muwaqqar. Further documentation of the increasingly decaying complex took place in the 1940s by Robert Hamilton and in 1968 by KAC Creswell . During the 1980s, the Jordanian authorities carried out small-scale excavations. The systematic investigations by the DAI began in 2011. In the related publications, the suspicion was expressed that the facility mentioned by Musil was actually in the modern town of al-Muwaqqar (around 20 km west of Qasr Muschasch) and no longer exists today. However, the entry in the database of the Museum with no frontiers suggests that very small remains of such a facility still exist in the local area of ​​al-Muwaqqar. There is a suspicion that Qasr al-Muwaqqar and Qasr Muschasch are two different systems that have been or are being confused again and again. This article deals with the facility recently examined by the DAI and clearly designated as Qasr Muschasch.

location

Qasr Muschasch is about 40 km east of Amman , in the western part of the Syrian Desert , a steppe landscape with a semi-arid climate . The eponymous Qasr is slightly elevated on a knoll from which both the desert in the east and the agricultural areas further to the west could be seen. At the foot of the summit, the eponymous Wadi Muschasch runs past, which sometimes has water during the winter rainy season, permanent water sources are not available. As with all so-called desert castles, the location of Qasr Muschasch was probably chosen strategically. A route runs here between Saudi Arabia and present-day Jordan, and the modern R40 road is only about two kilometers further south. On a clear day there is just a line of sight from Qasr Muschasch to the desert castles al-Qastal and Mschatta in the west and Kharaneh in the east.

history

In the course of the survey carried out by the archaeologists in 2012, a total of 131 prehistoric sites were found on the 4 km² site. More than half of them can be assigned to the Early Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic , the oldest finds date back around 1 million years. Only about 15 km from Qasr Muschasch there is a site called Kharaneh IV , which is of great importance for the proof of the slow transition of humanity to sedentarism. Finds from this epoch, known as the Epipalaeolithic , are, however, comparatively sparse around Qasr Muschasch. A concentration of Neolithic finds was found in one area in particular . The area was named Mushash 163 . A geomagnetic investigation revealed evidence of building remains. In the following excavation, the very rare evidence of a settlement from the pre-ceramic Neolithic, i. H. the tenth and ninth millennium BC Chr.

Scattered ceramic finds show that the actual Qasr Muschasch has its origin in a small Roman (military) post from the 2nd or 3rd century AD, which also existed in Byzantine times . However, the complex only regained greater importance after the Islamic expansion , when a more complex settlement with different areas of use emerged. All visible building remains come from this period of the late 7th and 8th centuries. The settlement was probably destroyed by an earthquake in the 8th century and then abandoned (for example, a severe earthquake is recorded in 749).

Description of some objects

In the course of the research work of the DAI it turned out that the archaeological sites are concentrated in two areas about 1.5 kilometers apart, which were called Qasr Muschasch West and Qasr Muschasch East . Both areas are located on smaller wadis that drain into Wadi Muschasch. The western area includes the eponymous Qasr Muschasch, several residential buildings, a central square with a bathroom, a large building interpreted as a caravanserai and several water supply systems. The Neolithic settlement is also in this area. In the smaller, eastern area there is another square system in the manner of a Qasr, some residential buildings and again systems for water supply.

The Neolithic Settlement

The area with the settlement of Mushash 163 is about 200 m southwest of the actual Qasr Muschasch and has an area of ​​about 60 by 45 m. The geomagnetic investigation revealed indications of 30 round or oval structures, most of them simple huts with a diameter of a few meters. To build these huts, the people of the Neolithic often dug a pit in the ground. The walls of this pit were lined with a layer of medium-sized stones and then - as the actual inner wall - large stones were placed vertically in front of it. There were no traces of wall or roof structures reaching higher. There is little evidence that the buildings originate from two different settlement phases, although the time lag between these is not particularly great. The discovery of a grave in the settlement is remarkable. The grave consists of a 1.3 m long pit, which was lined or closed with stone slabs. The dead person was lying on their side, crouched and facing north. A pestle and two slender basalt beakers were found next to the skeleton , which may have played a role in the funeral ritual. The grave also contained a limestone pearl and the houses of two cone snails from the Red Sea.

Using the radiocarbon method , the buildings could be traced back to the transition period between the late pre-ceramic Neolithic A around 9000 BC. And the early pre-ceramic Neolithic B to approx. 8200 BC To be dated. However, some of the stone tools, arrowheads, etc. found on the surface date to the late Neolithic (7th – 5th millennium BC), so that there must have been human activity in Mushash 163 during this period as well .

The Qasr Mushasch

The Qasr Muschasch, after which the entire area is named, is a relatively small, square building with a side length of 27 m. In contrast to many larger buildings of this type, it has no corner towers or bastions and should not have had an upper floor. The walls are made of roughly hewn limestone blocks and were originally plastered. The building had 14 rooms, which were grouped around a 13 by 13 m large inner courtyard. At least in the entrance area, carefully laid stone slabs formed the floor. There is also an Arabic building inscription in the entrance area. Although it does not name the builder, it confirms a renovation or partial new construction of the late antique building in early Islamic times.

Bath and caravanserai

A bathing facility was a typical part of both caravanserai and so-called desert castles (which sometimes also performed the tasks of a caravanserai). The rather small bathroom is located in the center of the Qasr Muschasch West area . Like the ancient baths, it had a caldarium that could be heated by means of hypocausts and, attached to it, three additional rooms for cooler baths and a kind of entrance area. The water came through a canal from an 18 by 7 m reservoir a few meters away. The bathroom was accessible via a cobblestone street and had a representative interior. In the entrance area there were remains of a painted marble paneling, as well as fragments of glass windows and stucco decoration

The largest building in the entire area is right next to the bath and reservoir, but it can only be seen in aerial photographs due to its extremely poor state of preservation. It is a 40 by 40 m building with an inner courtyard measuring 20 by 20 m. Because of the large yard, it is interpreted as a caravanserai. The outer walls have a base made of limestone blocks on which adobe masonry was placed. The entire group of buildings, consisting of the Qasr Muschasch, the bath with reservoir and the larger square building, can be interpreted as a resting place for caravans.

Qasr Muschasch West also includes several small residential buildings to the east and some larger residential buildings to the north of the so-called caravanserai. To the west outside the settlement is a square water basin with a side length of 21 m, 900 m north of the Qasr a large reservoir with a capacity of around 2000 m³.

The buildings of Qasr Muschasch Ost

No excavations took place in the area of Qasr Muschasch Ost . However, through geophysical investigations, another building of the Qasr type could be determined. The square building is 22 m long and has a central courtyard with eleven rooms. There are also the remains of simple residential buildings and several cisterns and dams for water supply. In contrast to the public facilities in Qasr Muschasch West , Qasr Muschasch Ost appears to have been a purely privately used settlement area.

literature

  • K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2012 and 2013. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 3, 2014, ISSN  2198-7734 , pp. 57–61. ( Download )
  • K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2014. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2015, ISSN  2198-7734 , pp. 50–56. ( Download )
  • K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2015 and 2016. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 3, 2016, ISSN  2198-7734 , pp. 124–128. ( Download )
  • K. Bartl, D. Rokitta-Krumnow: Mushash 163, Jordan. The excavation campaigns 2015/2016. The small lithic finds. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 1, 2017, ISSN  2198-7734 , pp. 97-104. ( Download )
  • K. Bartl: Mushash 163, Jordan. The excavation campaigns 2017 . In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2017, ISSN  2198-7734 , pp. 140 - 145. ( Download )
  • RE Brünnow, A. v. Domaszevski: The Provincia Arabia described on the basis of two trips made in 1897 and 1898 and the reports of previous travelers . 3 volumes, Trübner, Strasbourg 1904–1909.
  • R. Hamilton: Some Eighth Century Capitals from al-Muwaqqar. In: Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 12, 1948.
  • A. Musil: Ḳuṣejr ʿAmra. kk Hof- u. State printing office, Vienna 1907
  • CL Tvetmarken: Mushash 163, Jordan. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2015, ISSN  2198-7734 , pp. 46–49. ( Download )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ R. Hamilton: Some Eighth-Century Capitals from al-Muwaqqar. In: Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities in Palestine 12, 1948.
  2. ↑ a b c https://www.dainst.org/projekt/-/project-display/25864
  3. ↑ K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2015 and 2016. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 3, 2016, 127 f.
  4. ↑ a b Islamic Art , accessed September 19, 2018.
  5. ↑ a b c d e K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2014. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2015, p. 61 f.
  6. ↑ Cultech clearly mentions the buildings of Qasr Muschasch under the Lemma al-Muwaqqar .
  7. ↑ Qasr al Muwaqqar , Cultech, accessed on 19 September 2018th
  8. ↑ K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2012 and 2013. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 3, 2014, p. 58 f.
  9. ↑ CL Tvetmarken: Mushash 163, Jordan. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2015, p. 46 f.
  10. ↑ K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2015 and 2016. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 3, 2016, 125.
  11. ↑ CL Tvetmarken: Mushash 163, Jordan. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2015, p. 48
  12. ↑ K. Bartl, D. Rokitta-Krumnow: Mushash 163, Jordan. The excavation campaigns 2015/2016. The small lithic finds. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 1, 2017, 99 f.
  13. ↑ K. Bartl: Mushash 163, Jordan. The excavation campaigns 2017 . In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2017, p. 144 f.
  14. ↑ K. Bartl, D. Rokitta-Krumnow: Mushash 163, Jordan. The excavation campaigns 2015/2016. The small lithic finds. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 1, 2017, p. 101.
  15. ↑ K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2014. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 2, 2015, 59 f.
  16. ↑ K. Bartl: Qasr Mushash Survey. The work of 2015 and 2016. In: e-research reports of the DAI Faszikel 3, 2016, p. 126

Coordinates: 31 ° 48 ′ 49 ″  N , 36 ° 19 ′ 6 ″  E