Tall Zira'a

The Tall Zira'a (or: Tell Zera'a) (Arabic: تلّ زَرعة) is an archaeological tell in Jordan. Surveys and geophysical investigations showed the site's great potential for excavations.

Tall Zira´a contains evidence of over 5000 years of settlement – almost without cultural gaps, at the point at which the Syrian cultural sphere meets the Palestinian. Its almost continuous stratigraphy from Early Bronze Age to the Islamic periods can possibly demonstrate the history of northeast Jordan.

The Tall

Tall Zira'a is a large hill some south-west of the ancient Decapolis city of Gadara in northern Jordan. It is situated at the confluence of the Wadi el-'Arab and its tributary, the Wadi az-Zahar. The tall rises about above the surrounding area. The settlements were built on top of a natural limestone hill, which has a dimension of about in diameter at its base. The plateau measures in diameter. The cultural layers are between and thick.

An artesian well is located in the centre of the hill, which used to provide water in abundance, but dried up rapidly in the last years due to excessive pumping by the owners of the surrounding olive tree plantations. The hill is protected by sheer rock faces on its east and north sides. The south flank of the tall offers the best opportunity to overcome the 22–25 m difference in altitude comfortably via a long, ascending track from west to east.

One terrace is located on the western, the other on the northern base of the tall. Both areas were protected by deep truncations into the Wadi el-'Arab. They served as lower cities near the wadi. However, the north terrace was recently bulldozed for a new olive orchard, and the archaeological remains have thus been seriously disturbed.

Special Importance

In the Wadi el-'Arab, one can find traces of human activities and settlement places from all periods, dating back to the Paleolithic. Tall Zira'a – the most important site in this area – was used for settlement from the Early Bronze Age up to 1900 CE. It contains evidence of over 5000 years of continuous settlement – almost without large cultural gaps. It means it is possible to observe not only all the different cultural periods in one place, but also the transitions between them.

When Gadara rose to prominence, the tall temporarily stopped being the most important settlement in the region. At the end of the 7th century, however, Gadara declined and the tall became the central settlement once again.

Its importance stems from three facts:

First, its position in an area of fertile soil and surrounded by two freshwater-bearing wadis (Wadi el-'Arab and Wadi az-Zahar).

Second, there is an active freshwater artesian spring on top of the tall. It has been a beneficial and wondrous phenomenon, and a very important factor from a strategic point of view.

Third, the tall's strategic position along an ancient and highly important trade route. The ascent from 290 metres below sea level in the Jordan Valley to the Irbid-Ramtha-area at c. 560 metres above sea level, can be surmounted via the Wadi el-'Arab without steep or narrow passages. This makes the Wadi el-'Arab an ideal route, connecting the trade routes along the Mediterranean via the Jordan valley with Transjordan and, further to the north-east, with Damascus and Mesopotamia. Just as important is the shortcut via Hauran to the east and the centre of Mesopotamia, used since the 5th millennium B.C.

Exploration

In 1885, Gottlieb Schumacher surveyed the Wadi el-'Arab and mentioned Tall Zira'a. Nelson Glueck visited the Tall Zira'a in 1942. In March 1978, a two-day archaeological rescue investigation was initiated by the Department of Antiquities into the course of the Wadi el-'Arab dam project. In September 1983, this was followed up by a brief archaeological survey supervised by J. W. Hanbury-Tenison in the Wadi el-'Arab.

The 2000s excavations are part of the “Gadara Region Project” – an interdisciplinary study of the regional history of Gadara. The long-term archaeological project (2001–2015) investigates the Wadi el-'Arab region, which extends over . In August 2001, a survey on Tall Zira'a and in its surroundings was conducted by the Biblical Archaeological Institute Wuppertal, directed by Dieter Vieweger. In September 2003, he started the first excavation campaign. Since 2004, the project has continued with two campaigns a year as a co-operative project of the Biblical Archaeological Institute Wuppertal and the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman (since 2006 also Jerusalem), directed by Vieweger and Jutta Häser.

Areas I-III (2003-2008)

Area I

Natural settings and geophysical investigations showed that the west slope of the tall was a promising site to rapidly expose the stratigraphy of the tall. Accordingly, Area I was opened in 2003 and enlarged in spring 2008 to . In all of the area excavated, a depth of of the proposed of cultural layers is reached. The youngest Late Bronze Age Level is completely uncovered.

Area II

A second area was opened in spring 2006. It is located on one of the highest points of the plateau and is protected by a steep slope to the north. This prominent position is the most outstanding location on the tall. It was chosen because of its potential for yielding administrative and/or cultic buildings. The area was enlarged in spring 2008 to . Up to now a large Roman-Byzantine Dwelling Complex with several building phases was exposed.

Area III

The third excavation area was prepared for test excavation in the south of the tall in 2007. There is a Roman-Byzantine villa rustica (in an oriental version) expected. In a test trench (5 m x 1 m) excavated in 2007, a paved floor of the Roman Villa with a door way, a door hinge stone (out of context) and a water collecting basin near the door way (in situ) came to light. A large cistern (11 m x 6 m x 5.75 m) accessible through a hole in the roof, has already been explored in 2001. Its inner surface is covered by an eight centimetre thick plaster lining.

Summary of the results until spring 2008

• Early Bronze Age
  • City wall, Test trench on the western slope
• Middle Bronze Age
  • At least two strata, habitation, test trench on the western slope
• Late Bronze Age
  • At least three strata
  • Middle stratum,
  • City wall, water channel - Excavation
  • Latest stratum 1450–1300 BCE (C14 dated)
  • Casemate wall, tower with sanctuary, gate, water channels, three residential buildings, two monumental representative building with a hoard of 23+5 cylinder seals, silver pendant, scarabs, beads etc. - Excavation
• Iron I 12th–11th century BCE (C14 dated)
  • Two large buildings (a "four room house" and a courtyard house) and agricultural activities (silos, huts, stables) - Excavation
• Iron II 10th–8th century BCE (C14 dated)
  • Fortified city, “zigzag wall”, buildings in an agglomerated system, workshops - Excavation
• Late Hellenistic-Early Roman
  • Pits - Excavation
• Roman-Byzantine(-Umayyad) 1st–7th century CE
  • Large, densely inhabited site; Villa rustica; (later) also fortified - Excavation
• Middle Islamic
  • Some houses and agricultural activities-Survey
• Late Islamic
  • Some houses and agricultural activities-Survey
• Ottoman
  • Some houses and agricultural activities-Report of Schumacher

History

Early Bronze Age

The survey of the tall showed a high concentration of Early Bronze Age pottery in Area I. However, only the outer layer of a massive 2.2 m high Early Bronze Age fortification wall could be excavated in the step trench beyond the Late Bronze Age city wall.

Middle Bronze Age

So far, the remains of two Middle Bronze Age strata with residential buildings have been uncovered in the same part of Area I, 2 m below the Late Bronze Age casemate wall. Currently it is not possible to say anything definite about the Middle Bronze Age culture before the still unexcavated Late Bronze Age level and further strata have been excavated. It is a unique case in northern Jordan that we have the opportunity to observe the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age culture.

Late Bronze Age

In the Late Bronze Age (14th–13th century BCE), at least three settlements existed on the tall. For the time being, only the latest Late Bronze Age stratum could be exposed. Several observations indicate that the tall was the centre of a Late Bronze Age city state: The strong fortifications, the massive architecture, the high percentage (5%) of imported pottery from Cyprus and Greece as well as the numerous noteworthy single finds. The most remarkable building of this stratum is the massive casemate wall which fortified the settlement at the north-west flank. A charcoal sample from the collapsed walls gave a radio-carbon date between 1450 and 1300 BCE with 95.4% probability. Six rooms in the case-mate wall could be excavated. Three drainage channels from the residential area end in one of the casemates – originally covered with flat stone slabs. At this point, the water flowed into a semicircular basin from where it drained into a deep, almost circular shaft lined with undressed stones. The three channels substitute an older channel from the middle Late Bronze Age stratum which was covered by the casemates of the city wall of the younger Late Bronze Age stratum. South of the casemate wall a large tower was uncovered. This inward-built tower was divided into two rooms paved with small pebbles. The northern room was connected to the southern part of the casemate wall. It was probably used by the guard. In a later building phase, the southern room was divided by a small wall with two column bases. They probably originally supported wooden columns to carry the roof. A large stone – worked on its base and tapered at the top – found in this room might be a mazzebe (cultic stone). This find and the special layout of the room point to it serving as a small gate sanctuary.

In the spring campaign of 2006, the first domestic structures were found inside the casemate wall. Unlike their Iron Age counterparts, these houses have sizable ground plans. The width of their walls suggests that they possessed a number of …