Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.

Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.

7. EBI and Early Urbanism in Jordan: New Lights on a Formative Period from Jebel Mutawwaq

Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.

Andrea Polcaro [+-]
University of Perugia
Andrea Polcaro, MA and PhD in Archaeology at Sapienza University of Rome, was first fixed term researcher and then research fellow at Perugia University, Italy, where since 2008 he is contract professor in Near Eastern Archaeology. His main research interests are funerary archaeology, landscape archaeology, Early Bronze Age urbanization and megalithism, and ancient Near Eastern religions. Since 2012, he co-directs the Italian-Spanish Archaeological Expedition to Jebel al-Mutawwaq, Jordan. Since 2014, he co-directs the Italian Archaeological Expedition to the Sumerian site of Tell Zurghul, ancient Nigin, in Southern Iraq. From 2015, he also co-directs the Italian-American-Jordanian MRAMP (Madaba Regional Archaeological Museum Project), which concerns the valorization of the Madaba Archaeological Park West and the setup of a new archaeological museum. He has published a book (Costumi Funerari in Palestina dal Bronzo Antico I al Bronzo Antico III - CMAO XI Rome 2006), a university manual (Archeologia della Mesopotamia - Carocci 2015), and more than 50 papers in national and international scientific journals.

Description

Jebel al-Mutawwaq is an Early Bronze Age I site located along the Middle Wadi az-Zarqa Valley in the center of the Transjordan highlands. The recent excavations of the Italian-Spanish archaeological expedition have identified two main phases of occupation of the site, corresponding to the EB IA and to the EB IB-IIA periods. The site shows peculiar architectonical features reflecting the social organization of the settlement already form the EB IA. This article addresses the actual state of the science on the EB I, considered not only as a transitional period but also as a formative moment in the history of the southern Levant. The discoveries of the last years in Jebel al-Mutawwaq, both in the settlement with large public buildings excavated in the central and eastern sectors and in the necropolis with several dolmens recovered intact, are illustrated in the article. These discoveries demonstrate that Jebel al-Mutawwaq must be considered a key site for the study of the development of the Jordanian population of the central highlands during the different phases of transformation and evolution of the settlement from the villages to the first walled cities of the EB II-III.

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Citation

Polcaro, Andrea. 7. EBI and Early Urbanism in Jordan: New Lights on a Formative Period from Jebel Mutawwaq. Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. p. 95-109 Nov 2021. ISBN 9781781797204. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=37723. Date accessed: 28 Mar 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.37723. Nov 2021

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