Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.
12. EB IV Community in the Upper Wadi Zarqa, North Central Jordan: Ethnoarchaeological Perspectives
Transitions, Urbanism, and Collapse in the Bronze Age - Essays in Honor of Suzanne Richard - Jesse C. Long, Jr.
Khalid Douglas [+]
Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
Description
Several EBIV sites were found in the Upper Wadi az-Zarqa in north central Jordan indicating that the region was a favorite during this period. From an environmental perspective, this region is considered as a transitional area between the arid zone in the east and the Mediterranean one in the west. Excavations at three sites: Jabal er-Raheel, Khirbet al-Batrawy and Jneneh, showed that their inhabitants had adopted a semi-nomadic life-style where their substance economy relied mainly on seasonal agriculture and livestock. In order to understand their socio-economic lifestyle an ethno-archaeological study was carried out on a modern village located in the same region was taken as a case study. The village called Gharissa, it was established on a hill-top on the ruins of earlier settlements in the beginning of the twentieth century, settled for almost half century by a semi-nomadic community then it was abandoned completely. The inhabitants moved down and established a new village (New Gharissa). The ruins of the old village are relatively well preserved. Few of the first inhabitants are still a life. Interestingly interviewing some of them uncovered new aspects and ideas related to their way of life, environment adopted system and subsistence economy where it can be applied to understand the EBIV inhabitants of the region.