Contextualizing the Madaba Plains Project at Tall al-ʿUmayri: Iron II and Later Periods
Narrating Archaeological Sites and Places - Fifty Years of the Madaba Plains Project at Tall Hisban, Tall al-`Umayri, and Tall Jalul - Douglas R. Clark
Larry G. Herr [+]
Burman University
Larry G. Herr (PhD Harvard 1977) has taken part in 30 excavations in Jordan, Israel, and Tunisia, co-directing the Madaba Plains Project excavations at Tall al-ʿUmayri, Jordan—first with Larry Geraty and then Douglas Clark. After completing his doctorate, he taught near Manila in the Philippines from 1978 to 1984, and at Burman University in Alberta, Canada since 1985. He has produced 24 volumes, 216 articles, 17 book reviews, and has made 86 presentations at professional conferences. In addition, he was Associate Editor of the Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research (BASOR) for 17 years. His research interests include the development of ancient pottery in Jordan. Two of his edited volumes won awards from the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) and the Biblical Archaeology Society. He has also won two awards from ASOR for publications and field archaeology. He has worked as a consultant for several excavations, primarily in ceramic chronology.
Description
How do the results from the Iron IIB–C and Persian periods indicate the role that those settlements at ʿUmayri played within the empire systems at the time? There was almost no settlement at the site during Iron IIA, but a small village was established in the Iron IIB period (Stratum 8) probably somewhere in the 8th century B.C., according to the dating of a discovered house and other fragmentary finds. But the situation was very different during the Iron IIC–early Persian periods (Strata 7–5) when an administrative center and associated domestic dwellings were built, probably to administer nearby small agricultural estates, and found with associated seals and other indications of governmental activities.