Three previously unpublished Nabataean inscriptions from Umm al‐Jimāl (Jordan), as well as one published by Enno Littmann, are presented here. Emphasis is placed on the personal names attested in the inscriptions.
The four new inscriptions tackled here were written by four persons, three from the same social group ʾl ʾty, a hitherto sparsely attested group. They came to Birak al‐Wisād most probably seeking water and pasture for their animals and might have settled there from early summer until late summer. They designated the source of water they came to as nhy. After considering the epigraphic, linguistic and archaeological information, the paper confirms that this word should be understood as “pool”. In addition, the four inscriptions delivered two so far unattested personal names, Wrṯn and Ḫmrt. For the first time in Safaitic inscriptions, one of the inscriptions introduced the expression w wrd h‐ʾwl ʾns1 “And he went down to the water as the first of (all) people”.
Since the early nineteenth century, individuals interested in the antiquities of Jordan investigated, documented, and interpreted the archaeological finds they encountered or excavated in this country. Their approaches developed over time, not only due to the advancement of scientific methods and tools, but also because during the last two centuries major changes affected the religious and political motivations of western archaeology in the southern Levant. In the first part, the paper traces the basic elements of these developments and their intellectual background and, in a second part, it outlines the methods Jordanian archaeologists utilized to engage with their own cultural heritage over the same period. The paper concludes with recommendations for Jordanian archaeologists that would pave the way for a state-of-the-art investigation of Jordanian antiquities, on the one side, and for a proper appreciation of the contribution of Jordanian archaeology to the Jordanian cultural identity, on the other.
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