Dolmen 317 and Its Hidden Burial: An Early Bronze Age I Megalithic Tomb from Jebel al-Mutawwaq (Jordan)

Polcaro, Andrea; Muñiz, Juan; Alvarez, Valentín; Mogliazza, Silvia

doi:10.5615/bullamerschoorie.372.0001

Cited by 19 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…The majority of sites of this type located and studied in Jordan are usually attributed to the Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age (see e.g. Kafafi, Scheltema 2005, Polcaro 2013, Polcaro et al 2014. This dating of the Umm Tuweyrat site may be indicated by some of the flint and ceramic artefacts found here (both those from the HLC Project excavations and the earlier survey mentioned above).…”

Section: Preliminary Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Umm Tuweyra

Kołodziejczyk

2023

saac

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During the 2021 season, a team of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University conducted an exploration of an Umm Tuweyrat site located in southern Jordan. The site constitutes a dolmen field located near the modern city of Ash-Shawbak. More than a dozen dolmens and other structures were identified on the site, indicating the use of the area by communities living in the region during the late prehistoric periods. As part of the research carried out on the site, the available areas were explored, all structures were cleaned and digitalized, and geological and material analyses were proceeded. This activity proved that future research on southern Jordanian dolmens has the potential to shed even more light on the rich cultural history of the region and deepen our understanding of the late prehistory.

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Section: Preliminary Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Umm Tuweyra

Kołodziejczyk

2023

saac

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“…Based upon the ceramics and other evidence, it is now possible to date this megalithic burial tradition to the EB I societies of the region (e.g. [ 30 , 33 , 42 , 43 ] and see overview in [ 3 ]). In contrast, while researchers have studied dolmens in the Golan and Galilee for over 150 years, the number of modern excavations performed is limited and, in many cases, restricted to a small number of dolmens as part of a salvage excavation [ 3 , 8 , 9 , 25 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have surveyed numerous dolmen fields, excavated many structures, and determined their chronology (e.g. [ 30 – 33 ]). All evidence suggests that east of the Jordan Rift Valley, south of the Yarmuk River, burial in dolmens was a common practice during the Early Bronze Age I (4 th millennium BC).…”

Section: Excavation Of Dolmen 3 Central Chambermentioning

confidence: 99%

Monumental megalithic burial and rock art tell a new story about the Levant Intermediate Bronze “Dark Ages”

et al. 2017

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The Intermediate Bronze Age (IB) in the Southern Levant (ca. 2350–2000 BCE) is known as the “Dark Ages,” following the collapse of Early Bronze urban society and predating the establishment of the Middle Bronze cities. The absence of significant settlements and monumental building has led to the reconstruction of IB social organization as that of nomadic, tribal society inhabiting rural villages with no central governmental system. Excavation in the Shamir Dolmen Field (comprising over 400 dolmens) on the western foothills of the Golan Heights was carried out following the discovery of rock art engravings on the ceiling of the central chamber inside one of the largest dolmens ever recorded in the Levant. Excavation of this multi-chambered dolmen, covered by a basalt capstone weighing some 50 tons, revealed a secondary multi-burial (of both adults and children) rarely described in a dolmen context in the Golan. Engraved into the rock ceiling above the multi-burial is a panel of 14 forms composed of a vertical line and downturned arc motif. 3D-scanning by structured-light technology was used to sharpen the forms and revealed the technique employed to create them. Building of the Shamir dolmens required a tremendous amount of labor, architectural mastery, and complex socio-economic organization well beyond the capacity of small, rural nomadic groups. The monumental megalithic burial of the Shamir dolmens indicates a hierarchical, complex, non-urban governmental system. This new evidence supports a growing body of recent criticism stemming from new discoveries and approaches that calls for rethinking our views of the Levantine IB “Dark Ages.”

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“…The sacred area of Jebel al-Mutawwaq (Jordan) comprises many representations of dotted serpents and zigzag motifs on ritual vessels dated from the EB1 period. A cultic ware with a serpent's head positioned near the rim advocates the close relation of this symbol with the liquid element filling the jar (Caselli 2020, 177, 179; Polcaro et al 2014, fig., 7; Sala 2011, 6–7). A similar use of the serpent motif is observed in Jericho (EB1).…”

Section: Refurbishing Ghassulian Values In the Bronze Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…(A–B): Miniature ossuary with a dotted serpent, Ben Shemen (Chalcolithic) (Israel Antiquities Authority); (C) Cultic jar with serpent from Jebel al-Mutawwaq (EB1) (from Polcaro et al . 2014, courtesy Andrea Polcaro, Università degli Studi di Perugia).…”

Section: Refurbishing Ghassulian Values In the Bronze Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Metallurgy—A Key Factor in the Transition from the Chalcolithic to Bronze Age in the Southern Levant

Amzallag¹

2021

CAJ

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The causes of the disappearance of Late Chalcolithic society (Ghassulian) in the early fourth millennium bc remain obscure. This study identifies the collapse as the consequence of a change in the approach to metallurgy from cosmological fundament (Late Chalcolithic) to a practical craft (EB1). This endogenous transition accounts for the cultural recession characterizing the transitional period (EB1A) and the discontinuity in ritual practices. The new practical approach in metallurgy is firstly observed in the southern margin of the Ghassulian culture, which produced copper for distribution in the Nile valley rather than the southern Levant. Nevertheless, the Ghassulian cultural markers visible in the newly emerging areas of copper working (southern coastal plain, Nile valley) denote the survival of the old cosmological traditions among metalworkers of the EB1 culture. Their religious expression unveils the extension of the Ghassulian beliefs attached to metallurgy and their metamorphosis into the esoteric fundaments of the Bronze Age religions.

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Dolmen 317 and Its Hidden Burial: An Early Bronze Age I Megalithic Tomb from Jebel al-Mutawwaq (Jordan)

Cited by 19 publications

References 5 publications

Umm Tuweyra

Umm Tuweyra

Monumental megalithic burial and rock art tell a new story about the Levant Intermediate Bronze “Dark Ages”

Cultural Metallurgy—A Key Factor in the Transition from the Chalcolithic to Bronze Age in the Southern Levant

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