Investigations at “Julianos' Church” at Umm-el-Jemal

Abstract

The main object of the expedition to Umm-el-Jemal, which was financed by the Walker Trust and sponsored by the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, in the summer of 1956, was to re-examine the evidence for the history of a church building which had been discovered and summarily surveyed by Professor H. C. Butler and the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria in the years 1904–1905. This was the church which the Princeton expedition named after a certain Julianos and dated to the year A.D. 344 on the basis of an inscription which they found lying in the ruins and which they associated (mistakenly, as it now seems) with the foundation of the church.Of the hundreds of church buildings which must have been constructed during the first half of the fourth century, very few are known to us, and a church with a recognisable plan and so early a date is a matter of considerable consequence in the study of the development of church architecture. It therefore seemed well worth while to make a special visit to the site of Julianos' church to verify the facts published by the Princeton Expedition; especially as their survey was a rather summary one and seemed, when the writer visited the site in 1953, to be mistaken in more than one important respect.

Anastylosis of Apsidal Roof Engineering for Ecclesiae of Hawrān during Late Antiquity: Case of Julianos Church in Umm el-Jimal, Jordan

“…The study sought to tackle the uncertainties about possible structural systems used for roo ng the apses in ecclesiastical architecture in Umm el-Jimal. Taking the case of Julianos Church, three theories are put forward; two of which are based on exiting reconstruction drawings available in literatures: the arcuated semidomical roof as suggested by Butler [14] and the at roo ng as suggested by Corbett and Reynolds [17]. A third theory is introduced in this study.…”

“…Although the apse is currently in a bad state of preservation (Figure 2), it has been repeatedly discussed in literature. Scholars provided two diverging roo ng theories for its apsidal area: a typical vaulted halfdome (as suggested by [14]) and an atypical corbelled at slab (as suggested by [17]) (Figure 2A, B).…”

“…It concludes by advancing a holistic perspective for comprehending ancient building techniques for church architecture in Hawrān during Late Antiquity. [2] Due to lack of a concrete archaeological evidence for dating Julianos Church in Umm el-Jimal, scholars suggest different time refernce for Julianos church: the 4 th centudy (according to [4,14,16]); the 5 th century (according to [17], and the 6 th century (according to [18]).…”

“…Realizing the capabilities of basalt stone in constructing at roofs along with the existing remains of transverse arches, Corbett and Reynolds provided reconstruction drawing depicting the roo ng system for the apse in Julianos Church with at double-corbelled roof resting on the transverse arches and covering the entire apse at two different levels (Figure 8) [17]. Basalt is used in building the roof as dry construction technique (stones with no mortar joints).…”

Characterization of Basalt for Conservation Use from Cultural Heritage Site of Umm El-Jimāl in Jordan

“…2). The region has a semi-arid climate, based on 150-200 mm annual rainfall (Al-Muheisen, 2009;Corbett and Reynolds, 1957).…”