ARAM 27:1&2 (2015), 309-323

KHIRBET AL KHALDE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SALVATION PROJECT

DR. FABRICE DE BACKER AND MR. JOHN M. SCOTT

(University of Louvain-La-Neuve)

Abstract

The Wadi Yutm Archaeological Survey Project (WYAS) was initiated in 2011 by the post-graduate student

John Scott for his doctoral dissertation on conflict archaeology at University of Bristol, UK. The project is

a component of the Great Arab Revolt Project, also based at University of Bristol, and was conducted in

affiliation with the Department of Archaeology of the Al-Hussein Bin Talal University, Ma’an, Jordan. The

focus of the project was gathering information on WWI and the Great Arab Revolt of 1916 to 1918 in the

Aqaba and Wadi Yutm region. In addition, the project was conducted to address an archaeological data gap

in the Wadi Yutm region for all time periods.

Work in 2011 consisted of site discovery and recording in the valley, with sites identified by systematic,

intensive pedestrian inventory of selected areas as well as by local informants and the use of satellite

imagery. All encountered sites were recorded, or, if previously documented, the sites were updated. In

addition, oral interviews of local Bedouin inhabitants of the valley were conducted. Fieldwork was

undertaken between March 8 and April 7, 2011 by a 12-member team consisting of 10 professional

archaeologists, a metal detectorist, and a photographer, with Scott serving as principal investigator. Dr.

Mansour Shqairat represented Al-Hussein Bin Talal University. Mohammed Thunibat was the Aqaba

Department of Antiquity’s (DoA) representative for the project.

The Khirbet al Khalde Archaeological Salvation Project was initiated by post-graduaates John Scott and

Doctor Fabrice De Backer for the study and preservation of the archaeological sites linked to the Idumeans,

Nabateans, and early periods recovered during the WYAS. As several of those can be clearly defined and

identified as such, the directors of the project will propose an overview of the most significant ones to the

attention of the scholarly community.

INTRODUCTION

The interest of Khirbet al Khalde as a first rank site for the study of water systems and land use in the

arid Wadi Ythm region has been raised during the Wadi Ythm Archaeological Survey conducted by

John M. Scott during March 2011 (Figure 1).

The Wadi Ythum Archaeological Survey 2011 is a way to properly record, investigate and study the

sites linked to the military history of the Wadi ythm, near Aqaba, in Jordan. KKASPu intends to

record, study and preserve Khirbet al Khalde, located on a strategic trade route between the Red Sea and

the Levant, from the threatening dangers linked to the conservation of the buildings and structures.

Khirbet al Khalde, « the ruins of Khalde », is a wonderful area located at the foot of a high, rocky

mountain, on the Eastern side of the highway between Ma’an and Aqaba, in Jordan.

Archaeological Salvation underlines the main objective of this project : preserving the site and providing

a large thesaurus of archaeological and anthropological data, would the site be destroyed or lost to the

erosion.

Unlimited shows the real desire of the project management team to reach its goal in time as well as

providing good luck and Positive Thinking.

« Kaspu » is a pun with the ancient Near Eastern kispu ritual, when people pour a libation of water

or wine on the tomb of the ancestors, to honour and remind them yearly1.

1 Iles-Johnston, S., Religions of the Ancient World (Harvard, 2004), 480; Jonker, G., The Topography of Remembrance.

the Dead, Tradition and Collective Memory in Mesopotamia (Leiden, 1995), p. 233.

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I. LOCATION

Khirbet al Khalde is located in the Wadi Ythm, at approximately fourty kilometers north-east of Aqaba,

on the fringes of the Ard as Sawwan Desert (Figure 1).

The site was built on the top of a small rising, in a wider part in the Wadi Ythm, between the main

series of mountains and a small hill on the south-eastern side of the valley2.

A. MODERN GEOGRAPHY

The modern rail road track that links Amman to the Red Sea has destroyed a part of the north-east and

south-west sides of the main fort, and is a threat to the conservation of the site3.

A modern highway without macadam and a line of electric pylons run on the north-eastern part of

the area, right at the foot of the mountains.

The ancient Desert Highway runs about five hundred meters from the site, south-west of Khirbet al-

Khalde, while the new road runs some eight hundred meters further away to the west4.

B. ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY

1) Milestones of the Via Nova Traiana

Trajan's highway certainly follows the itinerary of the ancient road of the caravans, running between

Philadelphia / Amman and the Red Sea, Israel and Arabia. After the Roman invasion, Trajan erected

milestones to facilitate the military transit and the logistics between the head of the new province and

the capital of the empire. These are usually left blank, without any inscriptions in the south of Arabia,

being much more a way to commemorate an event than a means to date a part of the road with precision.

Most of these were discovered between Quweira and Khirbet al Khalde, and to the south at Kithara,

and are attributed to Trajan (112 A.D.), Diocletian (293-305 A.D.)5 and Maxentius (307-308 A.D.)6.

2) Table of Peutinger

Praesidium appears on the bottom of Part IX on the Peutinger Table, produced after 328 A.D., around

twenty-one Roman miles from ad Dianam7, and twenty-five Roman miles south of Hauara, the

contemporary Humayma8, facing the Pernicide portum9.

This location fits quite well with the site of Khirbet al Khalde, located around thirty-three kilometers

from Humayma, and seventeen kilometers south of Guweira10.

3) Notitia Dignitatum

The Notitia Dignitatum presents a part of the sector defended by the Dux Palaestina, but as Hauara

appears on it, Praesidium station does not11.

2 Gregory, Sh., Roman Military Architecture on the Eastern Frontier (Amsterdam, 1997) , p. 406. 3 Kennedy, D., The Roman Army in Jordan (London, 2004b), p. 191, fig. 10.9B. 4 Kennedy, D., 2004, p. 190, fig. 10.9.A. 5 Graf, D., The Via Nova Traiana in Arabia Petraea in the Roman and Byzantine Near East : Recent Archaeological

Research (Ann Arbor [Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series, 14], 1995a, p. 23-28. 6 Graf, D., 1995a, p. 33. 7 Thomsen, P., “Untersuchungen zur älteren Palästinaliteratur, 2. Notitia Dignitatum”, Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-

Vereins, Bd. XXIX (1906), 125-126. 8 Kennedy, D., 2004, p. 199. 9 ˂http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost03/Tabula/tab_pe11.html˃ ˂http://soltdm.com/sources/mss/tp/

tp8.htm˃. 10 Kennedy D., 2004, p. 199. 11 Bayerische StaatsBibliotheek, p. 237.

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Folio Oriens 34, 41 of the Notitia Dignitatum, produced around 400 A.D., bears the quote Cohors

quarta Frygum, Praesidio, which means that a unit named Fourth Cohort of Phrygians is garrisoned at

Praesidium12.

According to most authors, the word "praesidium" defines a police station located along a highway

and was employed from Egypt to Thrace13.

This area does not appear on the fragments of the list of garrissons paying taxes on the later Beer

Shevar Edict14. Mention of a Praesidium exists, but some authors think that this term refers to another

police station located in the Wadi Araba, while B. Isaac rather links this one to the Prasidin on the Map

of Madaba and on this Edict15.

Another "Castellum et Praesidium" is mentioned in an inscription discovered in a small fort, south

of the Oasis of Azraq, at Qasr el-Uweini.

4) Mosaic of Madaba

The mosaic found in Saint Georges Church of Madaba, manufactured after 550 A.D., depicts a military

station called "Prasidin" in the Wadi Araba, on the Fragmentary Panel n° 8 of the map16.

This is clearly not the depiction of Khirbet al Khalde, as the difference between the landscapes

represented for Praesidium and Prasidin (al Fayfa) shows it.

The present author believes that, to the contrary of what appears to be a bad translation of the Latin

text of the Notitia Dignitatum, Ala Secunda Felix Valentiana was not garrisoned "at" Praesidium, but

"at the side of" Praesidium, as the original text reads "apud", and not "at"17.

II. DESCRIPTION

The settlement offers some features of primary interest and importance for the study of water and land

use in an arid region, in a country whose archaeology is far from well known to the scholar community.

A. WATER SYSTEMS

1) Aqueduct

An aqueduct system drained water from a spring on top of the adjacent mountains to the two

fortifications and the three visible cisterns at its foot (Figure 2-6). From there, as far as one can see, it

splits into three main channels.

The first one reaches a well at the south-eastern angle of Fort 2, and another smaller cistern inside

the inner court of that building.

The second one goes as far as the inner cistern inside the part A of Fort 1, flowing then from there

into part B, to the Roman hypocaust system.

The third channel reaches the three visible cisterns located at the north-east of Fort 1.

2) Cisterns

To the north-west of Fort 1, there are three large cisterns, one of which have lost most of its vault, but

still shows thick layers of waterproof mortar (Figure 7-8).

12 BSB, p. 238. 13 Isaac, B., The Limits of Empire. The Roman Army in the East, (Oxford, 1992), 174-175; 180. 14 Hartmann, R., Hartmann, R., “Materialen zur historischen Typographie der Palaestina Tertia”, Zeitschrift der Deutschen

Palästina Vereins, 36 (1913), 181-182; Isaac, B., The Near East under Roman Rule, Selected Papers, (Amsterdam, 1998), 451. 15 Kennedy D., 2004, p. 201, note 3. 16 ˂http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/sections/section8.html˃. 17 ˂http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/legends/legends098.html˃; Notitia Dignitatum, fol. 73, 35.

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B. FORTIFICATIONS

1) Fort 1

Fort 1 is divided into two parts on a square plan.

Part A is built with large ashlars and rocks forming a series of casemate walls around an inner court,

in the center of which lies a subterranean square cistern, with a gate on its north-eastern side.

Part B is composed of casemate walls, under which three rows of three tombs can be seen. The north-

eastern one having been re-employed in a period as the praefurnium and underground heating area of

the hypocaust that was build right above this place (Figure 2-3; 9-10).

2) Hypocaust

Remains of a hypocaust system can be observed in the north-eastern side of part B, in Fort 1, among

rubbles of small characteristic square and circular, flat tiles, tubuli, pieces of wall plaster and pipes.

This area is badly damaged, probably, because of the gold diggers and of the proximity of the railroad

(Figure 3; 9-10).

3) Fort 2

Fort 2 reveals the same architectural characteristics as Fort 1. This building presents a rectangular plan

of casemate walls around an inner court, in the center of which lies a rectangular subterranean cistern

(Figure 2-3).

C. TOMBS

Three rows of three tombs are located under the remains of the hypocaust of part B in Fort 1. The

north-eastern row of three chambers is the only accessible and most visible part of the three tombs

(Figure 9). The lintels are made up of large ashlars with a hacked decoration of a fish-scale pattern that

was covered by several layers of a thick mortar dating from the time they were re-employed as a

praefurnium. The protruding door jambs show the same ornamental patterns, with a horizontal gutter

located on their base to receive large, flat and rectangular slabs covering the access when the tombs

would be sealed up.

The rectangular chambers were covered by large, flat and rectangular stone slabs, perhaps when these

were re-employed as the area of the bath (Figure 10). The large, rectangular wall slabs are decorated

the same way as the entrance. The roof is made up of large rectangular stone slabs, covered by several

layers of a thick mortar, in order to make it waterproof and to protect it from the carbon monoxyde

resulting from several fires, as can be observed today. The rooms were half-filled, according to a close

observation, with soft soil, in order to receive the bessales supporting the suspensura.

III. RELATIVE CHRONOLOGY

More research are on their way at this very moment to prepare a monograph with further data on the

chronology of Khirbet al Khalde.

A. PRE-NABATEAN PHASE

Some reasons lead to think that the tombs located under the Roman baths were dug before the Nabatean

period, something which the management team is currently investigating for the forthcoming

publication18.

1) Tombs

18 Work in progress.

Dr. Fabrice De Backer and Mr. John M. Scott

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The hypogeum presents very similar features to those of the tombs from earlier periods, as the kind of

architecture chosen strongly reminds of the Ugaritic and Assyrian style sepulchres, this perhaps can be

linked to a Late Iron Age people living in a part of the Wadi Ythm that still needs to be surveyed.

2) Fort 1

Fort 1 presents huge blocks of granite hardly square or rectangular, without mortar19.

This building was certainly employed from the second c. B.C. at least to the seventh c. A.D. at the latest.

3) Aqueduct

If the tombs were actually dug under the ground of a house, as it reminds the Mesopotamian and

Levantine habits, thus the power of the people deposited inside the hypogeum certainly came from their

control of the resources in water of the area.

If that were so, thus the first installation of the cisterns and aqueduct should be, at least, contemporary

with the tombs, but there is no doubt that it was employed at least from the second c. B.C. to the fifth c.

A.D. at the latest.

B. NABATEAN PHASE20

Some ceramic sherds were discovered on the surface, in some soundings and around the site of Khirbet

al Khalde, providing a relative chronology dated to the Nabatean period21.

1) Fort 1

A new facing was built on the walls of the main fort, with very good sandstone ashlars, bearing traces

of Nabatean chisels22, well organized in successive, horizontal layers and stuck with mortar23.

2) Fort 2

So far, further surveys and excavations are required to collect more data on the earlier phases of the

tombs, Fort 2, the aqueduct and the cisterns, and this is another goal of the present excavation team of

KKASPu.

C. ROMAN PHASE24

The chronology of the Roman period can be quite well established thanks to the close observation of

other sites, more or less similar, in the region.

So far, only the data recovered by the Wadi Ythm Archaeological Survey Project under the direction

of John Scott in March 2011, and the extensive research conducted by the Khirbet al Khalde

Archaeological Salvation Project of Dr. Fabrice De Backer can provide a more accurate chronology of

the site.

The KKASPu team currently prepares the forthcoming fieldwork season to clarify some points of

the Khirbet al Khalde chronology.

1) Fort 1

Some coins were discovered on the site of Khirbet al Khalde, as in the east gate of the north wall in Fort

1, dated to Diocletian (between 284 and 305 A.D.). Others were found in soundings, attributed to

19 Kennedy, D., 2004, p. 200. 20 Work in progress. 21 Kennedy, D., 2004, p. 201. Gregory, Sh., 1997, p. 406. 22 Gregory, Sh., 1997, p. 408. 23 Kennedy, D., 2004, p. 200. 24 Work in progress.

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Constantine (307-337 A.D.), Constantine II The Young (337-340 A.D.), and Constantius II (337-361

A.D.), for one that was revealed in a cistern North-East of Fort 1. These certainly were lost by travelers

or Roman soldiers.

Some ceramic sherds were discovered on the surface and in soundings here and there on the site of

Khirbet al Khalde25.

2) Fort 2

Apart from the Roman bath, Fort 2 presents a very similar plan to that of Fort 1, although it shows

smaller proportions. This building certainly gave shelter to a particular troop of Roman soldiers, or the

mounted part of the band that stayed at Khirbet al Khalde.

Fort 2 was occupied from the second c. A.D. at least to the sixth or the seventh c. A.D. at the latest.

3) Tombs

It is possible that the rooms were built during the Iron Age, and some of them were re-employed as a

praefurnium for the bath of the Roman garrison between the beginning of the second c. A.D. to the sixth

c. A.D. at the latest.

The tombs were certainly emptied of their deposits during the building of the Roman bath, if they

were not looted earlier. The close observation of this area reveals that the inner walls separating the

chambers and their cover were taken out to fill in the space up to the middle height with soft soil.

After that, the workers installed many lines of small tiles, circular and rectangular, typically

employed for the building of the Roman hypocaust, and they covered the whole with huge, flat and

rectangular plates of sandstone. Many layers of a thick mortar, heavily composed with sand, came then

to cover the joints, the frame of the door and the entrances to create a praefurnium, thanks to the north-

eastern part of the tomb chambers.

The builders then set the network of pipes to heat the rooms located on top of the tombs, thanks to

the fire maintained in front of these ones. The two or three other lines of tombs, it is supposed, served

as wood storage facilities, but only the forthcoming excavation campaign will help to clarify that idea.

The presence of baths implies a strong concentration of water and wood, something which is not a

surprise as the aqueduct leads inside both forts and that both of them have an inner cistern in their main

court. Meanwhile, the very high consumption of wood strongly contrasts with the modern desertic

appearance of the landscape around the site. These baths were probably heated with straw and dung or

even dung bricks, or with another combustible that could explain the huge area covered with such a wide

and deep layer of ashes on the north-eastern side of Fort 1 (Figure 3).

Other, neighbouring sites from the same period also present a bath complex, a fact that seems to

demonstrate how much the soldiers suffered from boredom and how dense the vegetation of the area

must have been at that time in certain areas nearby26.

4) Cisterns

The current status of the cisterns does not allow the KKASPu team to study them extensively, as the

first of them is still employed by the landowner of the site of Praesidio, the second is filled with sand

and the third has not been surveyed during the last campaign of WYAS, due to a lack of time.

Fortunately, both Mr John Scott and Dr. De Backer are preparing a forthcoming campaign on the

spot to fill in the gaps in the data recovered.

So far, a close observation of the fragments of vaults and walls of the cisterns reveals a very long

employment of these structures, proved by the several layers of mortar used to make it waterproof.

5) Aqueduct

25 Kennedy, D., 2004, p. 201. 26 Even if these baths were only heated with dung bricks.

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The aqueduct sadly presents today scanty archaeological evidence, as its conservation state is far from

sufficient or good, although the WYAS has very accurately and extensively recorded every single piece

of its visible structure.

Anyways, the presence and intensive employment of the baths and cisterns of Khirbet al Khalde

seem to indicate that this building worked quite well during the Roman period of Praesidium.

D. BYZANTINE PHASE27

Future fieldwork will certainly reveal more materials to understand the Byzantine phase of Khirbet al

Khalde.

So far, ceramic sherds discovered on the surface indicates the seventh c. A.D., in and around the

ruins of Khalde28.

1) Christian Tomb

A Christian tombstone was discovered near the ruins of Khalde, proving that a religious community

stayed on the site during the sixth or the seventh centuries A.D.29.

2) Fort 2

So far, epigraphy does not provide many texts for the study of Khirbet al Khalde, as a single fragment

of inscription with some Greek letters has been found on the surface, outside of the south-western wall

of Fort 2.

IV. CONSERVATION

Although Khirbet al Khalde has never been excavated, several transformations of the adjacent landscape

seriously damaged the site.

A. TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMY

1) Railroad Track Construction

The building of the railroad track close to the site drew the attention of a substantial amount of looters

who put all their energy in digging a very deep and chaotic hole in the middle of the western part of the

site, thus bringing the tombs to light, but endangering their load-bearing pillars.

2) Railroad Track Proximity

The railroad track is often driven through by heavy trains, bringing the phosphates to the harbour for

export (Figure 2-3). The vibrations caused by the train pose a serious threat to the stability of the balance

of the roof covering the tombs (Figure 10).

B. HUMANS

1) Looters and Gold Diggers

Looters and gold diggers have heavily damaged the surrounding area, leaving deep and chaotic marks

around the corners of the two forts and inside the main building.

27 Work in progress. 28 Gregory, S., 1997, p. 406. 29 Oliver, J., “A Christian Epitaph from Eastern Palestine”, American Journal of Archaeology, 45 (1941), 542-543; Glueck,

N., “Exploration in Eastern Palestine III”, Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, vol. 1819 (New Haven, 1939),

18, fig. 10.

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2) Accidental Settlers

The nomadic people who wander the area leave plastic bags, tins and other trash behind in the middle

of the site, as far as inside the tombs, and also move blocks to build fire-shelters (Figure 10).

3) Lack of Human Interest

Although this most significant site has already been visited, surveyed and planned quite well, no real

attempts at any scientific recording has yet been made on the spot before the WYAS. Hopefully the

KKASPu project will solve the current situation.

C. NATURE

1) Natural Erosion

Jordan is a wonderful country but suffers from the nature of its soil, very loose stone, added to the heat

of the day, to the frost of the night and the strong wind, blowing in the open area to the north of Aqaba.

2) Earthquake

As they stand today, the heavy walls of the Roman station and later fort were most probably destroyed

by an earthquake, since these are fairly common in Jordan. This is certainly another good reason to

preserve the site, especially if one considers the potential damages another earthquake might cause to

the remaining buildings.

CONCLUSION

The KKASPu team currently prepares the publication of the preliminary report of Khirbet al Khalde

around the main themes of its location, identity, land use and water systems30.

Mr Scott and Dr. De Backer are looking for fundings and partners in order to organize the

forthcoming field campaign and excavate the tombs properly.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Avi-Yonah, M., The Madaba Mosaic Map, with Introduction and Commentary, (Jerusalem, 1954.)

De Backer, F., Tombs in the Desert: Water and Stones at Khirbet al Khalde, Forthcoming.

Fairley, W., Notitia Dignitatum or Register of Dignitaries, in Translations and Reprints from

Original Sources of European History, Vol. VI: 4 (Philadelphia, 1894)

Glueck, N., Explorations in Palestine, III. Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research,

Vol. XVIII-XIX (New Haven, 1937-1939)

Glueck, N., Exploration in Eastern Palestine III, Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research,

vol. 1819 (New Haven, 1939).

Graf, D., “The Via Nova Traiana in Arabia Petraea in the Roman and Byzantine Near East : Recent

Archaeological Research.” Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary, Vol. 14 (Ann

Arbor, 1995a), 241-267.

Gregory, Sh., Roman Military Architecture on the Eastern Frontier, (Amsterdam, 1997)

Hartmann, R., “Materialen zur historischen Typographie der Palaestina Tertia”, Zeitschrift der

Deutschen Palästina Vereins, 36 (1913) 100-113; 180-198.

Iles-Johnston, S., Religions of the Ancient World. A Guide, (Harvard, 2004)

Isaac, B., The Limits of Empire. The Roman Army in the East, (Oxford, 1992)

30 De Backer, F., Tombs in the Desert. Forthcoming.

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Isaac, B., The Near East under Roman Rule, Selected Papers, (Amsterdam, 1998)

Jonker, G., The Topography of Remembrance. The Dead, Tradition and Collective Memory in

Mesopotamia, (Leiden, 1995)

- Kennedy, D., Ancient Jordan from the Air, (London, 2004a)

- Kennedy, D., The Roman Army in Jordan, (London, 2004b)

Notitia Dignitatum. Speyer 1542 und 1550 - 1552, Bayerische StaatsBibliothek (BSB), Münchener

DigitalieserungsZentrum.

Oliver, J., “A Christian Epitaph from Eastern Palestine”, American Journal of Archaeology 45 (1941),

542-543.

Thomsen, P., "Üntersuchungen zur älteren Palästinaliteratur, 2. Notitia Dignitatum". Zeitschrift des

Deutschen Palästina-Vereins Bd. XXIX (1906), 120-127.

˂http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost03/Tabula/tab_pe11.html˃

˂http://soltdm.com/sources/mss/tp/tp8.htm˃

˂http://soltdm.com/sources/mss/tp/tp8.htm˃

<http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/sections/section8.html>

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Figure 1: Map showing the location of the Wadi Ythm Archaeological Survey Project in Jordan (Courtesy of

John Scott. WYAS 2011).

Figure 2 : Region of Khirbet al Khalde with the two forts and the aqueduct. Map drawn and annotated by John

Scott (Courtesy of John Scott. WYAS 2011).

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Figure 3 : Plan of the two forts of Khirbet al Khalde drawn by John Scott (Courtesy of John Scott. WYAS 2011).

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Figure 4 : Water pipe of the aqueduct. Side view (Picture of the author).

Figure 5 : Water pipe of the aqueduct. Front view (Picture of the author).

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Figure 6 : Water basin located at middle length of the aqueduct (Picture courtesy of John Scott. WYAS Project 2011).

Figure 7 : Cistern from the Khirbet al Khalde area (Picture courtesy of John Scott. WYAS Project 2011).

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Figure 8 : Vault of a cistern still in use nowadays (Picture courtesy of John Scott. WYAS Project 2011).

Figure 9 : Entrance of the north-western row of chamber tombs at Khirbet al Khalde (Picture of the author).

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Figure 10 : Inside of the north-western row of chamber tombs at Khirbet al Khalde (Picture of the author).

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