Villages of the early islamic Period in the Petra region

Khairieh amr – ahmad al-momani

Résumé : La recherche archéologique au centre de la cité de Pétra, en Jordanie du sud, a jusqu’à maintenant découvert de faibles traces d’une présence arabe ancienne, et dans ce cas seulement ce qui semble être une réoccupation pauvre de structures tardives antérieures. La région proche est également totalement absente des récits des conquêtes islamiques, et les mentions plus tardives jusqu’aux Croisades se rapportent principalement aux régions plus à l’est.

Les travaux d’archéologie préventive conduits par les auteurs dans les secteurs urbanisés d’époque moderne de la région de Petra ont cependant révélé la présence de plusieurs villages agricoles actifs qui couvrent de la période byzantine tardive à la période abbasside ancienne. La période semble témoigner d’un changement d’occupation favorisant de petits habitats dispersés, un modèle bien adapté à l’exploitation agricole.

En particulier, la fouille du site de Khirbat al-Nawāfla, dans la ville moderne du Wādī Mūsā, a aussi produit des preuves d’une coexistence des Chrétiens et des Musulmans à l’intérieur d’une même communauté durant la période abbasside ancienne.

i. Petra at the eve of the muslim Conquests

South Jordan was the ‘gateway’ of the Muslim conquerors for their expansion outside the Arabian Peninsula. The routes of the Conquests and the agreements struck with local Jordanian entities are extensively described in the historical records. Petra, which was on the main route across Jordan and the metropolitan see of a Bishop that seems to have had special connections with the royal family,1 is however not mentioned in the Annals of the Conquests, where major events are reported to have taken place east of Petra.2 The first Muslim army crossing Jordan camped at Maʿān before heading to battle at Muʾta in 8 AH/AD 629 (al-Ṭabarī vol. 5.3:37; Ibn al-Athīr vol. 2:230); the first agreements were struck with the (possible) Bishop of Ayla and the delegations of Udhruḥ and al-Jarbā – both of which may be considered as the eastern edge of the Petra region – in 9 AH/AD 630 (al-Ṭabarī vol. 3:108; Ibn al-Athīr vol. 2:280; al-Balādhurī: 71-72; Ibn Sallām: 249; al-Masʿūdī: 272; al-Yaʿqūbī vol. 2:68); followed by the four conquest armies sent by Abū Bakr to Palestine via Ayla and to Jordan via Tabūk in 13 AH/AD 634 (al-Ṭabarī vol. 3:389; al-Balādhurī: 116).

1. R. Schick, The Christian Communities of Palestine from Byzantine to Islamic Rule: A Historical and Archaeological Study, Princeton, 1995, p. 17-18.

2. For an excellent overview of the situation in Palestine, including Palaestina Tertia, from the Persian invasion to the Abbasid period see Schick, The Christian Communities, p. 9-111.

Around the same time or soon afterwards, before 680, the metropolitan see was also moved north, to ar-Rabba near al-Karak.3

The period between the late sixth and mid-seventh centuries was a difficult time for Jordan, with the Persian invasion between 614 and 630, tribal tribulations, a major earthquake on the year of the Muslim conquest of 636, followed by an outbreak of the plague in 639/40, and perhaps also accompanied by a long period of draught.

Petra was mentioned as a “hard and distant place of exile” during the first decades of the sixth century,4 but since the early 1990s, archaeological work in the Petra Basin revealed the presence of a wealthy community up to the “Late Byzantine” period that was able to construct ornate churches,5 although the city’s past glory was already dwindling even by the sixth century.6 The evidence for continuity into the Early Islamic period is however scarce within the city. Only what could be interpreted as sporadic squatter occupation was found,7 although the religious

3. See R. Schick, Ecclesiastical History of Petra, in Z. T. Fiema et al. The Petra Church, Amman, 2001, p. 2.

4. Ibid.5. Z. T. Fiema et al. The Petra Church, Amman, 2001; P. M. Bikai, The

Ridge Church at Petra, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 40, 1996, p. 481-486.

6. Z. T. Fiema, Historical Conclusions, in Fiema et al., The Petra Church, p. 425-436.

7. For example at the church in Petra; see also P. C. Hammond, Excava-tions at Petra 1975-1977, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 22, 1978, p. 83.

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centre at Jabal an-nabī Hārūn to the south of Petra seems to continue.8

Several centuries later, the Crusaders could only occupy al-Wuʿayra in 1144 after threatening to cut down all the olive trees in the Wādī Mūsā region.9 Olive cultivation, with its requirement for long-term care, is a clear indicator for a settled mode of life. The construction of two Crusader forts at Petra is an indicator of the importance of the loca-lity, and the existence of enough local resources to provide for the inhabitants of the forts, resources that must have been far more extensive than what Petra alone could have provided.10

Where did the people of Late Byzantine Petra go, how badly did the calamities of the time affect the inhabitants and their way of life, and what is their relationship with the settled locals at the time of the Crusades?

The absence of reference to the Petra region in the Annals may be interpreted as a sign that it was abandoned, or at most inhabited by roaming nomads, at the time of the Conquests. The Petra Church papyri of the sixth century mention a number of locations in the region, some still known by the same name, indicating a continuity of memory of the places.11

ii. arChaeologiCal question

Archaeological work in the regions around Petra also indicates a continuity of settlement. However, a major challenge for archaeological interpretation of settlement patterns is the correct identification of remains.

For Early Islamic South Jordan, where coins of the Byzantine period continued in circulation for long after the Conquests, and where inscriptions are extremely rare, pottery is our main chronological indicator. Two important pottery workshops provide indicators for the transfer from Byzantium to Islam:

Starting with al-Zurrāba just outside Petra where the nabataean tradition of pottery making continued into the sixth century AD, when production ceased at the site.12

8. See the interesting observations by Y. Gerber in J. Frösén et al., The 1998-2000 Finnish Hārūn Project: Specialized Reports, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 45, 2001.

9. R. Abujaber, The People of Jordan during the Second Millenium AD, in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan 7, Amman, 2001, p. 962.

10. For example at Wādī Farasa: see S. G. Schmid and A. Barmasse, The International Wādī Farasa Project (IWFP), Preliminary Report on the 2005 Season, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 50, 2006, p. 217-227.

11. The earliest dated papyrus is 537 and tha lates 593: see A. Arjava, M. Buchholz and T. Gagos (eds.), The Petra Papyri III, Amman, 2007.

12. F. Zayadine, Recent Excavations and Restorations of the Department of Antiquities (1979-80), Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 25, 1981, p. 350-351; id., Recent Excavations at Petra (1979-81), Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 26, 1982, p. 380-393; id., The Pottery Kilns of Petra, in D. Homès-Fredericq and

This tradition is characterized by predominantly red coloured wares with fine calcite temper.

At the other end is Ayla/al-ʿAqaba, where a new tradition came to southern Jordan – most probably from Egypt – in the mid-seventh century AD.13 The products have predomi-nantly cream-coloured surfaces and rough texture with sand and sometimes also mica inclusions. These are seemingly more heavy-duty vessels than the earlier al-Zurrāba pots, with thicker walls and higher firing temperatures.

The transfer from al-Zurrāba to the Ayla material tradition is a main indicator for the dating of Late Byzantine and Early Islamic sites in the Petra region. It must be mentioned, however, that several pottery types found in the region did span the late Byzantine-Early Islamic transition.14

1. The Neighbours of Petra

A number of surveys have been conducted in the al-Sharāh Mountains surrounding Petra, which have shown the presence of several Early Islamic sites (listed in the Jordan Antiquities Database and Information System JADIS, housed at the main office of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan in Amman):15 of the recorded sites ‘overlooking’ Petra, 28 have Byzantine elements, 11 of which continue into the Early Islamic. Two additional sites produced only Early Islamic material, i.e. approximately 40% of the Byzantine sites continued into the Early Islamic period (table 1; figure 1).

H. J. Franken (eds.), Pottery and Potters – Past and Present, Tübingen, 1986, p. 185-189; F. Zayadine and K. Amr, Nabatäisches Unterneh-mertum und Massenproduktion, in T. Weber and R. Wenning (eds), Petra, Antike Felsstadt Zwischen Arabischer Tradition und Griechischer Norm. Mainz, 1997, p. 137-140; K. Amr, Preliminary Report on the 1991 Season at Zurrabah, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 35, 1991, p. 313-323; ead., Beyond the Roman Annexation: The Continuity of the Nabataean Pottery Tradition, in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan 8, Amman, 2004, p. 237-245; K. Amr and A. al-Momani, The Discovery of Two Additional Pottery Kilns at az-Zurraba/Wadi Musa, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 43, 1999, p. 175-194; K. Amr and A. al-Momani, Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Component of the Wadi Musa Water Supply and Wastewater Project (1998-2000), Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 46, 2001, p. 261-262.

13. A. Melkawi, K. Amr and D. S. Whitcomb, The Excavation of Two Seventh Century Pottery Kilns at Aqaba, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 38, 1994, p. 447-468; D. S. Whitcomb, Ceramic Production at Aqaba in the Early Islamic Period, in E. Villeneuve and P. M. Watson (eds.), La céramique byzantine et proto-islamique en Syrie-Jordanie (ive-viiie siècles apr. J.-C.) (Bibliothèque archéologique et historique, 159), Beyrouth, 2001, p. 297-303; see also in the same volume A. Walmsley, Turning East. The Appearance of Islamic Cream Ware in Jordan: The “End of Antiquity”?, p. 305-313.

14. See for example the corpus presented in K. Amr and R. Schick, The Pottery from Humeima: The Closed Corpus from the Lower Church, in Villeneuve and Watson, La céramique byzantine, p. 107-127.

15. See G. Palumbo, JADIS, The Jordan Antiquities Database and Infor-mation System, A Summary of the Data, Amman, 1994 and online at http://www.nis.gov.jo/pls/anti/sitetype.

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Table 1 - list of Byzantine and Early Islamic sites in the Petra Region.

Figure 1 - late Byzantine and Early Islamic sites in the Petra region.

Byzantine sites3349164n 737061E Khirbat al-Hāma 13357200n 738400E Wādī Mūsā (Gaia) 23364159n 736402E Khirbat al-naqʿa 33363069n 736412E Bayḍā 15 43362943n 736546E Bayḍā 16 53362120n 735823E Bayḍā 21 63357900n 734600E Petra 73358200n 750400E Udhruḥ-2 83356871n 743511E Umm aṭ-Ṭīrān 93357730n 737611E al-Zurrāba 103345086n 743462E Khirbat Ayl 113347912n 739311E Khirbat al-Mabrak 123344553n 743152E nabāt ʿAyn al-ʿAshra 133347495n 736924E Khirbat al-Ḥubays 143356027n 738652E Khirbat Ṣubḥiyya 153358021n 738413E al-Basīṭ 163363195n 736285E Umm Quṣṣa (B 12) 17

Byzantine – early islamic sites3356289n 738351E Khirbat Banī ʿAṭā 183357218n 743220E al-Bīṭār (2) 193348800n 737400E Bīr al-Bīṭār 203356500n 731400E Jabal al-nabī Hārūn 213357480n 739090E Khirbat al-nawāfla 223359200n 750100E nn/Udhruḥ Survey Site A 233360000n 749800E Tamayah 243355734n 736991E Khirbat Brāq 253357775n 738209E al-ʿUdmal 263347495n 737615E Khirbat al-Dhbāʿ (T 12) 273339600n 740200E al-Ṣadaqa 28

early islamic sites3362400n 750500E al-Jarbā 293358203n 738912E Ṭawīlān 30

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Other than the reduction in the number of settlements, the image from the surveys shows that the nature of settle-ment changed as well, from large conglomerations in the Byzantine period to small ‘concentrated’ but scattered groups by the Early Islamic. Comparing Petra with its Sharāh Mountains neighbourhood, it seems clear that the rocky sandstone city lacking water sources required a much higher level of maintenance. At times of social, political and probably also environmental hardships, it was more sensible to seek life where fertile land and water were available, namely up in the limestone mountain slopes.

Until now, only three sites spanning the Late Byzantine-Early Islamic transition have been excavated.

2. Khirbat al-Nawāfla

The most extensively excavated site in the region outside Petra is Khirbat an-nawāfla in the north-eastern sector of the modern town of Wādī Mūsā (figure 2), where a salvage project was instigated by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan due to the construction of a tourist village at the site. The main season was ten months in 1997, then four short excavation and consolidation seasons in 1998-2001.16

16. K. Amr, A. al-Momani, n. Al-nawafleh and S. Al-nawafleh, Summary Results of the Archaeological Project at Khirbat an-Nawafla/Wadi Musa, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44, 2000, p. 231-255; n. al-nawafleh, The Conservation of the Archaeological Remains at Khirbat an-Nawāfla 1999/2000. Unpublished report on file at the Department of Antiquities, Amman and Petra (Arabic), 2000; S. Falahat, M. Salamin and F. nu‘eimat, The Archaeological

The excavations revealed that a village was established at Khirbat al-nawāfla in the first century BC, and occupation continued up to the present with a few short gaps (figure 3). The character of the original nabataean village also continued into the modern era;17 structures were built with masonry and mud mortar, and transverse arches supported the roofs. The steep slope of the hillside was terraced for building as well as agriculture, a factor that helped preserve structures of the early periods behind the stone terrace walls of the later periods.

Since its establishment, the village was supplied with an extensive hydraulic system. Channels transported water from springs, and rain water was collected in cisterns, including a birka in the southwest that was reused and maintained up to modern times, and modified during the Umayyad/Abbasid periods (figure 4).

The village was continually inhabited throughout the Byzantine period when the inhabitants adopted Christianity and left many engraved crosses on the stones of their houses. By the end of the Byzantine period, a monumental building was constructed at the southwest edge of the site, but unfortunately its nature could not be determined due to the construction of later structures, including modern houses, on top of it.

Bridge in Wadi Khalil/al-Madarr. Unpublishe report on file at the Department of Antiquities, Amman and Petra (Arabic), 2001.

17. See the study of the traditional village in M. Biewers, L’habitat tradi-tionnel du sud de la Jordanie. Les villages de ‘Aima, Dana et Khirbet Nawafleh. Amman, 1993

Figure 2 - The location of Khirbat al-nawāfla within the modern town of Wādī Mūsā.

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Figure 3 - Extension of the archaeological remains at Khirbat al-nawāfla through time.

Figure 4 - The birka of Khirbat al-nawāfla after restoration.

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Figure 5 - A room of an Abbasid period structure at Khirbat al-nawāfla.

Figure 7 - Stone ‘bread stamp’ from Khirbat al-nawāfla (photo: Qais Tweissi).

Figure 6 - The base of an Abbasid oil lamp from Khirbat al-nawāfla bearing crosses (photo: Sabri Fdul).

Figure 8 - Kufic inscription dated to Jamāda al-Ākhir of the year 170 from Khirbat al-nawāfla.

Figure 10 - Iron agricultural tools from Khirbat al-nawāfla. 1. sickle from an early Abbasid context; 2. vine trimming tool from an Ayyubid period context (drawing: Qais Tweissi).

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new structures were built during the Early Islamic periods, such as a large iwan building in the southeast, but again its nature could not be determined as it was built over by modern structures, although its location and size indicate it may have been a masjid jāmiʿ. During the Abbasid and Fatimid periods, well-built structures with stone arches and pavements were erected at different locations of the site (figure 5).

Christianity evidently continued among the population well after the conquests. Among the finds at the site are a rare Early Abbasid lamp with crosses at the sides and base (figure 6) and a stone ‘bread stamp’ similar to that still used by the Eastern Church today (figure 7). The site also pro-duced a unique Kufic inscription belonging to a Muslim called Abū al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh, dated to Jamāda al-Ākhir of the year 170 AH/AD 787 (figure 8), which to

this day is the only known inscription dateable to the early Abbasid period from the southern Bilād al-Shām.18

That the village relied heavily on olive production and processing is evident in the discovery of five olive presses dated to the nabataean, Byzantine, Umayyad/Abbasid, Ayyubid-Mamluk and modern periods. At least one olive press has indications of re-use of parts of earlier presses at the same location (figure 9). Although the flotation samples from the excavations still await analysis, other forms of agriculture at the site are indicated by tools (figure 10). The site is currently surrounded by orchards of olive, fig, mulberry, pomegranate and vine trees.

18. J. M. Kareem, Kufic Inscription Dated to the Abassid Period from Wadi Musa-Petra: Epigraphical Study, Dirâsât (Humanities and Social Sciences) 26, 1999, Supplement, p. 670-685 (Arabic).

Figure 9 - Ayyubid-Mamluk olive press at Khirbat al-nawāfla. The western wall of the press was based on a nabataean structure, and in the south earlier Umayyad-Abbasid basins were re-used. This press is directly to the south of a first century AD olive press.

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Figure 11 - location of Khirbat al-Dhbāʿ within the modern town of al-Ṭayyiba.

Figure 12 - late-Byzantine-Early Islamic storage jar from Khirbat al-Dhbāʿ, from the storage area of an olive press (?).

Figure 13 - large basalt mortar from Khirbat al-Dhbāʿ (photo: Qais Tweissi).

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3. Khirbat al-Dhbāʿ

The evidence for olive cultivation during the Late Byzan-tine-Early Islamic periods was also found at Khirbat al-Dhbāʿ in the modern town of al-Ṭayyiba on the mountains to the southeast of Petra (figure 11). That the site has well-preserved remains from that period was first revealed by the excava-tions for sewage lines in 1998-1999,19 when discoveries included water channels associated with a water cistern that is still in use, parts of an olive press and associated storeroom (figure 12), other than 10 structures some of which opened onto an alleyway.

Due to the richness revealed by the sewage line excava-tions, further archaeological excavations at the site were carried out by the Department of Antiquities in 2000,20 which revealed well-preserved substantial structures from the Early Islamic period at the site, again with indications of agriculture (figure 13).

4. Al-Ṣadaqa

Al-Ṣadaqa is the most recent addition to the excavated Early Islamic villages in the Petra region, where excavations by the Al-Hussein University in September 2007 recovered ‘Ayla’ products within well-built multi-room structures. The data is still under study and we are grateful to Saad Tweissi and Ziad Salamin for allowing us access to the material.

19. Amr and al-Momani, Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Component of the Wadi Musa Water Supply and Wastewater Project (1998-2000), p. 273.

20. S. Falahat, S. Al-nawafleh and F. nu‘eimat, Khirbat adh- Dhbāʿ 2000 Season, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 45, 2001, p. 51-57 (Arabic section).

ConClusion

The Early Islamic villages of the Petra region are a prime example of archaeology coming into the aid of history and supplementing its ‘grey’ areas. The archaeological evi-dence indicates a tendency towards ‘scattered concentrated villages’ in the Petra region during the Early Islamic period, a pattern that is well adapted to the exploitation of the land and a reflection of an economic change, where agriculture became the major activity.

Although a mixture of lifestyles and subsistence econo-mies is the most probable scenario, the inhabitants of the region were not all nomads. This combination of existence patterns continues into modern times. The villages of the region were quite sophisticated, with well-built houses and communal structures. Olive production in particular seems to have been an important part of the economic basis of the region.

Many of the inhabitants remained Christian after the conquests (as were the inhabitants of Wādī Mūsā up to the nineteenth century), with Christians and Muslims sharing the same territory. This co-existence that was revealed at Khirbat al-nawāfla seems to have also been true of Udhruḥ,21 and may logically be postulated for at least the larger settlements in the region.

As for the Bishop of Petra, he seems to have just moved north to a larger and more urbanized community.

21. Schick, The Christian communities, p. 468-469.