Site No.: 0 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234200E, 142000N
Description: Tall al-'Umayri has been designated as Site 0. The primary excavation of the MPP 1984-92, Site 0 was a large urban center that was active during the EB through Iron 2 periods, with evidence of limited use during later periods. Excavation at this site indicated extensive settlements during the EB, Iron 1, and Iron 2 periods. Complete reports on the site and its excavation can be found in MPP 1, MPP 2 and forthcoming report volumes, as well as in preliminary reports in ADAJ and AASOR (Geraty, Herr, LaBianca, & Younker, 1989; Geraty, Herr, LaBianca, & Younker, 1991).
Features: Defensive Wall, Cave, Rectilinear Structure, Road, Stone Pile, Tomb, Wall Line, Dolmen
Pottery Count:
Pottery Reading: Known from excavation: ROM, IR2, IR1, LB, MB, EB
Site No.: 1 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233700E, 141900N
Description: First recorded as a road in 1984, this feature has disappeared in the development of the Amman National Park. A few additional features were noted including winepresses (1.2, 3) and an arrangement of cupholes on a nearby rock. The cupholes were extremely shallow and may have been the remains of a game.
Features: Road, Cistern, Vat, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 16/77
Pottery Reading: 1992: MOD, BYZ, IR2 -- 1984: UM, DOM, BYZ, POSS, 1 U.D.
Site No.: 2 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233800E, 141800N
Description: This site, recorded by Boling in 1984, had been destroyed by the construction of a restaurant.
1984 Report: A. Hidden in the taller evergreens which have been planted since 1940 is a small rectangular structure (ca. 12 x12m) at the high point on the hill. A steep angle 10m west of the structure is the 937 elevation (1:25,000 map). Roughly dressed stones of the foundation course are barely visible beneath the smaller rubble above them, and average 0.19 x 0.12 x 0.10m. There are cupmarks just outside the perimeter. This was a watchtower, necessary for visible communication from the Tell, to the south. B. Down the north slope, ca. 50m from the tower, is what appears to be a tomb, recently opened to judge from the jumble of dirt and large stones in front of the opening. This tomb-facade(?) lies at the uphill end of a stone wall line (1 course, 1 row wide) running 100m downhill to the north. C. The wider hillside east and west of A and B above produced a broader range of ceramics. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cuphole, Sherd Scatter, Tomb, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 41/419
Pottery Reading: 1984: Areas A B and C. A= 1 UM, ROM, EB DOM. B= EB ONLY. C=1 MOD, 2 BYZ, MB2, EB
Site No.: 3 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234600E, 142500N
Description: This cemetery was extensively surveyed during the 1987 season and not visited in 1992. See Howard Krug in MPP 2 for a detailed report on the site (Krug, 1991). An extensive survey of the cemeteries of the 'Umayri region is anticipated in future seasons.
1984 Report: This is a cemetery, with numerous tombs recently plundered. There is no evidence of other architectural remains. At least five distinct plans are represented. There is a large, incompletely quarried rolling stone, needing only to be undercut. The position of cupmarks here suggest that they often have to do with quarrying. This site was visited and described briefly by Franken (Boling, 1989).
Features: Tombs, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 0/59
Pottery Reading: 1984: PROB OTT, 1 POSS UM, BYZ, L ROM, IR
Site No.: 4 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233900E, 141900N
Description: Site 4 consisted of bedrock features along a limestone ridge above the wadi. These included widely dispersed cupholes (4.2) and a broken cistern (reservoir?) (4.3) which was adjacent to an unusual constellation of rock-cut features (4.1) that might have been a press (since destroyed by quarry activity). The outer edge of the bedrock shelf had collapsed. Its pieces contained rock-cut features that previously were related to feature 4.1: namely, a press area (shallow rectangular basin) and deep basin with a sump (1 x 0.5 meters and 0.4 x 0.4 meters). Finally, 5 meters to the south lay a plastered reservoir (4.4).
Function: Industrial, wine making complex of small proportions.
Food System: Suggests intensely cultivated wadi bottom and hill slopes, though hillside terraces are completely degraded and embankments are hidden down wadi.
Features: Press, Cuphole, Cistern, Basin
Pottery Count: 21/57
Pottery Reading: 1992: 1 MOD, BYZ, POSS ROM, IR1, -- 1984: 1 POSS UM, ROM/BYZ, L IR2, FEW IR1, EB
Site No.: 5 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233800E, 139200N
Description: This site was the large reservoir next to the Bishara family home. Roughly semi-circular, the bedrock sloped gradually down into the reservoir from NE. Constructed of Ashlar fit, semi-hewn and unhewn blocks, some plaster remained on part of the western wall of the reservoir. An inscription points to a late 19th century date for the construction, or perhaps reconstruction of this reservoir. Two cisterns (5.2, 5.3) were located up the slope from the reservoir about 10-15 meters.
Function: to collect and store surface runoff.
Features: Reservoir, Cistern, Cistern
Pottery Count: 0/10
Pottery Reading: 1984: Few sherds all ROM BODS
Site No.: 6 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233100E, 141000N
Description: On a hilltop overlooking the SW junction of "Dead Horse Wadi" and Wadi el-Mashur, this site consisted of a large building complex with substantial walls made of large, worked limestone blocks. The main building was oriented roughly east-west, and there was an addition on the west side. The building was surrounded on all sides by cultivated patches on small terraces. Many rock-cut cisterns were located on this hilltop.
Function: Exact function uncertain. Some team members have suggested that this was a church or mosque. The number of large storage jar sherds found in the surrounding fields points to the importance of this site in agricultural terms.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Basin, Cistern, Quarry, Cistern, Cistern, Cave, Field Wall, Quarry
Pottery Count: 90/333
Pottery Reading: 1992: UM, BYZ, FEW IR2, 1 POSS MB -- 1984: MOD, UM, L BYZ, E BYZ, IR2/PER
Site No.: 7 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232900E, 142200N
Description: A large rectilinear structure (7.1) with interior walls and rooms. The stones were all dressed, but the walls assembled boulder and chink style. Many stone architectural elements were scattered around the site, and until 1987 arches stood intact in a room in the SW corner of the structure. A large cave (7.2) was located under a bedrock outcrop NE of 7.1, and another (7.3) full of dead animals was located about 110 meters SW. A cistern (7.4) was found 15 meters S of the building. Finally, a limekiln (7.5) had been constructed within the structure.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cave, Cave, Cistern, Kiln, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 47/426
Pottery Reading: 1992: UM/ABB, UM, BYZ, ER, ROM, IR BODS -- 1984: PROB UM, BYZ, L ROM, E ROM
Site No.: 8 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233000E, 141800N
Description: Now found inside the Jamal Bisharat golf course, survey teams were unable to visit this site in 1992. The following is based on a 1987 visit. There were two limekilns at this site, an upper and a lower. The upper limekiln (8.1) was the largest found in the survey area (6.3m inside diameter), with a well exposed corbeled entrance to the west. The corbel stones were still in place, running toward the smaller, lower limekiln but never reaching it. This smaller limekiln (8.2) was ca. 6m. to the west of the upper limekiln and had an inside diameter of 4.7m. On its western side there was depression, presumably the location of the draft.
Function: Features obviously intended for the burning of limestone.
Food System: Location suggests that these kilns were used to burn fieldstones removed from the agricultural fields.
Features: Kiln, Kiln, Terrace, Tomb, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 44/246
Pottery Reading: 1984: UM, BYZ, L ROM, IR2 BODS DOM -- 1987: BYZ, IR DOM
Site No.: 9 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234100E, 142800N
Description: An ancient road (4.1) followed the ridge with curbstones remaining along about 50% of it's length. On bedrock ledges parallel to the road, quarry marks (9.2) and an oval, wide mouth cave (9.5) were found. At a point a little more than half-way along the present roadway, two walls (9.3,4) which were aligned with each other but of different widths stretched from 25 meters above the road into the wadi below. The walls may have been a single field wall running down the slope over the "earlier" road or cut by the "later" road.
Function: Transit
Food System: The proximity of Tall al-'Umayri North, the likely destination of road 9.1, created the need for transit of agricultural commodities to market or for tax collection.
Features: Road, Quarry, Field Wall, Field Wall, Cave
Pottery Count: 7/36
Pottery Reading: 1984: ROM, IR2, NO SHERDING '92
Site No.: 10 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235700E, 144200N
Description: A hilltop site with many features associated with agriculture. Central to the site was a rectilinear structure (10.1) only recently tumbled. This structure was likely Ottoman, or perhaps later, and had a concrete roof. Just west and downslope, was a limekiln (10.2) approximately 4.5m inside diameter. Across to fields to the SE was a small circular structure (10.3). A winepress (10.4) was noted to the north of 10.1. This site was mistakenly recorded as Site 119 in 1989 and in the confusion between the two recordings, several features were either not recorded fully or their recording sheets were lost. Among these features two additional circular structures, another winepress, three cisterns, cupholes, field walls, and numerous stonepiles were mentioned in the 1987 report.
Function: Primarily an agricultural complex.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Kiln, Circular Structure, Press, Cistern, Field Wall, Perimeter Wall, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 39/373
Pottery Reading: 1984: FEW BYZ, L ROM, IR2, 1 PROB IR 1, 1 POSS EB 1989: BYZ, IR
Site No.: 11 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234800E, 140600N
Description: Primarily a cemetery, this site also had agricultural features, including a large vat which may have functioned as a reservoir for stock watering, or as an oil processing installation (11.1). Another circular basin noted in 1984 was not found in 1992, but the two cisterns (11.2, 11.3), tombs ( 11.5, 11.6, 11.7), and quarry marks (11.4), were.
Features: Vat, Cistern, Cistern, Quarry, Tomb, Tomb, Tomb
Pottery Count: 43/143
Pottery Reading: 1984: UM, BYZ
Site No.: 12 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233500E, 139000N
Description: Located on the crest of the ridge just south of the Arab Horse and Go-Kart Racing club, this site had been fenced and at least partially destroyed by new construction. We were unable to examine it in 1992.
1984 Report: This badly eroded site (Fohrer's site F) lies immediately south of the recently constructed buildings of the Arab Horse Club. It is a long north-south knoll separating fields adjacent to Kh. el Bishari (site 5) on the east, and those adjacent to sites 46 and 49 on the west. There is a long line of north-south wall and segments of east-west walls (in foundation course only). There are several plastered cisterns, one a very deep, bottle-shaped cistern currently in use (photo 4/5/2), filled by water-truck in summer. Two old cisterns have been secondarily used as caves.
Features: Cave, Cistern, Wall Line, Kiln, Cave, Terrace
Pottery Count: 22/109
Pottery Reading: 1984: UM, BYZ, L ROM, E ROM BODS, IR BODS
Site No.: 13 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233600E, 141600N
Description: Site 13 consisted of a limekiln located just off the edge of an exposed bedrock shelf and a terraced wadi. There was an adjacent small cave, apparently unrelated to the limekiln.
Function: Manufacture of lime plaster.
Food System: Plaster for cisterns, floors/walls and reservoirs.
Features: Kiln, Cave, Terrace
Pottery Count: 18/60
Pottery Reading: 1992: UM?, BYZ BODS? -- 1984: MOD, ROM, FEW IR2 BODS
Site No.: 14 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233500E, 141500N
Description: Site 14 consisted of a circular tower built of massive stones standing at the edge of a bedrock shelf, 15 meters west of tiny gulch that descended sharply to the Wadi Mashur. There were numerous shelf-like bedrock exposures amidst the reforested pine. This site provided an excellent view of Wadi el Mashur where it is joined by Wadi Bisharat (dead horse wadi). Nearby was a basin, or perhaps the entrance to a tomb.
Function: Undetermined, perhaps a lookout.
Food System: Undetermined.
Features: Circular Structure, Basin, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 3/11
Pottery Reading: 1992: FEW PROB UM, IR BODS -- 1984: 1 MOD, IR2 BODS
Site No.: 15 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232600E, 140500N
Description: At the junction of two dirt roads a limekiln was found. A barbed wire fence had cut through it, destroying part of it.
Function: Burning lime from field stones.
Features: Kiln
Pottery Count: 4/24
Pottery Reading: 1992: BYZ/UM -- 1984: ROM, L ROM, ALL BODS
Site No.: 16 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234800E, 142900N
Description: Umeiri north was comprised of a number of caves, enclosure walls, cisterns and likely animal pens. These features were strewn around the site. Representative samples were chosen for detailed recordings. Feature 16.1 was an animal pen. 16.2 and 16.3 were caves; 16.4 a cistern; 16.5 an enclosure wall.
Function: Cave village
Features: Perimeter Wall, Cave, Cave, Cistern, Rectilinear Structure, Terrace, Tomb, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 175/356
Pottery Reading: 1992: L IS, UM, BYZ, FEW ROM -- 1984: MOD, MAM DOM UM, BYZ, LR, ER, 1 IR BOD
Site No.: 17 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 237000E, 142600N
Description: Most of this site as described in the 1984-1987 reports had been destroyed by newly constructed houses. The road was gone as were the small stone mounds. Only features higher on the slope remained. Just south of the southern tributary wadi running through this site a cave (17.4) was visible. On the slope the remains of two terrace walls (17.2) were visible. The most common feature were quarry marks (17.3) and cupholes (17.4). Finally there was a curvilinear field wall (17.5) and various wall lines.
Features: Cave, Terrace, Quarry, Cuphole, Wall Line, Field Wall, Road
Pottery Count: 6/30
Pottery Reading: 1992: MOD, UM/ABB, BYZ, IR1 -- 1984: BYZ, 1 PR IR2
Site No.: 18 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 236500E, 143000N
Description: Just above tilled fields, this site boasted a large rectilinear structure of ashlar fit masonry (18.1) which was likely a station along the Roman road as noted in 1984 (18.7). A Roman mile marker was found near this building. This milestone had been reused in the wall of a small circular structure (18.5) just up-slope from 18.1. A second smaller rectilinear structure (18.2) sat next to the road station. Terraces (18.6), field walls (18.3), and a limekiln (18.4) rounded out the feature assemblage. (Excavation of this site by Dave Hopkins in 1994 showed that the second, smaller rectilinear structure was a roadside shrine.)
Function: Road station
Food System: Transportation
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Rectilinear Structure, Field Wall, Kiln, Circular Structure, Terrace, Road
Pottery Count:
Pottery Reading: 1984: MOD, 1 POSS UM, BYZ DOM, ROM BODS, IR2
Site No.: 19 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 236000E, 142100N
Description: Low on the slope lay the remainder of an impressive rectilinear structure (19.1), three walls of which remained. About 70 meters to the northeast the ephemeral remains of a winepress were recorded (19.2). Numerous quarry marks (19.3) dotted the site in the small bedrock outcrops which are scattered through the fields. A possible tomb (19.4) was found in connection with these quarry marks; however, this feature, like other holes in the area may have been natural. A single wall line (19.6) abutted the rectilinear structure and ran up the hill. Cupholes (19.5) were found in the bedrock outcrops.
Function: Farmstead
Food System: Agricultural complex
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Press, Quarry, Tomb, Cuphole, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 26/211
Pottery Reading: 1992: L ROM/BYZ, IR2, IR1, PROB EB BOD -- 1984: BYZ AND ROM BODS, IR2, IR1
Site No.: 20 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232900E, 145100N
Description: This site, noted and described by Boling in 1984, lay beneath newly constructed homes of Buneiyat North. None of the features described by Boling could be located in 1992.
1984 Report: The site extends along the ridge north of the village of El-Buneiyat North. An old road with upright curbstones runs NW-SE along the crest of the hill. This is perhaps a continuation of Road C (Site 18). There is a cistern near the old road. Along the hillside below the road are a number of open tombs, some very recently dug, as well as caves. One pit shows scores of small tesserae falling out of a floor. Elsewhere the digging for tombs has uncovered part of a wall build of finely dressed blocks. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Cave, Cistern, Road, Terrace, Tomb, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 29/81
Pottery Reading: 1984: UM DOM, FEW BYZ
Site No.: 22 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 237900E, 138700N
Description: This 3.8 ha. site included a tremendous number of obvious features, only a sample of which were documented during this visit. Numerous wall lines (22.3,4) presented a tangled web. Cisterns were numerous (at least 11), including one still in use (22.5), and a collapsed cistern in which Old South Arabic inscriptions were discovered (22.6). Caves were also found in abundance (at least 5), some with architectural elements (22.1,2). Tombs and enclosure walls (22.8) manifest the range of activity at the site over it's long and full history.
Function: Major locus of activity during intensive and extensive periods.
Features: Cave, Wall Line, Wall Line, Wall Line, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Tomb, Perimeter Wall, Quarry, Wall Line, Rectilinear Structure, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Wall Line, Field Wall, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cave, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 63/208
Pottery Reading: 1992: 2 MOD, 1 OTT, AY/MAM, UM/ABB, UM BYZ, ROM, IR2, 1 UD -- 1984: MAM DOM, UM, POSS BYZ, ER, IR2, IR1
Site No.: 23 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235800E, 142600N
Description: This site was made up of many features including a rock-cut cistern and presses. Its hilltop location (elevation 888) allowed it's occupants access to the rich farmland in Wadi el-Hinu and Wadi el-Buneiyat. North of the roadway (ca. 50 meters) was a disrupted heap of large boulders, measuring ca. 30 m x 10 m, probably the remains of the rectilinear structure mentioned in Boling's 1984 report.
Function: Agricultural center
Food System: Processing of food, making wine, and storing water
Features: Road, Wall Line, Press, Basin, Cuphole, Cave, Cave, Press, Vat, Cistern, Cave, Rectilinear Structure, Perimeter Wall
Pottery Count: 44/117
Pottery Reading: 1992: FEW ROM, HEL, L IR2, E. IR2, -- 1984: IR2, IR1
Site No.: 24 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233100E, 144900N
Description: Site 24 was a complex constellation of buildings, cistern and caves which formed a cave village. At least 7 caves (24.4,9,14,15,24,30) some with associated walls (24.5,25) dotted the site. Also several depressions with rock fill suggested collapsed caves or cisterns. Quarry marks (24.13) and rock cut features (24.12,26) were scattered about. Cisterns framed the site, two at the north, (24.32,33) one near the valley floor at the south (24.34). A series four small bell shaped cisterns or silos offered a unique feature (24.19,20,21,22). One four-chambered cave had arches connecting the chambers (24.9). Directly to the east was a set of stairs descending southward from a well -hewn doorway into what may have been a collapsed cave at the limit of the site (24.7). Wall lines were associated with the majority of the caves/depressions, and one of the cisterns (24.2). Byz and Islamic pottery suggested the features were built substantially during the Byzantine period and remodeled/reused as a village at a later time.
Function: Village
Food System: Undefended by any perimeter wall, the site constitutes a small agricultural/ pastoral village cultivating the terra rossa soil of the wadi floor (presently in vegetables).
Features: Wall Line, Cistern, Wall Line, Cave, Perimeter Wall, Wall Line, Cave, Cave, Rectilinear Structure, Cistern, Cistern, Quarry, Cave, Cave, Cuphole, Wall Line, Wall Line, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Rectilinear Structure, Cave, Basin, Wall Line, Rectilinear Structure, Wall Line, Cave, Wall Line, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Tomb
Pottery Count: 108/300
Pottery Reading: 1992: AY/MAM, ABB, UM/AB, UM, BYZ, 1 E ROM, IR2, PROB IR BODS, EB BODS -- 1984: MAM DOM, 1 POSS ABB, UM, BYZ, LR, IR BODS
Site No.: 26 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232800E, 145300N
Description: This cemetery had scores of open tombs, primarily of the loculi type. A cursory examination in 1992 anticipates a more detailed examination of the cemeteries of the 'Umayri region during a future season.
1984 Report: This hill overlooks from southeast the cloverleaf formed by the new airport highway and the old Naur highway. There is one large modern house on top. To the east of the house a right angle of walls (2 rows of stones, ca. 1m wide) runs east-west along the crest and down the north slope to the Naur highway. The wall serves in part to deflect runoff into a square reservoir (ca. 4 x 4m) with 3 sides cut vertically into the bedrock (maximum depth ca. 1.5m) and the uphill side formed by the slope (thus a miniature of the larger reservoirs at Yaduda and Kh. el-Bishari). The southern hillside is barren, except for numerous tombs (at least 35 open ones). The tombs show a variety of plans, with as many as 12 loculi arranged around central chambers which may be either round or rectangular. There are also small, round, single-burial tombs. A basalt stele fragment (0.65 x 0.50 x 0.20m) was found lying on the hillside (obj. #515). The stele is broken (or only roughly finished) top and bottom. Dr. Axel Knaupf suggests that it depicts a stylite monk standing in front of his pillar. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Tombs, Vat, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 13/123
Pottery Reading: 1984: UM, BYZ, ROM BODS, IR2
Site No.: 27 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233200E, 142300N
Description: A small site in the Amman National Park - just across the Wadi Mashur from site 7. A large loculi tomb (27.1) was recorded. This tomb had two chambers and there were 7 loculi barely visible above the refuse now in the chambers. It was apparently entered originally through a shaft in it's roof which may indicate that it was originally a cistern, although no other evidence of this was present. A single cuphole was found just east of this shaft.
Function: Tomb
Features: Tomb, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 7/45
Pottery Reading: 1984: 2 ROM/BYZ BODS, IR2
Site No.: 28 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233000E, 144700N
Description: A number of features are spread along the rim of a hill south-southwest of site #24. A cultivated wadi floor separated the 2 sites. At the hill's west end was a threshing floor, a large water-filled cistern, a rubble/garbage filled tomb, collapsed cisterns, game boards (28.8) and quarry cuts. An interesting feature was a well constructed section of wall that was preserved to a height of three courses. In 1992 it served as a "terrace wall/retaining wall" that prevented erosion out of a small field at the top of the site. Another group of walls was attached, probably secondary to the north.
Function: This site is connected with food production but it does not appear to be an occupational site.
Features: Wall Line, Wall Line, Cistern, Cistern, Threshing Floor, Tomb, Quarry, Game Board, Cuphole, Tomb, Wall Line, Tomb, Cistern
Pottery Count: 29/77
Pottery Reading: 1992: BYZ -- 1984: 1 UM, BYZ DOM, 1 L ROM, FEW IR2, FEW IR1
Site No.: 29 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 238200E, 140800N
Description: Tall Jawa. This tall was being excavated by P. M. Michele Daviau and her team from Wilfred Laurier College. Excavation revealed principal occupational remains from the Iron Age and Islamic Periods.
1984 Report: At an elevation of 928m, towering above Yaduda to the southwest and Khirbet es-Suq to the northwest, this is the first large tell to the east of Umeiri, from which it dominates the horizon. A defense wall (probably casemate) on the summit, exposed to a height of 4 courses (photo 23/5/17) encloses an area ca. 100 x 150m. There are numerous walls, large structures and depressions of buildings collapsed inward. Debris above a cistern mouth suggests a total accumulation of 1.5-3.0m above bedrock. Abel's identification of Tell Jawa with biblical Mephaat has been widely accepted. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Cave, Cistern, Defensive Wall, Field Wall, Press, Quarry, Rectilinear Structure, Tomb, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 245/951
Pottery Reading: 1984: 1 UM, FEW BYZ, FEW L ROM, IR2 DOM, IR 1, FEW EB, 2 U.D.
Site No.: 30 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233200E, 143000N
Description: This site had been completely destroyed by the construction of houses and roads.
1984 Report: This is a northern shelf on the first hill west of el-Buneiyat South, and west of the new airport highway which has cut into the hill (photo 6/5/27). An old cobbled road running uphill from the northwest leads directly to the northwest corner of a square perimeter wall, ca. 50 x 50m. A half dozen depressions indicate collapsed structures within the enclosure. Illicit digging has exposed parts of walls. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cistern, Perimeter Wall, Road, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 15/70
Pottery Reading: 1984: 1 PROB BYZ, IR2, IR1, PROB EB
Site No.: 31 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 236500E, 143800N
Description: Apparently the structures attributed to this site in 1984 had been destroyed. The features noted here are in addition to the earlier ones. Two small piles of stones (31.1,2) with apparent wall lines were the most visible features. In the bedrock around these were quarry marks (31.3) and on the slopes above these were two terrace walls, running the length of the hill toward site 43.
Function: Agricultural complex
1984 Report: The site is ca. 1 km south of Um Quseir, on a low spur jutting downhill to the northwest, overlooking farm fields on the west, north, and northeast. An ancient road first recognized in RS 22 crosses the gently sloping wadi at the uphill (northeast) limit of the fields. The site has a rectangular tower (ca. 8 x 10m) surviving to several courses, adjacent to a probable perimeter wall which runs ca. 40m north-south and ca. 33m east-west, the corner well preserved. Stones in tower and walls average 0.90 x 0.70 x 0.50m roughly rectangular boulders with edges knocked off. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Rectilinear Structure, Quarry, Terrace, Road, Cave
Pottery Count: 42/306
Pottery Reading: 1984: MOD, BYZ, FEW L ROM, FEW E ROM, IR2
Site No.: 32 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232800E, 142700N
Description: A combination of features on a spur jutting into the Wadi Mashur. A road (32.1) ran toward the Wadi along the crest. About 100 meters south east of this road was a cluster of features, including a collapsed cistern (32.3), a basin (32.4), and cupholes (32.5) perhaps used for olive production, along with three caves (32.6, 32.7, 32.8) and an enclosure wall 32.9. All around the site were quarry marks (32.2) and terraces (32.10).
Features: Road, Quarry, Cistern, Press, Cave, Cave, Cave, Cave, Perimeter Wall, Terrace, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 63/276
Pottery Reading: 1992: BYZ, ROM, SOME IR
Site No.: 33 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232700E, 142400N
Description: This was a site of widely scattered agricultural features. Most important was a partially preserved olive crushing mill (33.1) 3.5m in diameter. The inner crushing surface was 1.94m across with a lip .20m high preserved 1/3 of the way around the circumference. Associated with this mill were 4 rectangular and one circular cuphole. A possible oil press and rectangular cuphole (33.6) were recorded 10m south of 33.1. Other features here were a cistern (33.2), quarries (33.4,5) and several cupholes (33.3).
Function: Olive oil production.
Features: Olive Crusher, Cistern, Cuphole, Quarry, Quarry, Press
Pottery Count: 22/134
Pottery Reading: 1992: BYZ, FEW POSS ROM BODS, IR2, EB -- 1984: BYZ, FEW L ROM, E ROM, IR2, EB
Site No.: 34 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234400E, 143100N
Description: Rujm Selim was a large agricultural complex excavated by the MPP in 1987. Central to the site was a rectilinear structure (34.1) built with very large boulders. Around this were several features common to agricultural complexes in the region including cisterns, a winepress, an oil press, vats, various wall lines, terraces, and an embankment. Quarry marks were also present.
Function: Large Hellenistic agricultural complex
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cistern, Press, Cuphole, Press, Cave, Quarry, Cistern, Rectilinear Structure, Wadi Embankment, Wall Line, Basin, Quarry, Perimeter Wall, Terrace
Pottery Count: 41/403
Pottery Reading: 1984: FEW UM, FEW E ROM, HEL, IR2, 1 POSS LB
Site No.: 35 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235500E, 142700N
Description: Lying just south of a dirt road, site 35 featured a large rectilinear area of quarrying activity (35.1), now filled in with cobble sized stones. Just 10 meters north of this was the entrance to a cave (35.2) with finely cut stone jams. The small circular basin of a winepress (35.3) lay just east of this cave. A field wall (35.5) about 65 meters in length ran along the east of the feature assemblage at this site.
Function: Quarry, agriculture
Features: Quarry, Cave, Press, Cuphole, Field Wall, Rectilinear Structure, Road
Pottery Count: 22/98
Pottery Reading: 1992: FEW MOD, BYZ, FEW L IR2, -- 1984: BYZ, FEW L ROM, E ROM, IR2
Site No.: 36 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 233400E, 144500N
Description: This site consisted of various disparate elements, located on the top and upper slopes of the hill between Buneiyat North and the new women's university. The large opening to a cistern (36.1) was prominent near the road. A short distance away a two chamber cave was located under a goat pen (36.10). Features such as cupholes (36.2,3), a cistern (36.7) and a possible winepress (36.5) were scattered around the top of the hill. Several walls, including terrace (36.4) and perimeter (36.8,9) walls were located on the southwest slope. Three additional caves (36.6,11,12) ring the upper slopes of the site.
Function: Caves suggest seasonal use, walls suggest agriculture.
Food System: Seasonal and field cultivation.
Features: Cistern, Cuphole, Quarry, Terrace, Press, Cave, Cistern, Field Wall, Field Wall, Cave, Cave, Cave
Pottery Count: 18/106
Pottery Reading: 1992: MOD, AY/MAM, BYZ DOM, L ROM, PER, IR BODS -- 1984: FEW BYZ BODS, FEW ROM BODS, IR2 DOM, 1 POSS LB
Site No.: 37 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234100E, 143800N
Description: A vineyard and orchard contained a truly impressive rectilinear structure (12x5) with ca. 0.7 meter thick walls preserved to two courses and an extensive cave (re-used tomb) serving in 1992 as a pigeon cote. Owners would permit no measuring, photography or drawing. Site also possessed two active cisterns. (Dave Hopkins excavated this site in 1996.)
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cave, Cistern, Field Wall, Perimeter Wall, Stone Pile, Wall Line
Pottery Count: 32/248
Pottery Reading: 1984: BYZ, E ROM, IR2, 1 POSS LB
Site No.: 38 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235900E, 141200N
Description: The very large rectilinear structure observed on previous visits had been obliterated by bulldozer operation apart from 1-2 courses on the eastern wall. Modern excavation had exposed a cave to the east of the remaining wall but it appears natural and unexploited in antiquity. A likely perimeter wall enclosed the structure on the north and west. A field wall ran toward the wadi.
Function: Garrison troops
Food System: Stability in hinterland through military presence.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Perimeter Wall, Field Wall
Pottery Count: 13/41
Pottery Reading: 1992: MOD, CLASSICAL BODS, E PER 1984: 1 MOD BOD, BYZ, E ROM, IR2
Site No.: 39 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235300E, 144800N
Description: Site 39 was a columbarium first noted in 1984, and revisited in 1989. Located in the slope across from an electric power substation, it was located in a cave that originally had two chambers. The front wall of the feature has collapsed exposing the chambers but burying the lower courses of the niches. The exposed chambers together were 15m long, 8m wide, and 3.5m high. Each chamber had 240 niches arranged in two bands of four rows each. These niches were ca. 20 centimeters high, by 10 centimeters wide, by 14 centimeters deep.
Features: Columbarium
Pottery Count:
Pottery Reading: No pottery was associated with this site but similar installations are Roman
Site No.: 40 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235200E, 144700N
Description: There did not appear to be ruins of a permanent settlement on this large, flat hilltop. It had been used for a campsite and agricultural center for a long time, and still was. It was possible that some cultivation was done on the summit, but the hill overlooks rich farm country on all sides and on it's slopes. There was a major threshing floor on the west end. Perhaps a seasonal site in the Iron Age. Most important was the fact that this is a non-centralized site.
Function: Agricultural/Industrial installations of various kinds including cupholes, cisterns, threshing floor, and quarrying.
Food System: Ditto above
Features: Tomb, Cistern, Cistern, Cistern, Quarry, Sherd Scatter, Cave, Cuphole, Kiln
Pottery Count:
Pottery Reading: 1992: ALL BODS, MOD, UM, BYZ, IR -- 1984: 1 PROB ROM, IR
Site No.: 41 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235300E, 142800N
Description: This limekiln site, visited in 1984 and 1987, had been completely destroyed by farming and road repair activity.
1984 Report: This is a very small site on a low northeast slope into Wadi el-Buneiyat. A dirt road runs between tilled fields. A small circular depression to the south edge of the road has a few stones in a curving pattern that appears to be neither natural nor accidental. Some 150m to the northwest, in a low spot on the hillside is a similar configuration: bedrock squared off facing northeast, circular mound of stones closing the gap. A tomb? Uphill from the latter is a single line of jagged upright stones, all smoothed on the west face, extending ca. 50m, probably curbstones of an old road. (Boling, 1989)
1987 Report: The circular depression described by Boling in 1984 was a limekiln.
Features: Kiln, Field Wall
Pottery Count: 10/89
Pottery Reading: 1984: BYZ, ROM AND PRE ROM
Site No.: 42 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 236000E, 143600N
Description: On an isolated spur surrounded by cultivated wadi fields, overlooking the wadi el-Buneiyat and directly across from site 43, a square building sat above two cisterns. The other side of the cistern evidenced the wall lines of an enclosure though it's relationship to the cistern is undetermined.
Function: The position of the hilltop structure suggests a center coordinating, directing, or guarding the agricultural operations of the Byzantine period.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Cistern, Cistern, Rectilinear Structure, Quarry, Cave
Pottery Count:
Pottery Reading: 1992: UM, BYZ, IR2 -- 1984: UM, BYZ, FEW E ROM, FEW IR BODS
Site No.: 43 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 236300E, 143500N
Description: A slender spur jetted southward toward Wadi el-Buneiyat. A rectilinear structure (43.1) sat near the end of the spur 75 meters above wadi. Stone piles, inchoate wall lines and bedrock features (43.2,3) stretched back toward the ridge. Bare soil and lithophytic vegetation joined at area of grain fields preserved behind parallel terrace walls (43.6) adjacent to 43.1. North of 43.1 at about 15m was a press area with cupholes, presses and bedrock basin. Still further up the spur sat a broken millstone and a short wall line of semi-hewn stones (without meaningful context) as well as a cave (presently blocked). The "road" noted in 1984 was more likely a field wall stretching up the spur (43.10). Bedrock on the wadi side of the lower terrace wall (43.6) offered several cupholes and a shallow basin. An embankment extended 120 meters into the wadi, cornered and ran parallel to the wadi for an additional 80 meters.
Function: Farmland
Food System: Intensive agriculture and horticulture with domestic and/or industrial structure at its heart.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Press, Cuphole, Press, Cave, Terrace, Wadi Embankment, Cuphole, Cuphole, Wall Line, Wall Line, Road
Pottery Count: 17/52
Pottery Reading: 1992: 1 MOD, 1 AY/MAM, BYZ DOM, IR -- 1984: BYZ, ROM, IR2, IR1, 1 PROB MB IIB, FEW EB BODS
Site No.: 44 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 234900E, 142700N
Description: On the knob just east of site 16, site 44 was a collection of features centered in a small bedrock outcrop near the present dirt road. In this and other outcrops were several quarry marks (44.1) and the circular basin of a wine press (?) (44.3). East of these, a limekiln lay just beyond an outcrop. Northeast of feature 1 a single, short section of wall was visible (44.4). Near the limekiln a single tomb/cave was found.
Function: Variety
Features: Quarry, Kiln, Press, Wall Line, Tomb, Wadi Embankment
Pottery Count:
Pottery Reading: 1992: AY/MAM, FEW UM, BYZ DOM, ROM -- 1984: UM, BYZ, FEW ER, FEW IR
Site No.: 45 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 235500E, 142100N
Description: This site had been bulldozed-All features reported earlier have been obliterated.
1984 Report: This is the first high hill due east (one km) from Umeiri East, overlooked in previous surveys. Visible from Umeiri, after being spotted in an aerial photo by Randy Younker, are the remains of a building (roughly 10 x 10m) which has been bulldozed through the middle. Immediately to the north of it is a circular mound (outer diameter ca. 11m) with central depression (ca. 6.5m diam. and 2m deep), possibly a collapsed cistern. There are caves and a possible perimeter wall, along with an abundance of pottery. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Cave, Circular Structure, Kiln, Perimeter Wall, Rectilinear Structure
Pottery Count: 46/377
Pottery Reading: 1984: BYZ, ER, IR2, 4 U.D.
Site No.: 46 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232900E, 139600N
Description: A limekiln (46.1) sat on the northern foot of the first hill South of el Dreijat (hill 931). This limekiln was full of chert cobbles and small boulders. Atop the hill a single cuphole was found.
Function: Burning lime
Features: Kiln, Cuphole
Pottery Count: 10/64
Pottery Reading: 1984: FEW BYZ, ROM BODS, IR2
Site No.: 47 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232600E, 139600N
Description: Agricultural facilities were spread out along a shelf below el-Dreijat in the midst of terraced fields (47.7), criss-crossed by field walls (47.2). Two oval structures occupied the ends of the narrow site (47.1,5). The northernmost structure sat adjacent to a large pressing basin and associated cistern (47.3,4), likely for processing grapes from the hillsides that descend to a narrow wadi tributary.
Function: Agricultural production
Food System: Specialized economic production during era of the basin.
Features: Circular Structure, Field Wall, Press, Cistern, Circular Structure, Wall Line, Terrace, Road
Pottery Count: 2/39
Pottery Reading: 1992: BYZ, IR -- 1984: POSS UM, BYZ, ROM BODS, IR BODS
Site No.: 48 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232700E, 139600N
Description: This site was a small farmstead located just below and south of Site 126. The central feature at this site was the ephemeral remains of a small rectilinear structure (48.1) 10.5 x 5.4 meters. Thirty meters west of this feature the remains of a large, 11 meter O.D., limekiln (48.2) were found. Next to this limekiln a 4.7 meter circular structure (48.3), perhaps a field tower, was found. In addition to these structures, terrace (48.4) and field walls (48.5) were recorded.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Kiln, Circular Structure, Terrace, Field Wall, Road
Pottery Count: 7/122
Pottery Reading: 1992: MOD, BYZ, ROM, IR -- 1984: BYZ, L ROM, IR
Site No.: 49 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232800E, 138900N
Description: This site had been destroyed by the road work and building activities of an abandoned housing development. Our survey team in 1992 was unable to locate any of the features noted by Boling in 1984 and it must be assumed that they have all been swallowed up by the construction.
1984 Report: The site is on a severely eroded slope facing west into Wadi el-Hajal. An enclosure wall is clear (ca 40m east-west x 50m north-south) on all but the downhill side. The wall is build with 2 rows of stone, 1m wide. Within a large structure (12.7 x 13.5m) at the northwest corner is a cave or possible cistern. Near the center of the complex is a rectangular structure. Near the southeast corner is another one, 4 x 5m. Outside the southern perimeter wall, at the downhill limit, is a rectangular tower, 5 x 6m. The perimeter wall on the south continues uphill beyond the compound as described above for another 20m, where it corners with a comparable north-south wall running parallel to the compound for ca. 33m. (Boling, 1989)
Features: Cave, Cistern, Perimeter Wall, Rectilinear Structure
Pottery Count: 21/57
Pottery Reading: 1984: FEW L ROM BODS, IR2
Site No.: 50 Palestine Grid Coordinates: 232500E, 139400N
Description: This site consisted of a series of walls and rock-cut features arranged around a 7.7 x 7.3 meter rectilinear structure (50.1). Enclosing this site was a perimeter wall (50.2) 190 meters in circumference. Set against this wall to the west was a second, small, 3.2 x 2.8m rectilinear structure (50.3). A limekiln (50.5) was noted ca. 50m to the east of feature 1. Quarry marks (50.6) and an enigmatic circular basin (50.4) were found cut into the bedrock. A single tomb (50.7) was also noted. A cistern recorded in 1987 was not found in 1992.
Features: Rectilinear Structure, Perimeter Wall, Rectilinear Structure, Basin, Kiln, Quarry, Tomb, Cistern, Terrace
Pottery Count: 104/431
Pottery Reading: 1992: UM, BYZ -- 1984: ROM BODS, PRE ROM
