Excavations at Pella, Tell Hammeh shed light on Iron Age IIA architecture

AMMAN — Material culture did not experience break between the Bronze and the Iron Age at Pella, a site in north-western Jordan. It has been proposed that phase Iron B belongs to the earliest Iron Age 1 period.

“Actually, at the beginning of their excavations at Pella the excavators mentioned that no Iron IIA architectural remains were registered at the site. Nevertheless, the followed seasons of excavation in Stratum 8 produced a small domestic courtyard having several post-holes containing charred wood,” said the professor Zeidan Kafafi from Yarmouk University.

Moreover, in Area III at Pella a fragmentary structure and pits were found and assigned to the Iron I-Iron IIA period.

The central room of it had an apse measuring 2.6 m wide at the western end, and seems that it was left opened to the south where a pit lined with stones from the interior was dug into the floor, Kafafi explained, noting that at Tell Abu Kharaz at phase IX–XV several types of structural remains were yielded.

“Phases X (Iron IB/IIA 1050–930 BC) and Phase XI (Iron IIA in Area 2 North-West which is located close to the steep northern slop a 4.2 metres wide Early Bronze Age city-wall) was excavated, and just below it an Iron Age rectangular structure measuring 10 m × 8 m, looking like a tower, was exposed,” Kafafi said.

He added that the excavator believes that the foundation of this Iron IIA building was originally built during the Late Bronze Age period.

“A stone-paved passage-way with a tabun built on top of it that connected between the tower compound and a domestic structure was visible,” Kafafi underlined, adding that paved spaces with flag stones were also registered at other areas of Tell Abu Kharaz such as in Area 3, Trench 3.

In addition, and in this area, Trench XI, two fairly intact structures belonging to Phase XII were excavated. In this area, perhaps a courtyard, bread oven (tawabeen) and several other objects such as pottery utensils, flint blade, shells and a basalt millstone were recorded.

“To sum up, the pure Iron IIA domestic structures at Tell Abu Al Kharaz were encountered in Phase XI, and they were moderately well-preserved and characterised by repairing the earlier structures,” Kafafi underlined.

He pointed out that during the 1984 and 1987 seasons of excavations at the eastern side of the summit of the Tell a complex of a domestic buildings and a sequence of a half meter thick deposit at some places belonging probably to the 11th and 10th centuries BC were registered.

The complex consisted of a storage room in which 14 large storage jars, 12 of them filled with liquids, were encountered. Scholars found the thick deposit consisted of dirt mixed with animal bones, large pottery sherds, mud brick fragments, chunks of bread ovens and two children skeletal remains.

Tell Hammeh is located approximately 2.5 km to the east of the Tell Dayr ‘Alla, and situated on the northern bank of the Wadi ez-Zarqa, in a distance of ca. 150–200 m from the water-bed of the Wadi.

“Tell Hammeh is situated in an area close to Mugharet Wardeh in the Ajlun mountain ranges which are considered being an extensive source of Iron ore,” Kafafi noted.

The professor added that the archaeological excavations conducted at the site indicated that it was occupied from the Pottery Neolithic through the end of the Persian periods, but witnessed few intervals of occupation in between.

Late Iron Age II period is represented by a huge pit (6–7 m in diameter) lined with mud-bricks, and with stones at the bottom, cutting through all phases. In addition, a large number of pottery sherds, loom-weights and two grinding stones were found in this phase.

“The 2009 joint excavation of Tell Hammeh yielded a wealth of 10th century BC remains of iron smelting activities, and subsequently studied by Xander Veldhuijzen. The Iron IIA architectural remains uncovered at Tell Hammeh consisted of small rooms built of medium unhewn boulders," he said.

Due to the small size of the excavated area, no complete plan of a house could be retrieved, Kafafi underscored.