National Library hosts launch of archaeology book by Zeidan Kafafi

AMMAN — Last week, the National Library organised a launch of a new book by Professor Emeritus Zeidan Kafafi, a former president of Yarmouk University and a renowned archaeologist. The book titled "Thoughts on Archaeology and the Ancient History of Jordan and Palestine" tries to answer on some questions regarding the regional past.

Kafafi was a co-director with the American Professor Emeritus Gary Rollefson at Ain Ghazal, a Neolithic site located near Marka Shamalia, and worked at different prehistoric sites in the Jordan Valley. He also left a significant mark as a pedagogue teaching at Yarmouk University.

The book contains over 70 short essays discussing several issues on archaeology, ancient history and heritage. 

"It aims at presenting historical information related to Jordan and Palestine in a very easy manner directed to the non-archaeological intellectuals and appeals to ordinary people interested in the history of their country. It covers a period ranging from prehistoric times to contemporary history," Kafafi elaborated, noting that the book is divided in six subjects:

1. Essays discussing history and archaeology of cities, such as: Jerusalem, Amman, Hebron, Irbid, Kerak, Tafileh and Gaza.

2. Essays presenting brief information about archaeological sites, such as Khirbet Batrawi, Deir ‘Alla, Jalul and others.

3. Essays discussing ancient history of Bilad esh-Sham.

4. Essays discussing ancient art.

5. Essays offering brief studies of epigraphy and ancient writings.

6. Heritage.

"Jordan covers the south-eastern corner of Bilad esh-Sham, for this reason its history must be looked as a complementary to other parts of this region. Moreover, Jordan had always contacted with other near and far regions of Levant, Egypt and Messopotamia, which means it played a major role in the civilisation of its current surroundings. In other words, it was affected and influenced by its surroundings," Kafafi stressed.

It is well known that urbanisation started in Orient during the second half of the fourth millennium BC, and best examples were encountered in south Mesopotamia and Egypt. 

"Regarding Jordan, it has been published that the first evidence of cities was excavated in the north [Khirbet ez-Zeiraqoun/Irbid], centre [Khirbet Batrwai/az-Zarqa] and south [Bab edh-Dhra’/Karak]and dated back to ca. 2,800/2,700 BC.

Levant is a home of some of the oldest urban centres in history, and consequently, the archaeological remains excavated at the earliest and first Jordanian cities indicated their relations to Mesopotamian cities (seals found at Kh. Az-Zeiraqoun) and Egypt (alabaster objects found at Bab edh-Dhra’). 

"Those cities were enclosed by city-walls, having temples and administrative construction, which was also the features encountered at sites in Palestine such as at Jericho and Megiddo. In addition, the same forms of the pottery utensils excavated at the Jordanian sites were visible in the pottery pots assemblages found at Palestinian contemporaneous earliest cities," Kafafi underlined.