East of Azraq: settlement, burial and chronology from the Chalcolithic to the Bronze Age and Iron Age in the Jebel Qurma region, Black Desert, north-east Jordan

Abstract

Recent survey and excavation in the Jebel Qurma region in the basalt desert (harrah) of north-eastern Jordan have revealed substantial evidence for settlement and burial from the Chalcolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age. The new data demonstrate considerable diversity in site layout as well as clear shifts in habitation patterns and locational preferences over time. Particularly, the sites from the mid-fifth to fourth millennium BC regularly were of an impressive size, with many dozens or even hundreds of stonebuilt structures for dwelling at a single site. In later periods, the emphasis seems to be increasingly on small, temporary camp sites. In addition, the fieldwork provided detailed insight into the many cairns for burial in the Jebel Qurma area and the Black Desert at large. These tombs were of different types and sizes, and predominantly date to the first millennium BC.