Dhiban 1998 Overview

ABSTRACT
The final three seasons (1955, 1956 and 1965) of the ASOR-sponsored expedition to Dhiban, directed by Dr. William Morton, will be brought to publication by the applicant, at the request of Mrs. Thelma Morton (Dr. Morton's widow). Modern Dhiban, 64 km south of ‘Amman and 20 km east of the Dead Sea (Palestine Grid: 225.0/ 101.25) is to be identified with ancient D¬b1⁄2n and has been the focus of scholarly attention since the discovery of the Mesha Inscription here in 1868. Unfortunately, the chronic health problems that plagued Dr. Morton from 1966 until his death in 1988 prevented the timely publication of his excavation results, and so the only well-stratified, excavated archaeological sequence in south-central Jordan (biblical M1⁄2’ab) remains largely unknown to the academic world. This is doubly unfortunate since the first five seasons of ASOR excavations at the site (Winnett and Reed 1964; Tushingham 1972) produced results that can only be characterized as ambiguous. Consequently, one of the most important archaeological sites in Jordan remains marginal to most discussions of the region's archaeology. This, and a recent upsurge in the intensity of archaeological research in M1⁄2’ab, has made the rapid and responsible publication of the results of Dr. Morton's excavations a matter of some urgence.

Fortunately, Dr. Morton applied the "Wheeler-Kenyon" method in the field, kept reasonably good field records and had worked steadily on organizing the plans, photographs and field notes. As a result, the Dhiban archive is in good shape and should allow the production of a substantial final report of significant scholarly value in a relatively brief period of time. Under the publication program proposed in this grant application, a camera-ready manuscript will be submitted for review in the summer of 2001. Furthermore, as the result of the electronic archiving process included in this proposal, fieldnotes, plans, artifact drawings and photographs will be stored in a CD-ROM format, copies of which will be available for insertion into the final monograph.

The manuscript itself will include a discussion of the stratigraphy, chronology, regional context, and historical and sociological importance of the major periods of settlement revealed by Dr. Morton (EB II-III, Iron I, Iron II, Nabataean, Late Roman-Byzantine, Umayyad and Ayyubid-Mameluke). These conclusions will be aided by analytical studies of the palaeobotanical remains, ceramic clay sources and the composition of the metal artifacts. Furthermore, a concerted effort to link the well-stratified remains of Dr. Morton's excavations to the published results of the first five seasons will provide a sorely needed holistic view of ancient D¬b1⁄2n as a nodal point of human experience in this region for almost five thousand years