Tell er-Rumeith 2005 Overview

This application is for a grant to assist in the publication of the excavations at Tell er-Rumeith directed by Paul W. Lapp. Lapp conducted a sounding at Rumeith in 1962 and returned to the site in 1967 for a season of excavation, both expeditions under the auspices of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. His untimely death in 1970 has delayed the final publication of this work. Funding from the White Levy Program would make possible the necessary studies to complete this project.

Tell er-Rumeith (map reference 247.212) is located in northern Transjordan near the modern town of Ramtha, not far from the Syrian border. Its identification with Ramoth-Gilead of the Old Testament was suggested by its occupational history, literary evidence, and geographic location (I Kings 22:1-36). The Iron Age strata and destruction layers may correspond to events described in the biblical text: Ramoth-Gilead was located between the Aramean and Israelite kingdoms, which fought over the city and region during the ninth and eighth centuries BCE. Its small size is the strongest argument against the identification with Ramoth-Gilead, but excavation of a larger site in the area with an equivalent occupational history has not yet been undertaken.

The main mound consists principally of an Iron Age fortress representing two centuries of occupation. The 1962 sounding uncovered Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic material east of the main mound. The absence of substantial architecture in this area indicated only transient occupation. In 1967 excavations concentrated on the Iron Age strata of the mound proper. A quarter or more of the fortress was cleared, recovering coherent architecture and well stratified ceramic assemblages dating to the ninth and eighth centuries B.C.