Tell el-Mazar 2003 Overview

Tell el-Mazar, Jordan
Eveline J. van der Steen

Tell el-Mazar is located in the central East Jordan valley, 3 km east of the river Jordan, between Tell Deir Alla and Tell es-Sa'idiyeh (UTMG coordinates 7214.280; 563.314; Pal. Grid coordinates 2073.745; 1810.728). It consists of a main tell measuring 160 x 140 m and 24 m high, and a smaller mound 220 m to the northwest, 1.80 m high (mound A). Excavations were conducted from 1977 to 1981 by Jordan University, directed by Dr. Khair Yassine. They revealed an almost continuous occupation from the Late Bronze Age to the Persian period. On mound A an eleventh century sanctuary was excavated, and a cemetery from the Iron Age II - Persian period. The cemetery, Ammonite and Aramaic inscriptions and Ammonite seals have been published, as well as several preliminary reports. What remains to be published are the final report of the stratigraphy and the pottery from the main mound and from the sanctuary on mound A, as well as most objects, small finds, and the organic remains.

The central East Jordan Valley is a key region between ancient Israel and its hinterland to the east. The (almost) continuous occupation from the Late Bronze to Persian period on Tell Mazar is therefore of special significance. No other continuous pottery or occupation sequence has been published from this region east of the Jordan, and Mazar is vital in clarifying the settlement history of the proto-Israelites and their neighbours, as well as the history of the Iron Age kingdoms of Israel and Ammon. The Persian period is still something of a dark age in the Southern Levant. The East Jordan Valley may have been part of the route between Mesopotamia and Egypt, but so far little evidence of Persian presence in the region has come to light. Mazar is one of the few Persian-period sites in the region, and therefore plays a key role in our understanding of the expansion politics of the Persian Period.

This project aims at a publication within a period of three years, which includes the final report of the excavations, integrating it in the wider socio-economic and political context of the Jordan Valley and its surrounding regions. It will be submitted to the series British Academy Monographs in Archaeology, with the agreement of the editor (Dr. P. Bienkowski).