Rewriting the Prehistory of Jordan

Jordanian prehistory begins with the traces left by human ancestors on a key route out of Africa into Europe and Asia. This earliest phase is mainly known from scatters of flint tools made, used, and abandoned. Around 20,000 years ago, archaeological preservation improves providing evidence for some of the most profound changes in human history. These include the development of food producing technologies, the domestication of plants and animals, and the social and ideological developments that enabled living together in increasingly large and sedentary communities: what have been identified as the earliest modern societies (e.g. Cauvin 2000). Similar developments took place independently in a number of regions across the globe (Barker 2006), but their earliest manifestation was in Southwest Asia.

Until recently, Jordan was considered as marginal to this process, but archaeological evidence now suggests that Jordan was important region to this transformation. Sites such as Kharaneh IV in the Epipalaeolithic show developments in subsistence and social complexity from c 20,000 years ago, while recent excavations at Shubayqa now provide evidence of permanent architecture from the Natufian period c 14,000 years ago. The earliest Neolithic, the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (12,000-10,300 years ago), was barely known in Jordan even a decade ago, but is now known from multiple sites. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10,300 - 8,700 years ago), previously thought to derive from developments elsewhere, is now seen to incorporate local innovations when the Jordanian plateau became one of the most densely populated parts of the world. Although field evidence remains scarce, the Late Neolithic (8,300-6,500 years ago) continues a local historical trajectory when the farming package consolidates. Jordan plays an important role in the development of nomadic pastoralism following the domestication of sheep and goats.

With notable exceptions, such as Profs Zeidan Kafafi of Yarmouk University and Maysoon al-Nahar of the University of Jordan, early prehistoric archaeological research has been dominated by international researchers, and has been marginal to archaeology and cultural heritage presentation within Jordan. The narrative of early prehistory has been largely written by international scholars, whose focus has been to place Jordanian evidence into a wider regional and global context. With the exception of scholars working directly on Jordanian material, most Near Eastern Neolithic archaeologists continue to downplay the significance of Jordan, indeed, with rare exceptions (such as mention of the large Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B sites), Jordan does not register in regional syntheses, and the crucial early developments evident in Jordan are often omitted. Prehistory does not figure in Jordanian school education, despite the many resonances with contemporary issues of settling down, the growth of sedentary communities, and the early development of an agricultural package that still lies at the core of Jordanian subsistence.

This project aims to develop a new generation of Jordanian scholars and cultural resource managers working in early prehistoric research. We will focus on Jordanian engagement, helping develop Jordanian skills, policies and procedures to research and manage prehistory, and to foster a new research environment with Jordanian perspectives and agendas.

The project will seek to engage the wider Jordanian public in prehistory, where a lack of local interest translates into a lack of protection for these sites. We will raise the profile of prehistory, show its relevance to modern life in the origins of herding, farming, and water management, all vital to modern Jordanian society. We want to show this is a human and local story, not just academic and global.

We will develop the tourism potential of prehistory, locally and internationally, to provide direct economic benefits to rural communities and the Jordanian economy.

This project will have impact by (1) building academic capacity for Jordanian researchers; (2) building cultural resource management capacity in the Department of Antiquities; (3) creating a research centre; (4) building interest in prehistory within Jordan; (5) supporting the growth of tourism (local and international) in southern Jordan.

(1) building academic capacity for Jordanian researchers

The training courses and associated seminars of the Rewriting the Prehistory of Jordan project are designed to equip a new generation of Jordanian scholars with the skills and academic background to conduct, lead, assess and collaborate in prehistoric archaeology. The project will conclude with a conference, where the participants will be required to contribute the results of their training (including additional work undertaken as Master's dissertations at Yarmouk University) and the output of seminar discussions on the prehistory of Jordan. Material deriving form this work will be synthesised into a heavily illustrated popular book on the prehistory of Jordan, in Arabic, targeted at the public.

(2) building cultural resource management capacity in the Department of Antiquities

The DoA has specifically requested support to establish a new generation of staff who can both conduct research in prehistory when required by the needs of rescue archaeology in advance of development or natural threats, but who are also able to manage Jordan's significant early prehistoric heritage. The fieldwork and post-excavation protocols to be discussed by trainees during training module seminars will provide the basis for DoA protocols to ensure quality in research. The training will also help to develop DoA staff to be able to critically assess prehistoric projects, a vital part of the DoA's role in granting fieldwork permits and monitoring subsequent work and progress. A particular emphasis will be on discussing curation policies, in particular the needs of retaining material for research, and when and how it can be disposed of to help develop the long-term collections policies for the DoA

(3) creating a research centre

The project will create a research centre for prehistoric archaeology. Projects depositing material in the Wadi Faynan museum will be asked to provide reference collections of material for use in the Centre to create a resource that will draw both Jordanian and international scholars. The centre will actively encourage international researchers to undertake material culture studies in Jordan, rather than shipping material overseas, and to employ Jordanian research assistants in their work. As a single centre for prehistoric research, the centre will have considerably greater sustainability than labs established to support individual projects or scholars within universities.

(4) building interest in prehistory within Jordan

The project will promote the early prehistory of Jordan within both local communities and more widely through the Friends of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. The project will hold open days throughout the project for both these key public stakeholder groups, and will also work with the museum to develop its displays. There are many areas of resonance between prehistory and modern Jordan, and an understanding of Jordanian prehistory will help serve to enrich cultural lives and the sense of Jordanian identity.

(5) supporting the growth of tourism (local and international) in southern Jordan

By promoting the prehistory of Jordan, the project intends to develop both international and domestic tourism in Jordan, especially through the publication of an accessible booklet on Jordanian prehistory. This will be of direct economic benefit to the local communities around important prehistoric sites, from 'Ain Ghazal in north Jordan, to the sites on the Neolithic Heritage Trail from Beidha in the Petra world heritage site down to Wadi Faynan, in addition to benefitting the wider tourism industry