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Lost Secrets - an adventure during Neolithic times

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Rawdah - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in Jordan

Submitted by enkidu41 on Wednesday, 07 July 2010  Page Views: 7545

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Rawdah Alternative Name: Tall el-Hammam
Country: Jordan
NOTE: This site is 11.209 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Amman  Nearest Village: al- kufeir
Latitude: 31.830052N  Longitude: 35.684083E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by ammanamba : Dolmen. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Rawdah (Tall el-Hammam).


The area has been given many names in the past. It is located in the foothills east of the village of Rawdah (formerly Esh Shaghur/el Mazar), on both sides of the main road between Naur and the King Hussain Bridge. It starts in the valleys from Wadi Kafrein/Tell Hamman in the north, Wadi Maata, Wadi Quseib, on the spurs near "el Maberah", to the north-east near Ain el Meheiyineh, down south towards Tell el Mataba, then to the lower slopes of the Wadi Hesban and Wadi el Muthariqa, south of the road towards the Dead Sea. It has also been referred to as Ghor es Seisaban.

A 100 years ago there may have perhaps been as many as 300 dolmens but there are now only about 200 built, in groups, mainly in brown crystalline limestone. They are found both on the ridges and in the valleys. The majority are built on an elevated round terrace and it has been suggested that some may have had pointed topslabs. There is also a 2.5m menhir which has a broken top sustained when it was pulled down in November 2004, several circles of up to 10 m diameter, and a few cupholes.

More from motist: In July 2007 Dr. Uzi Avner and I paid a visit to Mr.Gajus Scheltema (AMMANABA - a member of the Megalithic site) in the Dutch embassy in Amman (Mr. Scheltema was then the Dutch ambassador to Jordan). Mr. Scheltema took us to visit this megalithic site so we shot some photos.
There is a great deal of controversy as to the construction date and nature of dolmens within the environs of the Rift Valley. Several dolmen fields exist in and adjacent to the Rift (Jordan) Valley from Syria down to the Dead Sea. During TeHEP Season Four and Season Five, a new survey of dolmens in the immediate vicinity of Tall el-Hammam was conducted. While previous surveys had divided the area dolmens into at least two fields, our new survey has filled in the gaps between those fields, has added several hundred new ones to the survey, and has demonstrated that all the dolmens in the area belong to one continuous field, which we have now officially named the Tall el-Hammam Dolmen Field.

This field occupies the hilly land to the E, SE, S, and SW of Tall el-Hammam, marking, in those locations, a clear boundary for the city-state. There's even evidence of dolmens near the base of the tall proper. We've now surveyed, photographed, and described almost 500 of the ancient funerary monuments, and have estimated the existence of at least 500 more in areas scraped off for military and residential purposes. The sheer number of the Hammam dolmens suggests their importance in the socio-cultic history of the area.

Evidence from the Season Five excavation of an undisturbed dolmen (a rare find!) suggests that the monuments were not generally used for primary burials, but were the focus of a more complex set of (ancestor worship?) rituals involving 'token' bones (extracted from nearby family cave- and shaft-tombs?) and (mostly) small offering vessels placed into the dolmen chamber at lengthy calendar intervals. The excavation of Hammam Dolmen 73 included over 40 vessels, beginning in the Chalcolithic Period and spanning about 2000 years.

More at: Hammam Dolmen Field

Note: New survey demonstrates that all the dolmens in the area belong to one continuous group, now named the Tall el-Hammam dolmen field.
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 More pictures in our eGallery: Rawdah

Rawdah Dolmen (29)
Rawdah Dolmen (29) submitted by ammanamba : 3 dolmens built closely together in a line. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist  : Rawadah (Tall el-Hammam) stone circle (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist  : Rawadah (Tall el-Hammam) (Vote or comment on this photo)

Rawdah Dolmen (31)
Rawdah Dolmen (31) submitted by ammanamba : Dolmen at Nieuw. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by durhamnature : Old picture of one of the dolmens, from "History of Egypt..." via archive.org

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist  : Rawadah (Tall el-Hammam) stone circle

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist  : Rawadah (Tall el-Hammam)

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist

Rawdah
Rawdah submitted by motist  : Rawadah (Tall el-Hammam) Mr.Gajus Scheltema (AMMANABA) and I near slab from a Dolmen

Rawdah Menhir
Rawdah Menhir submitted by ammanamba : Menhir south of Rawdah.

Rawdah Menhir
Rawdah Menhir submitted by ammanamba

Rawdah Rock carving (6)
Rawdah Rock carving (6) submitted by ammanamba : Rock carving.

Rawdah Rock carving (5)
Rawdah Rock carving (5) submitted by ammanamba (1 comment)

Rawdah Rock carving (4)
Rawdah Rock carving (4) submitted by ammanamba

Rawdah Rock carving (3)
Rawdah Rock carving (3) submitted by ammanamba

Rawdah Rock carving (2)
Rawdah Rock carving (2) submitted by ammanamba

Rawdah Rock carving (1)
Rawdah Rock carving (1) submitted by ammanamba

Rawdah Rock-cut tunnel
Rawdah Rock-cut tunnel submitted by ammanamba : A small tunnel cut through a rocky outcrop.

Rawdah Rock-cut tomb
Rawdah Rock-cut tomb submitted by ammanamba : Rock-cut tomb/chamber at Nieuw.

Rawdah Millstone
Rawdah Millstone submitted by ammanamba : This has the appearance of a millstone but is rather large and may well have had a different purpose.

Rawdah Dolmen (33)
Rawdah Dolmen (33) submitted by ammanamba : Ruined dolmen at Nieuw.

Rawdah Dolmen (32)
Rawdah Dolmen (32) submitted by ammanamba : Dolmen at Nieuw. (1 comment)

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 8.5km WSW 250° Tulaylat al-Ghassul Ancient Village or Settlement
 10.9km E 97° Hesbon* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 11.6km SSE 163° Dolmens at Wadi Jadid* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 15.8km SE 141° Adeihmeh* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 16.2km SE 140° Madaba Mosaic Map* Misc. Earthwork
 16.5km SE 140° Madaba (Jordan)* Ancient Village or Settlement
 19.6km S 175° Khajar Mansub* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 19.7km S 176° South of Khajar Mansub Menhirs & Dolmens* Chambered Tomb
 19.7km S 176° el-Mareighat* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 19.7km ENE 77° Tall al-Umayri* Ancient Village or Settlement
 21.4km WNW 286° The Gilgal associated peacefully with Joshua Stone Circle
 23.4km WSW 245° Qumran* Ancient Village or Settlement
 23.5km W 276° Jericho* Ancient Village or Settlement
 26.0km ENE 59° Amman.* NOT SET
 27.4km ENE 60° Jordan Archaeological Museum* Museum
 27.4km ENE 60° Amman Citadel* Ancient Village or Settlement
 29.8km S 191° Mukawir* Hillfort
 31.7km NNW 339° Damiyah dolmen field* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 32.7km ENE 57° Ain Ghazal* Ancient Village or Settlement
 34.2km SE 142° Khirbat Al-Mudayna* Ancient Village or Settlement
 38.1km SSE 166° Khirbet Ataruz Ancient Village or Settlement
 40.2km NNW 336° Argaman-Gilgal sanctuary Ancient Temple
 41.9km W 267° Shuafat road Chalcolithic period site* Ancient Village or Settlement
 42.7km W 263° 2000 year old stone fragment in Jerusalem* Marker Stone
 42.8km W 262° Temple Mount* Ancient Temple
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How did they survive? New research shows Jordanian city survived climate change by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 03 May 2011
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About 4,200 years ago a series of disasters struck cities and civilizations throughout the Middle East.
In Egypt the central government collapsed. The same state that had built the great pyramids, and kept pharaoh as the supreme authority, could no longer keep the country united. This ushered in an era of powerful provincial leaders (known as nomarchs) and rival claimants to the Egyptian throne.
A similar scenario happened in Mesopotamia where the Akkadian Empire, an entity whose power stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean, also went under. This led to local rulers stepping in and taking up power.
There is also evidence of social upheaval in the Levant. The city of Khirbet ez-Zeiraqoun in northern Jordan, whose inhabitants burrowed out hundreds of meters of water tunnels into the ground, was abandoned.
Climate change is believed to be a major reason for this upheaval. Research in the Middle East suggests that the environment became increasingly arid – making it difficult to support the intensive farming that is required to feed large cities.
“Paleoclimactic data from numerous sites, document changes in the Mediterranean westerlies and monsoon rainfall during this event with precipitation reductions of up to 30%, that diminished agricultural production from the Aegean to the Indus,” wrote scientists Harvey Weiss and Raymond Bradley in a paper they published.
“What that climate change is a result of is a mystery,” said Professor Steven Collins, of Trinity Southwest University. “There are even folks speculating on some sort of cosmic impact event like an asteroid strike at some point on the globe that created some sort of climatological disaster for the whole planet, not just for the Middle East.”
Together with Khalil Hamdan, of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, Collins leads archaeological work at the Jordanian city of Tall el-Hammam. Located in the southern Jordan Valley, new research at this 36 hectare city shows that, remarkably, it continued to operate during this climate shift. “It was not only around it was thriving,” Collins said.
An ancient metropolis
Archaeological work shows that people were living at Tall el-Hammam at least as far back as 6,000 years ago.
By the time the climate disaster hit, nearly 4,200 years ago, the city supported a population of between 15,000 to 25,000 people living in or nearby.
The team believes that it was the centre of a small kingdom ruled by a king. The city certainly had its share of amenities. A 100 meter by 100 meter raised platform served as the main hub of the city, containing temples and administrative buildings.
The city was protected by a massive fortification system with walls that Collins said were “about six meters thick and would have been about three times that high.” These fortifications had somewhere between 15 and 20 gates, giving outsiders access to the settlement.
Domestic residences in the city were modest. Built of mud brick, they had stone foundations and walls that were half a meter thick. Archaeological work suggests that these houses were reused and modified over a vast amount of time. One residence the team found was used from between 4,600 and 3,600 years ago, with modifications being made occasionally.
One of the most enigmatic features of the city was its dolmen field. In ancient times the people of Tall el-Hammam built nearly 1,000 of these stone monuments. “They go up into the hills surrounding the east and south of the city state,” said Collins.
Many of the dolmens have either been destroyed or looted but the team has found a few intact examples. From the excavation of them “we pretty much concluded that they’re not primary burials, and they’re probably not even secondary burials,” said Collins. Rather “they seem to be memorial monuments related to some sort of ancestor worship.”
What may have taken place is that on certain days people would have opened the grave of an ancestor, taken a

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