Today (Jan 8, 2007) was another great day on the site. The rain has stopped and the site has dried up enough to work. After almost 3 days of sitting around we were anxious to get back to work. Well it wasn’t long before we found a rim and the more we dug the more of the storage jar was intact. First it was one handle then the other and before long it was the entire jar. This is the first complete vessel taken from Tall el-Hammam complete and intact (many more to follow from another IA house and the Roman Bath complex). Speaking to the Jordanian archaeologist from the region there are very few of these in the area. It is a complete Iron Age II storage jar from a storage room behind the living quarters of an Iron age house. This would date from the time of Solomon to put it in historical context. We took samples from inside to be sent away for analysis. Now we believe we have found the floor of the house as the storage jars were sitting on it. We will see tomorrow. These are the two ladies, Laural and Marlene, who discovered the jar and dug it out under my and Carl Fink's supervision. The jar was between our square and the one next to us supervised by Carl Fink. We took the balk out to get this full piece out. It was a good thing we did. There was a small amount of charred residue in the bottom which we
took samples for carbon 14 dating. It will most likely be put on
display in the Museum in Amman, Jordan or the new museum being built
near Lots Cave. It will be a great feeling to visit the Museum and say that you had a hand in excavating this beautiful intact Iron Age Storage Jar. What a very rare find!! I have become the king of whole vessels at Tall el-Hammam, Jordan (15 and counting).
This was the first complete piece of pottery taken from Tall el-Hammam,
Jordan. It was found on Jan 8, 2007 in a residential area, with 6 other
jars which were broken but mandible. It dates to 1000 BC (3000 years
old). The interesting thing about the storage jar was it was only about
8 inches below the surface. Amazing that it had survived the
destruction of the house, as the mud bring roof had collapsed and
shattered the other jars. This one was in the center of the room and
not against the back wall like the others which may have had something
to do with it's survival. The Late Iron 2 jar have these
"monkey eared" handles and classic shape with the round bottoms. They
would simply dig a shallow hole in the ground and set the storage jar in
its spot. It would have been used to store grain, dry goods, oil or
wine. It was an amazing feeling to find this rare and
beautifully preserved storage jar from the time of Solomon 1000 BC. | |
| Congratulating Carl Fink on our discovery. |
- Early Bronze period (C19 Egyptian Execration Text) –Beth-Haram
- Middle Bronze period (Genesis 14)–Sodom (Canaanite)
- Late Bronze period (Num 32:36)–Beth-Haran and the event of Abel-Shittim on the Plains of Moab (Josh 2:1; 3:1).[1]
- Iron Age (Solomon 1 Kgs 4:7-19)–Beth-Haram [2]
- 1st Cent. BC (Herod the Great; Josephus Antiquities 18.27)–Betharamtha
- 1st Cent AD (Herod Agrippa 4 BC; Josephus A.J. 20.29; B.J. 2.168; 2.252; see also Theodosius Top. 19.1; P. XHev/Se gr 65.3-4)–Livias
- 1st Cent. AD (Herod Agrippa 14 AD; Josephus Antiquities 18.27; 20.29; Jewish War 2.168; 2.252; 4.438)–Julias
- Byzantine–Sodom (Bishop of Sodom)[3] This is the name that would have appeared on the Madaba Map not Livias as the pilgrims were only interested in Holy Sites [4].
Since its discovery the storage jar has been published in the ADAJ Journal and vol 1 of the excavations of Tall el-Hammam. The ADAJ states:
“Iron Age house (Square UC.29Q) with doorways and cooking installations were present. A virtually intact cooking pot was found in the ashes of a hearth. A short distance away an intact IA2b storage jar was discovered [see photos here].” Steven Collins, Khalil Hamdan, and Gary A. Byers, “Tall El-Hammam: Preliminary Report on Four Seasons of Excavation (2006–2009),” Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (ADAJ) 53 (2009): 385–414 (see 397). Steven Collins, Carroll M. Kobs, and Michael C. Luddeni, An Introduction to Tall Al-Hammam with Seven Seasons (2005–2011) of Ceramics and Eight Seasons (2005–2012) of Artifacts, vol. 1 (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 235.
Footnotes
[1] In Numbers 32:36, Beth-nimrah [Tall Nimrin] and Beth-haran [Tall el-hammam], which were fortified cities until they were destroyed, are mentioned as folds for sheep in the tribe of Gad.[2] On the Solomonic period at Tall el-Hammam that was known as Beth-Haram see William Attaway, “The District List of Solomon in 1 Kings 4:7-19 and Tall El-Hammam: Is a Connection Feasible?” Ph. D. diss., Trinity Southwest University, 2017. “In Joshua 13:27, Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah are again mentioned together as the southernmost cities in the eastern Jordan Valley. They were part of Solomon's 7th district which had Mahanaim as its capital.” Leen Ritmeyer corresondence.
[3] Irfan Shahîd, Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century: Ecclesiastical History (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1995), 683; Bernard Lewis, Islam in History: Ideas, People, and Events in the Middle East (Peru, Ill.: Open Court, 2013), 155.
[4] David E. Graves and D. Scott Stripling, “Identification of Tall El-Hammam on the Madaba Map,” Bible and Spade 20, no. 2 (2007): 35–45, n. 12; “However, it must be remembered that the Madaba Map was a sacred map used by religious pilgrims for traveling the Holy Land. Since Byzantine Zoar is mentioned on the map, while none of the other Cities of the Plain are identified, it may be possible that the two sites in the northern region missing their names are Sodom and Gomorrah. The early pilgrims were interested in Sodom as is evident from Egeria’s comments. Livias would not be biblically important to early Christian Pilgrims, but Sodom and Gomorrah would be sites of interest.” David E. Graves, The Location of Sodom: Color Edition. Key Facts for Navigating the Maze of Arguments for the Location of the Cities of the Plain (Toronto: Electronic Christian Media, 2018), 51–52.
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