Nothing but Cold Ashes? The Cairn Burials of Jebel Qurma, Northeastern Jordan

Akkermans, P.M.M.G.; Bruning, Merel

doi:10.5615/neareastarch.80.2.0132

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Some, such as tower tombs and cairns, may date to later, historic periods, although this is by no means certain. So-called tower tombs are well-distributed across the mesas, likely because they are large well-constructed monuments meant to commemorate individuals and were likely placed intentionally away from other tower tombs as prominent and visible markers on the landscape [59]. Some features cannot be assigned a probable date or function and so are only identified as walls.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

Hill

Rowan

2022

Remote Sensing

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This paper presents the results of a large scale, drone-based aerial survey in northeastern Jordan. Drones have rapidly become one of the most cost-effective and efficient tools for collecting high-resolution landscape data, fitting between larger-scale, lower-resolution satellite data collection and the significantly more limited traditional terrestrial survey approaches. Drones are particularly effective in areas where anthropogenic features are visible on the surface but are too small to identify with commonly and economically available satellite data. Using imagery from fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, along with photogrammetric processing, we surveyed an extensive archaeological landscape spanning 32 km2 at the site of Wadi al-Qattafi in the eastern badia region of Jordan, the largest archaeological drone survey, to date, in Jordan. The resulting data allowed us to map a wide range of anthropogenic features, including hunting traps, domestic structures, and tombs, as well as modern alterations to the landscape including road construction and looting pits. We documented thousands of previously unrecorded and largely unknown prehistoric structures, providing an improved understanding of major shifts in the prehistoric use of this landscape.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

Hill

Rowan

2022

Remote Sensing

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“…These are frequently situated on high ground, where they present distinctive profiles identifiable from long distances (e.g. Akkermans and Brüning, 2017: 138–139; Banks et al, 2017: 16; Cleuziou, 2002: 27; De Maigret, 2009: 337; Fujii et al, 2018: 230; Philip, 2008: 210; Steimer-Herbet and Besse, 2020: 100–101). Situating monuments alongside well-trafficked routeways would have had a similar impact.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in west and north-west Saudi Arabia, and in adjacent desert landscapes of eastern Jordan and southern Syria, these structures have received limited attention until recently (e.g. Abu-Azizeh et al, 2014, 2020; Akkermans and Brüning, 2017; Fujii, 2016; Hausleiter and Zur, 2016; Kennedy, 2011, 2012; Kennedy and Bishop, 2011; Rowan et al, 2011; Thomas et al, 2021a).…”

Section: Background and Research Problemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BC, respectively; Braemer et al, 2001: Tableau 7). Pendant burials in the Jebel Qurma region of Jordan have yielded later dates ranging from the third to second Centuries BCE to the third Century CE (Akkermans, 2019: 423–425; Akkermans and Brüning, 2017: 137; Akkermans et al, 2020: Figures 7 and 8). In spite of their abundance in north-west Arabia, few pendant burials here have yet been radiometrically dated.…”

Section: Funerary Avenuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Middle Holocene ‘funerary avenues’ of north-west Arabia

et al. 2021

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The desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula and Levant are criss-crossed by innumerable pathways. Across large areas of north-west Arabia, many of these pathways are flanked by stone monuments, the vast majority of which are ancient tombs. Recent radiometric dating indicates that the most abundant of these monuments, elaborate and morphologically diverse ‘pendant’ structures, were constructed during the mid-to-late third millennium BCE. Thousands of kilometres of these composite path and monument features, ‘funerary avenues’, can be traced across the landscape, especially around and between major perennial water sources. By evidencing routes of human movement during this period, these features provide an emerging source for reconstructing important aspects of ancient mobility and social and economic connectivity. They also provide significant new evidence for human/environment interactions and subsistence strategies during the later Middle Holocene of north-west Arabia, and suggest the parallel existence of mobile pastoralist lifeways and more permanent, oasis-centred settlement. This paper draws upon the results of recent excavations and intensive remote sensing, aerial and ground surveys in Saudi Arabia to present the first detailed examination of these features and the vast cultural landscape that they constitute.

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The identification of pathways on harra surfaces in north-eastern Jordan and their relation to ancient human mobility

Huigens

2018

Journal of Arid Environments

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Nothing but Cold Ashes? The Cairn Burials of Jebel Qurma, Northeastern Jordan

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

The Black Desert Drone Survey: New Perspectives on an Ancient Landscape

The Middle Holocene ‘funerary avenues’ of north-west Arabia

The identification of pathways on harra surfaces in north-eastern Jordan and their relation to ancient human mobility

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