The visible dead: dolmens and the landscape in Early Bronze Age Jordan
Abstract
Overview:
Dolmens are usually described as part of a regional megalithic phenomenon that spanned the 5th-2nd millennia BC. However, this presentation assumes that most ‘dolmens’ are mis-identified. When strictly defined, dolmens better reflect a local funerary tradition of the 4th millennium BC.
Definitions:
The term dolmen includes a variety of features whose only similarity is their use of large stone slabs. This presentation defines a dolmen as a freestanding,rectangular chamber formed by two upright orthostats along each long side, and a single roof slab over the top.
Dolmens have often been conflated with cairns. This presentation defines a cairn as a large pile of small stones. Such features may have contained a low, cist burial chamber; others may simply be piles of field clearance.
Distribution:
Dolmens, as defined above, concentrate within a limited area of the east rift escarpment of the Jordan Valley, consistent with a local funerary tradition.
Chronology:
Recent dolmen excavations have yielded assemblages that date exclusively to the EB I (c.3700-3000 BC). This talk examines the close spatial relationship between dolmens and EB I settlement sites in a discrete geographical zone.References
Al-Shorman, A. 2010. "Testing the function of Early Bronze Age I dolmens: a GIS investigation." Near Eastern Archaeology 73 (1):46-49.
Binford, L. 1971. “Mortuary practices: their study and their potential”, in J.A.Brown (ed.) Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Washington D.C: Society for American Archaeology, 6-29.
Bloch, M. 1971. Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages, and Kinship Organization in Madagascar. New York: Seminar
Chapman, R. 1987 “Mortuary practices: society, theory building and archaeology”, in A. Boddington, A.N. Garland and R.C. Janaway (eds.) Death, Decay and Reconstruction: Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science. Manchester: University Press, 198-213.
– 1995. “Ten years after – megaliths, mortuary practices, and the territorial model”, in L.A. Beck (ed.) Regional Approaches to Mortuary Analysis. Ney York & London: Plenum Press, 29-51.
Collins, S., and H. al-Jarrah. 2011. "Tall al-Hammam season six, 2011: excavation, survey, interpretations and insights." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 55:581-606.
de Vreeze, Michel. 2010. "Social Structures in Stone: The Damiyah Dolmen Field and its Regional Relevance with Special Focus on the Early Bronze Age." Master Thesis, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden Unversity.
Fraser, J. A. In press. Dolmens in the Levant. PEF Annual XIV. Routledge: London.
Fraser, J. A., B. G. Anderson, A-M. Beavis, and L. Beccar. 2009. "The megalithic landscape at Tall ar-Ras in Wadi ar-Rayyan: the 2007 season of the North Jordan Tomb Project." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 53:45-61.
Goldstein, L. G. 1976. Spatial Structure and Social Organization: Regional Manifestations of Mississippian Society. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Herr, L.G. 2002. "5,000-year-old burials discovered in Jordan." Near Eastern Archaeology 65 (4):282-283.
Hodder, I. 1984. “Burials, houses, women and men in the European Neolithic”, in D. Miller and C. Tilley (eds.) Ideology, Power and Prehistory. Cambridge: University Press, 51-68.
– 1991. Reading the Past. 2nd ed. Cambridge: University Press.
Huntington, R. & Metcalf, P. 1979. Celebrations of Death. Cambridge: University Press.
Loh, C. M., and C-H. C. Ji. 2000. "A preliminary report on the human remains from a rock-cut chamber tomb ner 'Iraq al-'Amir." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44:201-209.
Morris, I. 1991. “The archaeology of ancestors: the Saxe/Goldstein Hypothesis revisited”, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1: 147-169.
Nicolle, C., and F. Braemer. 2012. "Settlement networks in the southern Levant in the mid 4th millennium BC: sites with double-apsed houses in the Leja area of southern Syria during the EBA IA." Levant 44 (1):1-16.
Paz, Y. 2005. "The megalithic manifestation of the urban process at the Golan during the Early Bronze Age." Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 5 (1):4-14.
Philip, G. 2003. "The Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant: a landscape approach." Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 16 (1):103-132.
– 2008. "The Early Bronze Age I-III." In Jordan: An Archaeological Reader, edited by R. B. Adams, 161-226. London & Oakville: Equinox.
Polcaro, A. 2008. "EB I settlements and environment in the Wadi az-Zarqa. Dolmens and ideology of death." In Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Madrid, April 3-8 2006, edited by J.M. Cordoba, M. Molist, M. Carmen Perez, I. Rubio and S. Martinez, 31-48. Madrid: UA Ediciones.
– 2010. "Jebel Mutawwaq dolmens: cult of ancestors in EB I Wadi az-Zarqa valley." In Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Volume 2: Excavations, Surveys and Restorations, edited by P. Matthiae, F. Pinnock, L. Nigro and N. Marchetti, 554-561. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
– 2013. "The stone and the landscape: the phenomenon of megalithic constructions in Jordan in the main historical context of the southern Levant at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC." In SOMA 2012: Identity and Connectivity. Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, edited by L. Bombardieri, A. D'Agostino, G. Guarducci, V. Orsi and S. Valentini, 127-132. Oxford: BAR Archaeopress.
Pearson, R., Lee, J.W., Koh, W. and Underhill, A. 1989. “Social ranking in the kingdom of Old Silla, Korea: analysis of burials”. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 8: 1-50.
Prag, K. 1995. "The Dead Sea dolmens: death and the landscape." In Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East, edited by S. Campbell and A. Green, 75-84. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Savage, S. H., S. E. Falconer, and T.P. Harrison. 2007. "The Early Bronze Age city states of the southern Levant: neither cities nor states." In Crossing Jordan: North American Contributions to the Archaeology of Jordan, edited by T.E. Levy, P.M. Michèle Daviau, R.W. Younker and M. Shaer, 87-96. London & Oakville: Equinox.
Saxe, A. A. 1970. Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Scheltema, G. 2008. Megalithic Jordan: An Introduction and Field Guide, American Center of Oriental Research Occasional Publication No. 6. Amman: American Center of Oriental Research.
Shanks, M. & Tilley, C. 1987. Social Theory and Archaeology. Oxford: Polity Press.
Steimer-Herbet, T. 2004a. Classifications des Sépultures à Superstructure Lithique dans le Levant et l'Arabie Occidentale (IVe et IIIe Millénaires av. J.-C.). Oxford: Archaeopress.
– 2014. "Megalithic tombs in 'Ain Dakkar (East Jaulan): survey report." Akkadica 135 (2):197-212.
Thuesen, I. 2004. "Messages in stone: the megaliths of the Nebo region in Jordan." In From Handaxe to Khan: Essays Presented to Peder Mortensen on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, edited by K. von Folsach, H. Thrane and I. Thuesen, 105-117. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.
Wolf, A.P. 1976. “Aspects of ancestor worship in northern Taiwan”, in Newell, W.H. (ed.) Ancestors. Paris: Mouton, 339-364.
Zohar, M. 1992. "Megalithic cemetries in the Levant." In Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspectives, edited by O. Bar-Yosef and A. Khazanov, 43-63. Madison: Prehistory Press.
– 1993. "Dolmens." In The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, edited by E. Stern, 352-356. Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society & Carta.
– 2011. "Review of Scheltema, G. (2008) Megalithic Jordan: An Introduction and Field Guide." Israel Exploration Journal 61 (1):122-125.
Binford, L. 1971. “Mortuary practices: their study and their potential”, in J.A.Brown (ed.) Approaches to the Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Washington D.C: Society for American Archaeology, 6-29.
Bloch, M. 1971. Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages, and Kinship Organization in Madagascar. New York: Seminar
Chapman, R. 1987 “Mortuary practices: society, theory building and archaeology”, in A. Boddington, A.N. Garland and R.C. Janaway (eds.) Death, Decay and Reconstruction: Approaches to Archaeology and Forensic Science. Manchester: University Press, 198-213.
– 1995. “Ten years after – megaliths, mortuary practices, and the territorial model”, in L.A. Beck (ed.) Regional Approaches to Mortuary Analysis. Ney York & London: Plenum Press, 29-51.
Collins, S., and H. al-Jarrah. 2011. "Tall al-Hammam season six, 2011: excavation, survey, interpretations and insights." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 55:581-606.
de Vreeze, Michel. 2010. "Social Structures in Stone: The Damiyah Dolmen Field and its Regional Relevance with Special Focus on the Early Bronze Age." Master Thesis, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden Unversity.
Fraser, J. A. In press. Dolmens in the Levant. PEF Annual XIV. Routledge: London.
Fraser, J. A., B. G. Anderson, A-M. Beavis, and L. Beccar. 2009. "The megalithic landscape at Tall ar-Ras in Wadi ar-Rayyan: the 2007 season of the North Jordan Tomb Project." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 53:45-61.
Goldstein, L. G. 1976. Spatial Structure and Social Organization: Regional Manifestations of Mississippian Society. Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
Herr, L.G. 2002. "5,000-year-old burials discovered in Jordan." Near Eastern Archaeology 65 (4):282-283.
Hodder, I. 1984. “Burials, houses, women and men in the European Neolithic”, in D. Miller and C. Tilley (eds.) Ideology, Power and Prehistory. Cambridge: University Press, 51-68.
– 1991. Reading the Past. 2nd ed. Cambridge: University Press.
Huntington, R. & Metcalf, P. 1979. Celebrations of Death. Cambridge: University Press.
Loh, C. M., and C-H. C. Ji. 2000. "A preliminary report on the human remains from a rock-cut chamber tomb ner 'Iraq al-'Amir." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 44:201-209.
Morris, I. 1991. “The archaeology of ancestors: the Saxe/Goldstein Hypothesis revisited”, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 1: 147-169.
Nicolle, C., and F. Braemer. 2012. "Settlement networks in the southern Levant in the mid 4th millennium BC: sites with double-apsed houses in the Leja area of southern Syria during the EBA IA." Levant 44 (1):1-16.
Paz, Y. 2005. "The megalithic manifestation of the urban process at the Golan during the Early Bronze Age." Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry 5 (1):4-14.
Philip, G. 2003. "The Early Bronze Age of the southern Levant: a landscape approach." Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 16 (1):103-132.
– 2008. "The Early Bronze Age I-III." In Jordan: An Archaeological Reader, edited by R. B. Adams, 161-226. London & Oakville: Equinox.
Polcaro, A. 2008. "EB I settlements and environment in the Wadi az-Zarqa. Dolmens and ideology of death." In Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Madrid, April 3-8 2006, edited by J.M. Cordoba, M. Molist, M. Carmen Perez, I. Rubio and S. Martinez, 31-48. Madrid: UA Ediciones.
– 2010. "Jebel Mutawwaq dolmens: cult of ancestors in EB I Wadi az-Zarqa valley." In Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Volume 2: Excavations, Surveys and Restorations, edited by P. Matthiae, F. Pinnock, L. Nigro and N. Marchetti, 554-561. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
– 2013. "The stone and the landscape: the phenomenon of megalithic constructions in Jordan in the main historical context of the southern Levant at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC." In SOMA 2012: Identity and Connectivity. Proceedings of the 16th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology, edited by L. Bombardieri, A. D'Agostino, G. Guarducci, V. Orsi and S. Valentini, 127-132. Oxford: BAR Archaeopress.
Pearson, R., Lee, J.W., Koh, W. and Underhill, A. 1989. “Social ranking in the kingdom of Old Silla, Korea: analysis of burials”. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 8: 1-50.
Prag, K. 1995. "The Dead Sea dolmens: death and the landscape." In Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East, edited by S. Campbell and A. Green, 75-84. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Savage, S. H., S. E. Falconer, and T.P. Harrison. 2007. "The Early Bronze Age city states of the southern Levant: neither cities nor states." In Crossing Jordan: North American Contributions to the Archaeology of Jordan, edited by T.E. Levy, P.M. Michèle Daviau, R.W. Younker and M. Shaer, 87-96. London & Oakville: Equinox.
Saxe, A. A. 1970. Social Dimensions of Mortuary Practices. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Scheltema, G. 2008. Megalithic Jordan: An Introduction and Field Guide, American Center of Oriental Research Occasional Publication No. 6. Amman: American Center of Oriental Research.
Shanks, M. & Tilley, C. 1987. Social Theory and Archaeology. Oxford: Polity Press.
Steimer-Herbet, T. 2004a. Classifications des Sépultures à Superstructure Lithique dans le Levant et l'Arabie Occidentale (IVe et IIIe Millénaires av. J.-C.). Oxford: Archaeopress.
– 2014. "Megalithic tombs in 'Ain Dakkar (East Jaulan): survey report." Akkadica 135 (2):197-212.
Thuesen, I. 2004. "Messages in stone: the megaliths of the Nebo region in Jordan." In From Handaxe to Khan: Essays Presented to Peder Mortensen on the Occasion of his 70th Birthday, edited by K. von Folsach, H. Thrane and I. Thuesen, 105-117. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press.
Wolf, A.P. 1976. “Aspects of ancestor worship in northern Taiwan”, in Newell, W.H. (ed.) Ancestors. Paris: Mouton, 339-364.
Zohar, M. 1992. "Megalithic cemetries in the Levant." In Pastoralism in the Levant: Archaeological Materials in Anthropological Perspectives, edited by O. Bar-Yosef and A. Khazanov, 43-63. Madison: Prehistory Press.
– 1993. "Dolmens." In The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land, edited by E. Stern, 352-356. Jerusalem: The Israel Exploration Society & Carta.
– 2011. "Review of Scheltema, G. (2008) Megalithic Jordan: An Introduction and Field Guide." Israel Exploration Journal 61 (1):122-125.
Published
2017-01-16
How to Cite
Fraser, J. (2017). The visible dead: dolmens and the landscape in Early Bronze Age Jordan. BAF-Online: Proceedings of the Berner Altorientalisches Forum, 1. https://doi.org/10.22012/baf.2016.02
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Section
Panel 3: Localising influence and identity
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
