Jamaan at the pass of Bi’rein. An Iron Age IIB-C Ammonite stronghold in central Jordan

In years 2015-2016 the Zarqa Directorate of the Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan carried out a rescue excavation at the site of Jamaan, an Iron Age IIB-C Ammonite stronghold 16 Km north of ‘Amman. The site survey and limited soundings allow to plot a plan of the structure, comprising an outer enclosure with a casemate wall, two cisterns, and a square podium tower, and to collect ceramic material dating from Iron Age IIB-C (c. 840-580 BC), as well as the head of a soft limestone statue, possibly depicting a local chief or an official. The latter adds to the relatively conspicuous number of statues from the Kingdom of Ammon, possibly illustrating the production of a non-royal commission

Qalet Hamra: a Mamluk khan north of Zarqa, Jordan

The site of Qalet Hamra was well known in Zarqa but it never attracted archaeologists and surveyors until a few years ago, possibly due to its location on a spur dominating the bifurcations between Wadi az-Zarqa and Wadi Shomar, a sort of shortcut leading straight ward to the west, in direction of the Jordan Valley. Moreover it was nearby a major ford across the river, which both banks were caravan tracks in antiquity. In 2015 and 2018 Sapienza University of Rome and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan surveyed, which allowed to identify it as a small caravanserai dating back from the Mameluk period, even though earlier pottery finds may suggest that the site was occupied at least from the Late Roman/Early Byzantine time