Ibach, Robert, Jr.

English

Andrews University

AN INTENSIVE SURFACE SURVEY AT J A L ~ L  ROBERT IBACH, JR. Grace Theological Seminary Winona Lake, Indiana Jaliil, 5 kilometers east of Madaba, is one of the few true tells in central Transjordan. It covers approximately 17 acres. Jaliil is also unusual in having yielded substantial amounts of Iron Age pottery along with Late, Middle, and Early Bronze Age sherdsl Because of these features, and because Jaliil has received so little attention since W. F. Albright and Nelson Glueck visited it over 40 years ago,2 the Heshbon Archaeological Survey Team spent three weeks conducting an intensive surface survey of the mound (see P1. XVII1:A). Jaliil is a distinct mound atop a slight rise in the surrounding plain which drains gently southeastward into the Wadi el-Wala. The mound itself is oblong, measuring 300 m. east-west and 240 m. north-south. It rises about 19 m. above the plain and has a slight "acropolis" in the southwestern quadrant, which is occupied by a modern cemetery for the Beni Sakhr. For almost the whole circuit of the tell one can trace a sharp escarpment that strongly suggests a defensive wall around the town. In the southeast quadrant is a distinct depression with sloping sides, flat bottom, and remarkably regular appearance. The shallower, adjacent depression to the north has a cistern in it with a very deep masonry-lined shaft. An intensive surface survey of Jaliil was proposed in hopes of obtaining a profile of the mound's history that would be more l Robert Ibach, Jr., "Heshbon 1974: Archaeological Survey of the HesbAn Region," AUSS 14 (1976): 123, n. 15. W. F. Albright, "Archaeological and Topographical Explorations in Pales- tine and Syria," BASOR 49 (1933): 28; Nelson Glueck, Explorations in Eastern Palestine, AASOR 14 (Philadelphia, 1934), 1 :5. ROBERT IBACH. JR. INTENSIVE SURFACE SURVEY AT J A L ~ L  217 accurate than casual, unstructured ground-surface sherding could provide. In the latter method chance would be complicated by subjective biases regarding which parts of the mound were sherded and which sherds were picked up. In the former method, a certain percentage of the mound's surface would be exhaustively sherded, thus eliminating both biases. Several other advantages would be gained. One could state precisely the percentage of surface sherds of a given horizon for any quadrant of the tell, whether on the flat top, the slopes, or the plain. The results could also be charted on a contour map of the site to help predict what types of materials might be encountered in excavating a given sector. Procedure The procedure for the Jaliil survey was patterned partially after that developed by Charles L. Redman and Patty Jo Watson at Girik-i-Haciyan in southeastern T ~ r k e y . ~  First architect-sur- veyor Bert DeVries and his crew constructed a contour map of Jaliil. A 10 m. grid was superimposed on the map; one 10 m. x 10 m. Square in each block of nine was chosen by means of a random-numbers table (see map, Fig. 22). The result was the selection of 101 Squares scattered over the top and slopes of the tell and down to the plain as far as sherd density remained sub- stantial. Thus, 10,100 sq. m. of the site (one-ninth of the mound's extent ) were exhaustively sherded. Each Square was marked off by stakes and string. The three team members4 then walked abreast in one direction picking up every sherd larger than a thumbnail. The same crew would then walk crosswise over the same area, picking up any remaining sherds. A verbal description of each Square was recorded, and the sherds were separated into indicators and nonindicators and counted. Charles L. Redman and Patty Jo Watson, "Systematic, Intensive Surface Collection," American Antiquity 55 (1970): 279-291. Robert Ibach, Jr., Carl Wheat, and Arif Abul-Ghannim. 218 ROBERT IBACH, JR. An average of 36.5 minutes was spent on each Square. Four- teen days were devoted to this work, with an average of 7.2 Squares covered each day. A total of 26,225 sherds was gathered in this fashion, with the average Square yielding 260 sherds (lowest count, 40; highest count, 854); and 4,053, or 15.4%, of the sherds were indicators. All pottery was read by James Sauer, ceramic analyst for the Heshbon Expedition. Readings were based primarily on the indicators in each pail, although many indicators were not distinctive enough to be dated with certainty. Body sherds were read only when they could be dated with certainty and when the pottery periods in question were not represented in the indicators. Sherds that were read totaled 2,000, or 7.65% of all collected. Sherds were then either registered or dumped at Jaliil at the southwest foot of the tell beside a shelf of bedrock. The pottery repertoire from Jaliil began with Early Bronze (although one possible Neolithic sherd was found). Two main periods of Early Bronze were represented: Early Bronze I (ca. 3200-2900 B.C. ), which may have included some late Chalco- lithic sherds; and Early Bronze 11-111 (ca. 2900-2700 to ca. 2700- 2300 B.c.). No Early Bronze IV or Middle Bronze I sherds ap- peared, only Middle Bronze I1 (ca. 1950-1550 B.c.). Eight sherds were read as Middle BronzeILate Bronze, but because of this ambiguity they were not included in the tabulations. Both Late Bronze I and I1 were found at Jaliil, but the distinc- tion between them usually was not made in reading the pottery. No Mycenaean ware was encountered; two fragments of imported bilbil juglets were found, but no milk bowls. All three phases of Iron I were present ( I  A, ca. 1200-1100; I B, ca. 1100-1000; I C, 10010-900 B.C. ). Iron I1 included Iron I1 A, B (ca. 900-586 B.C. ) and Iron I1 C (586-539 B.C. ). Other periods were dated as follows: Persian, 539-332 B.c.; Hellenistic, 332-63 B.c.; Roman ( including two Nabataean fragments ) , 63 B.C. -A.D. 324; Byzantine, A.D. 324-661; Islamic, A.D. 661-1870; Modern A.D. 1870-Present. INTENSIVE SURFACE SURVEY AT J A L ~ L  219 Table 2 presents a summary of the survey  result^.^ The tabu- lation represents only the 2,000 sherds that were read. The num- ber of sherds and the percentages are divided into two topo- graphical categories, the tell slopes and the top. The first category includes any Square that was primarily off the flat top of the tell or down on the plain. There were 65 such Squares, yielding 1,383 sherds, or an average of 21 sherds read per Square. The second category includes all Squares on the top of the tell, that is, within the escarpment that seemed to indicate the city fortifications. Thirty-six Squares were located here, yielding 617 readable sherds, or an average of 17 per Square. Neolithic Early Bronze Middle Bronze Late Bronze Iron I Iron I1 Persian Hellenistic Roman Byzantine Islamic TOTAL SLOPES TOP Sherds % Sherds % TOTAL SKERDS 1 144 75 163 666 583 3 2 60 198 110 2000 Table 2. Distribution of Surface Pottery at Jaliil by Period and Location. The most obvious phenomenon to emerge from this survey was the great amount of Iron Age pottery. Sherds of Iron I and I1 constituted 63% of all sherds read. The percentages indicated that Iron Age I1 was most heavily represented on the flat top of the tell, while Iron I was heaviest on the slopes. This was just what might have been expected since Iron I1 debris overlay the Iron I material. It should be noted, however, that Iron I sherds out- 6Thanks are due to Henry Kuhlman of Southern Missionary College for encoding the data and processing them on a computer. 220 ROBERT IBACH, JR. numbered the Iron I1 sherds. Since the Iron I city lay below the Iron I1 debris, one might expect to discover a large, heavily occupied city of Iron Age I at Jaliil. This would be different from the situation at Tell Hesbhn, where the Iron I settlement seemed much more limited than the Iron IIIPersian town. Also, the Heshbon Archaeological Survey has located a greater number of Iron I1 sites (42) than Iron I (22) in the vicinity of Tell Hesbib6 In the course of sherding Jaliil three heads of clay, human figurines, were found (see PI. XVIII :B ). These figurines are characteristic of the Iron I1 period. In contrast to other sites (Tell Hesbh, el-cAl, Umm el- eAmad, el-Hanafish), Tell Jaliil had relatively small amounts of pottery of the later periods (Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic). This was especially pronounced since the debris of these periods presumably overlay the Iron Age material. The Bronze Age pottery must be viewed differently, how- ever. Although the number of sherds was about the same as for the late periods, the fact that the substantial Iron Age city overlay the Bronze Age city increased the significance of those sherds. Bearing this in mind it may be hypothesized that the Late Bronze city ranked after the Iron Age city in size of population and/or duration of occupation. But here one should note the most significant anomaly in Table 2: the percentage of Late Bronze sherds was actually greater on the flat top of the tell than on the slopes. This was contrary to the archaeological axiom that surface sherds of the early periods are to be found chiefly on the lower slopes of a tell. One explanation for this phenomenon is the following: The Late Bronze city may have been small and confined within defensive walls; yet the population may have been substantial and enduring (Late Bronze I and 11), leaving much pottery in the interior of the mound. The fact that much of this pottery was found on the ground surface, above the Iron Age cities, testifies to the validity of the surface survey technique. Ibach, "Ar~hae~logical Survey," p. 122. INTENSIVE SURFACESURVEY AT JAL?~L 221 Late Bronze sherds were distributed evenly over the entire tell, appearing in a11 quadrants-on the plain, slopes, top, and even the "acropolis" of the tell. The Middle Bronze I1 period was well represented, although it was stronger on the slopes than on the top. The Middle and Late Bronze material at Jaliil, along with that at Tell el-Wmeiri and Sahab, constitutes the only sure evidence of sedentary occupa- tion for those periods in this part of Transjordan. The Early Bronze Age was attested at Jaliil by 144 sherds, mostly from the lower slopes. Early Bronze sites are quite com- mon in this region (the HesbAn Survey has identified 50 Early Bronze sites); neither Glueck7 nor Albright,* however, had reported Early Bronze pottery at Jalfil. CONCLUSION Several advantages of the technique of intensive surface sur- vey have become apparent. The extent of the sampling (over 26,000 sherds were collected at Jaliil) gave greater confidence in profiling the history of the site than casual sherding would provide. The systematic coverage of the site helped eliminate bias in the collection. Exhaustively sherding selected Squares helped eliminate subjective selection of ~ h e r d s . ~  Quantifying the results and plotting the data on a contour map not only helped inform the archaeologists whether they should dig the site but also where on the site the excavations might be most fruitful. This should also help the excavator in formulating his objectives and procedures as he approaches the dig. I t  has been shown that Jaliil was a large, heavily occupied city throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. Since details of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages in central Transjordan are in short Glueck, Eastern Palestine, 1:5. * Albright, "Topographical Explorations," p. 28. was noted, e.g., that Late Bronze sherds tended to be small in size and may therefore have been overlooked in an unstructured type of sherd collection. 222 ROBERT IBACH, JR. supply it seems that Jaliil would be a propitious site to excavate. The overburden of Roman, Byzantine and Islamic debris was minimal, enabling an excavator to streamline his objectives. Further, it may be hoped that the results of a dig at Jaliil could be formulated so as to allow statistical correlations between the surface and the sub-surface material. Such correlations may finally reinforce or reduce the confidence that archaeologists place in intensive surface survey. PLATE XVIII IBA4CH UALCL) A. Tell Jaliil. View to east. Photo: Paul H. Denton. B. Three figurines (stirface finds) from Tell Jalfil. Photo: Robert Ibach, Jr. 

An Intensive Surface Survey at Jalul

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An Intensive Surface Survey at Jalul

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