Umm al-Jimal
أم الجمال
Jordan · Mafraq
In brief
Umm al-Jimal is a rural settlement whose basalt buildings preserve the local architecture of the Hauran region. Excavations have investigated houses, cemeteries and the water system, revealing the relationship between the early Roman settlement and the later Byzantine and Early Islamic settlement.
What was found?
- 1Al-Herri Roman village
It is an earlier village identified southeast of the Late Antique settlement. Excavations revealed the site's Roman-period settlement history.
- 2House complex XVII–XVIII
It is a group of houses investigated through excavation and consolidated. It provides a tangible example for studying the settlement's everyday living spaces.
- 3Water collection system
It is a complex water collection system supporting the settlement's agriculture and animal husbandry. It shows how the rural economy depended on water management.
- 4Multilingual inscriptions
Texts in Greek, Nabataean, Safaitic, Latin, and Arabic were found. They allow the identities, political affiliations, and religious changes of the local population to be traced.
- 5Fihr commemorative inscription
Nabataean and Greek versions of a text commemorating Fihr, the teacher of Gadhima, were found. The Nabataean text, dated to approximately AD 265, bears signs of the transition to Arabic script.
What does it point to?
The houses and water system show a local way of life based on agriculture and animal husbandry. The inscriptions document that this community used different languages and experienced changes during the Roman, Byzantine, and Early Islamic periods.
What did it teach us?
- It revealed that a Roman village existed before the Late Antique settlement.
- It showed that rural production was supported by advanced water collection systems.
- It provided tangible evidence for studying the transition from Nabataean to Arabic script.
Record
- Culture
- Local communities of the Hauran; Roman, Byzantine and Umayyad periods
- First modern dig
- 1974
- Team / historical
- Umm el-Jimal Archaeological Project
- Coordinates
- 32.3269°, 36.3700°
Sources
Nearby excavations
- Jerash / Gerasa 45 km
- Ain Ghazal 53 km
- Pella 72 km
- Hisham's Palace 99 km
- Ancient Jericho / Tell es-Sultan 101 km
- Tel Hazor 107 km
- —
- —
- 12.000
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