A Unique Shrine From the Late Iron Age in Jordan
Abstract
In October and November of 2014 an archaeological team lead by Lucas Petit of the University of Leiden and Zeidan Kafafi of Yarmouk University uncovered a 2,700-year-old shrine at Tell Damiyah in Jordan. This had been in the center of a small village that had been closely allied with the Neo-Assyrian capital, as is attested by written sources and ceramics. The shrine was in the form of a rectangular building with a platform measuring eight by six metres. The discovery of this shrine is of considerable importance since this is the first late Iron Age shrine to have been brought to light in the region.
Full text
1In and around the shrine building were found terracotta figurines of horses and women, along with other imported and local material that testifies to wide-ranging cultural contacts. The figurines were handmade and still preserve much of their painted details, such as horse trappings.
2This shrine may have been frequented by merchants and travelers since it is located at the intersection of principal trade routes close to a Jordan river crossing. The entire area of the village, including its shrine, was destroyed by a massive fire around 700 B.C.E.
List of illustrations
Title | A characteristic terracotta horse from Tell Damiyah with painted details. |
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URL | http://journals.openedition.org/acost/docannexe/image/635/img-1.jpg |
File | image/jpeg, 174k |
References
Electronic reference
Jaimee Uhlenbrock, “A Unique Shrine From the Late Iron Age in Jordan”, Les Carnets de l’ACoSt [Online], 13 | 2015, Online since 01 September 2015, connection on 17 April 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/acost/635; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/acost.635
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