Photo Narrative - Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, Jordan

© COPYRIGHT 2010 TRINITY SOUTHWEST UNIVERSITYTall el-Hammam Excavation ProjectA JOINT SCIENTIFIC PROJECT OFThe College of Archaeology,Trinity Southwest UniversityANDThe Department of Antiquities,the Hashemite Kingdom of JordanDr. Steven Collins, co-Director, Chief ArchaeologistMr. Khalil Hamdan, co-Director, Senior ArchaeologistMr. Michael C. Luddeni, TeHEP PhotographerPhoto NarrativeIn Square LA.28Q 1 , even an initial surface cleaning revealsmudbricks from the MB2 defensive rampart system,between two of the internal stabilizer-walls.Area L; Field A; Square(s) 28N 1 - 28S 1Stratigraphic Sequence ofBronze Age Defenses, lower tall321Trench LA.28 (outlined in white sandbags) is 60m N/S (N isto the left). In order to get a sense of the large dimensionsof the fortification systems surrounding the lower/outer cityat Tall el-Hammam, take note of the thicknesses of the citydefensive components: EB2/3 city wall [1] 5.2m thick; MB2city wall [2] 4.0m thick; MB2 rampart, internal stonestabilizer-walls [3] 2m, 1m, 1m thick. When one adds up theresultant horizontal width (thickness) of the MB2 city wallplus its mudbrick/stone rampart system, it is about 33m.1Just like new! This EB2/3 roadway [1] likely runs aroundmost of the city perimeter outside the city wall. The roadsurface is an extremely hard-packed mixture of clay, sand,ash, and small pebbles. This area may also have served asan exterior plaza, because one of the city gates is locatedjust to the left (the gateway was undiscovered at this pointduring Season Five.3524112453Trench LA.28 looking NNE. Visible are the EB2/3 city wall[1], the EB2/3 outer roadway [2], the MB2 city wall [3], andone of three internal stabilizer-walls [4] that supported theMB2 rampart system. Upper Hammam is visible in thedistance [5].The outer face of the EB2/3 city wall [1]. Note that severalcourses of mudbricks are preserved from the EB3 phase[2]. Two courses of mudbricks are also preserved from theearlier (original) EB2 phase of the wall [3]. Some debris [4](actually, MB2 engineered fill) has yet to be cleared fromthe surface of the EB2/3 roadway [5].

41221Within only a few days of excavation in Squares LA.28N 1and LA.28O 1 , several features of the EB3 phase of the citywall [1] were becoming visible, including a tower [2], agateway [3], and some of the mudbrick superstructure [4].3132413This is one of many gateways in the EB2/3 city wall ringinglower Hammam. This gate is 1.4m in width. The meterstickis resting on the street level of the gate’s EB3 phase, builtwith a solid-stone foundation [1] (as opposed to themudbrick core of the EB2 city wall foundation underneath).The gateway was blocked by a 1m-thick wall [2] (made ofslightly smaller stones) during the IBA/MB1 periods, butevidently the remainder of the passageway was left as alarge niche or room accessible from inside the city wall.Toward the end of MB1 or the beginning of MB2, a massivecity wall [3] and rampart system covered over all theprevious EB fortifications, subsuming the old city wall androadway underneath a massive mudbrick/earthen rampartsloping outward 36 degrees from the MB2 city wall for over30m.The extension of Square LA.28M 1 during Season Five (fromits 2m probe of Season Four, foreground) revealed a goodstretch of an MB2 street [1] between a MB2 house [2] andthe MB2 city wall [3]. The MB2 house foundation was arebuild of an earlier house from the Intermediate BronzeAge [4]. The terminal MB2 destruction of Tall el-Hammam isright at the surface on the lower tall—so much so that, inmany places, its remains have been scraped off or severelydamaged by decades of modern agricultural activity.212This is one of the internal stabilizer walls [1] of the MB2defensive rampart system, near its southern edge (TrenchLA.28). It is enclosed by mudbrick [2], as are all three suchinternal walls. The (likely) stepped-multi-sloped, mudbrickrampart also dwarfed and buried the EB2/3 city wall.Another view of the EB2/3 city wall and gateway, showingthat it was built over yet another hard-packed living surface(likely EB1, but undated at this juncture).© Copyright 2010 by Trinity Southwest University Press,5600 Eubank NE, Suite 130, Albuquerque, New Mexico87111, USA; (505) 332-4253. All rights reserved. Created inthe United States of America by Trinity Southwest UniversityPress, a division of CEM, Inc. No part of this work may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted inany form or by any means, electronic, digital, mechanical,photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without writtenpermission from Trinity Southwest University.