NFR Ramblings of Middle Eastern Archaeology

Episode 1: Madaba Plains Region

Jet lag has mostly worn off so I'll dive into this.

A little background, my dad has been heavily involved in archaeology in the region (primarily Jordan) since the early 70s. This family/extended family trip has been something he and my mom have been concocting for the better part of 3 years. 12 days with 9 of those visiting a wide variety of sites.

After some 30 hours of traveling + a quick nights sleep at a place we would call home for several nights in Madaba, we hit the ground running. In collaboration with the Jordanian government, a museum has been created and continuing to be renovated in downtown Madaba.

Here's my dad doing what he does best, teaching.

walking through the shops in Madaba. If anyone finds themselves in the region, make sure that you eat at the falafel and shawarma stands...it will ruin you.

mosaics...there will be a few of these. These are located in the museum in Madaba.

We visited Hisban, the first site that my dad took an active role in leadership with the excavation of the site.

Next, we visited a site that I helped with 35 years ago, Tel el Umeryi. It looked quite different than when I was there.

Traveling back through Amman on our way to Jerash...

Jerash, a historically significant site in the region due to its age primarily, but also in that it is composed of Christian buildings, Greek and Roman mythology (it always cracks me up when that's considered mythology yet often times Christian stories are not...but that's a conversation for another day).

The Forum at Jerash with the temple of Zeus in the background.

view from the Temple of Zeus

Temple of Zeus

more Jerash

Ajlun Castle

Some of the most complete mosaics in the entire region can be found at St. Stevens Church

This one is literally a map of the region with the city names all around the edge...

Part 2 coming up....

 

[clarkman]

Episode 2: Petra, Jerusalem & other random locations/things

Petra: Cue the Indiana Jones theme...

Kid Clark spending quality learnin' time with Grandpa Clark

the sandstone is pretty incredible...

Jerusalem
We were fortunate to have two guides, one Palestinian and one Israeli for our tour of the old city. This really offered a unique look into various viewpoints of how things are run in the area. I don't want to get too much into it, but when our Palestinian guide was almost stopped at one of the many checkpoints because she "looked" Palestinian and was only allowed through because she ignored their questioning in Arabic but responded when they questioned her in French.

getting busy...

Kid Clark contemplating his next move...

We also did a days trip to Masada and the Dead Sea. I opted not to float as I've "been there/done that"....

Original paint on top of Masada

view of the Dead Sea from the top of Masada

Some 1400 feet below sea level....

 

[clarkman]

Episode 3: Critters of the Region....because, of course....also local refreshments

extremely large and aggressive camel spider in a restroom I was using. with the legs stretched out, it was nearly the size of my hand. I also learned later that these critters can reach 10 mph....seems pretty fast for a damn spider.

juvenile rock agama. I used to catch these things back when I was on the dig 35 years ago.

local praying mantis

curious crow

rock gecko decided to show itself

Peacock deciding to put on a show at Jericho (fun fact, there were no walls historically)

refreshments...when it wasn't local, it was Amstel (surprisingly refreshing when options are limited...

Jordan local brews....

so-so

meh

Amstel...excellent. Lake Tiberias in the background (Sea of Galilee)

also excellent...

Cheers!

 

[Robert Engleheart]

That is amazing. Sounds like you worked with Dad on some digs?

 

[swimmy]

Awesome. Can you go inside Petra?

 

[clarkman]

That is amazing. Sounds like you worked with Dad on some digs?

Just one for 6 weeks back in '87. Honestly, I probably spent more time catching critters than "digging"....but it definitely brought back some memories.

If for some reason I was forced to go vegetarian, it would be middle eastern food every day.

 

[clarkman]

Awesome. Can you go inside Petra?

In general, yes. If you're referring to the Treasury, which is the very large structure carved in stone (second pic I think), no. They no longer allow folks inside that one. Pretty much all of the other carved structures are fair game though.

 

[mcswny]

Damn, looks like you had a great trip!!

 

[swimmy]

In general, yes. If you're referring to the Treasury, which is the very large structure carved in stone (second pic I think), no. They no longer allow folks inside that one. Pretty much all of the other carved structures are fair game though.

I'm talking about the one that Indiana Jones goes into to find the holy grail. I loved that movie as a kid...actually still do.

 

[clarkman]

I'm talking about the one that Indiana Jones goes into to find the holy grail. I loved that movie as a kid...actually still do.

yeah, that's the treasury, so no (pretty recent regulation). Sadly, inside it looks nothing like the inside of Indiana Jones....no knights waiting and no booby traps....bummer.

 

[Banned user]

Outstanding! There is so much history in the area, like popcorn to a history buff like myself.

When I was 8 years old, we moved to Tripoli Libya, and were able to see Greek, Phoenecian, and of course, Roman ruins throughout the country. We could swim just offshore of the beaches, and see square holes cut into the sandstone. Diving down, we could see they were Roman baths. You could wipe away the sand and see the mosaic scenes of gods and fish underneath.

 

[wanderingrichard]

I did a tour through Jerash when I was working in Kuwait on the early 90's. Had a lot of vacation built up and didn't want to lose my tax exempt status, so stayed in middle east.

Seeing the ampitheatre in the distance in that one shot brought back a lot of memories.

 

[Skimr]

Oh wow. Thank you for sharing these pics. Just simply amazing

 

[headduck]

Thanks man. Awesome.

 

[Aufwuchs]

Great photos. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad we don't get camel spiders. Wouldn't want those things in the house. I had mini versions of something very similar (sun spider (solpugids/sun spiders) in my house when I lived in NM. They are fast.

 

[DimeBrite]

That looks like a great experience (minus the crowds of people). That's a trip I would love to do in the off season. Some believe Petra is the real hometown of Mohammed, not Mecca.

20 years ago I explored ancient Minoan, Greek, Roman, Byzantine ruins all over Crete with almost no other visitors around. It was awesome! The place must have been paradise 3,000 years ago, at least until Santorini blew up.

 

[clarkman]

.... with almost no other visitors around.

That's how I had remembered Petra from 35 years ago. But, the fact is that it's now been really commercialized, which is really good for the Jordanian government (they need all of the help they can get since they don't have oil to fund everything)....still totally worth the trip just for that! If not that, just tooling around town (Madaba, not Amman) and finding local cuisine was sooooo worth it.

I could do without the constant folks begging you for various services (donkey rides, camel rides, etc)....often kids put to work out of necessity. That said, I've heard (from both our guide and my dad) that Egypt is way way worse with how persistent they are, often invading personal space to a point where one has to really worry about pick-pockets.

It's funny, the locals say that Americans make up the majority of tourists in June....since it's so damn hot. We were fortunate with mostly temps in the 80s, although one the day I hiked up to the High Place (a high sacrificial area in Petra---the place is so huge) it was in the 90s, and at the Dead Sea, it hit 107 (shocking, I know, for ~1400' below sea level).

 

[Tim Cottage]

Great stuff, thanks for posting.
About the mosaics. What is their approximate age and who made them, meaning what was the dominant culture at that time?

 

[SteelheadBee]

Fascinating thread, @clarkman ! I've always enjoyed your reports (going back to the Westfly days) and this ranks as one of the best.

 

[clarkman]

Great stuff, thanks for posting.
About the mosaics. What is their approximate age and who made them, meaning what was the dominant culture at that time?

the majority of the ones in Madaba were made by Byzantine artists in the the 5th and 6th century AD. On the larger map above if you zoom in, you'll notice that there are no faces. During The Crusades, the Christians removed all of the pieces making the faces and flipped them over and scrambled them because they thought the only face that was should be allowed in their churches at the time was the face of Jesus.

Fascinating thread, @clarkman ! I've always enjoyed your reports (going back to the Westfly days) and this ranks as one of the best.

I really appreciate it. I've never been great with crafting a written story (something I always appreciate about your threads), so I just throw a bunch of pictures at ya to hopefully tell the story better than my words could....