...is not, as one could wittily argue, The Baghdad International Highway in Jordan's Mafraq Governorate, but rather the 1500 years of history of The Black City.
'But why black', I can hear you asking. Because all of its buildings are made of basalt. Oh, and because it is a graphic opposition to the Red Desert on the south of the country with its most appealing miracle - Petra.
By the way, both Petra and Umm el-Jimal are Nabataean sites. What we know today as Petra was mainly constructed in the first century AD. Exactly the time when our Black City made its first appearance.
Later, the city was rebuilt in 5th century, while under Byzantine control, and despite Constantinople's inaction. It was Umm el-Jimal's inhabitants who pushed for the reconstruction of their city and not the head of the province. Subsequently, it was used by Arabs, Mamluks, Druzes and even French expeditionary corpus in WWII.
In any case, if you want to read more about the story of Umm el-Jimal, I strongly recommend you visit the website of Umm el-Jimal Project.
There you will find the people behind decades of archaeological research. Here comes all my admiration for their work and their website. Both are done with an extremely high quality.
While in real life one can admire first-hand the site with its many superstructures, such three-floor high buildings, on the website one can make a virtual tour of the city. What impresses me most, however, on the ground, is how information plates explain the sights. A typical inscription on a plate in front of an ancient church for example would mention the form and some other structural details, that interest no one but a mad archaeologist and eventually a date for the building.
Here, instead, you can read about some small churches, included in private houses. 'Which reflects how the people ceased to conceive the religion being something public and regulated by the authorities and started instead to pursue more intimate relation with god', one inscription in Umm el-Jimal says.
Thus the information plate here gives you an insight of who the inhabitants of Umm el-Jimal were and what they thought.
What impresses me most in the website though, is how the people behind Umm el-Jimal Project stress on the participation of 'thousands' of people from the modern village during decades of archaeological excavations and their inestimable role.
Thus leaving you with the satisfying feeling that at least once the archaeology of the Middle East has put today's people before treasure troves. Thank you, Umm el-Jimal Project!
I might have been exaggerating when I cited the inscriptions as the most remarkable thing on the ground. For me, as an archaeologist, probably the most appealing thing was the sight of this stone door:
Until that moment, I had never seen such an ancient stone door, standing on its hinges. It still stands, despite the ages, in a very symbolic way.
Not less for the fact that if you cross its doorstep, you will find yourself in Syria, which lies one km away. You stay behind and you can go to Zaatari refugee camp, which is one km away on the other side. Between them is the 1500 years old stone door - still standing.
'But why black', I can hear you asking. Because all of its buildings are made of basalt. Oh, and because it is a graphic opposition to the Red Desert on the south of the country with its most appealing miracle - Petra.
By the way, both Petra and Umm el-Jimal are Nabataean sites. What we know today as Petra was mainly constructed in the first century AD. Exactly the time when our Black City made its first appearance.
Later, the city was rebuilt in 5th century, while under Byzantine control, and despite Constantinople's inaction. It was Umm el-Jimal's inhabitants who pushed for the reconstruction of their city and not the head of the province. Subsequently, it was used by Arabs, Mamluks, Druzes and even French expeditionary corpus in WWII.
In any case, if you want to read more about the story of Umm el-Jimal, I strongly recommend you visit the website of Umm el-Jimal Project.
There you will find the people behind decades of archaeological research. Here comes all my admiration for their work and their website. Both are done with an extremely high quality.
While in real life one can admire first-hand the site with its many superstructures, such three-floor high buildings, on the website one can make a virtual tour of the city. What impresses me most, however, on the ground, is how information plates explain the sights. A typical inscription on a plate in front of an ancient church for example would mention the form and some other structural details, that interest no one but a mad archaeologist and eventually a date for the building.
Here, instead, you can read about some small churches, included in private houses. 'Which reflects how the people ceased to conceive the religion being something public and regulated by the authorities and started instead to pursue more intimate relation with god', one inscription in Umm el-Jimal says.
Thus the information plate here gives you an insight of who the inhabitants of Umm el-Jimal were and what they thought.
What impresses me most in the website though, is how the people behind Umm el-Jimal Project stress on the participation of 'thousands' of people from the modern village during decades of archaeological excavations and their inestimable role.
Thus leaving you with the satisfying feeling that at least once the archaeology of the Middle East has put today's people before treasure troves. Thank you, Umm el-Jimal Project!
I might have been exaggerating when I cited the inscriptions as the most remarkable thing on the ground. For me, as an archaeologist, probably the most appealing thing was the sight of this stone door:
Until that moment, I had never seen such an ancient stone door, standing on its hinges. It still stands, despite the ages, in a very symbolic way.
Not less for the fact that if you cross its doorstep, you will find yourself in Syria, which lies one km away. You stay behind and you can go to Zaatari refugee camp, which is one km away on the other side. Between them is the 1500 years old stone door - still standing.