Flight 20141015 - The Longest Day?

Flight track log from 20141015 - the survey of the basalt near Uweinid we conducted is particularly prominent.

A day’s flying always starts with the rigmarole of having to get through the security gate at Marka airbase. This year we were waved through on the first day as I was being asked if I wanted ‘Eight Squadron” and I said yes; not really knowing the exact details of what had just happened (as my Arabic is non-existent). The second day I blew it but today, having learnt what the question would be, and having memorized the Arabic for 8 Squadron, we sailed through. It has taken 16 years for this refined level of communication to be achieved – just as it has taken all these years to train a generation of young Huey pilots to understand what on earth these crazy archaeologists are doing orbiting sites hour after hour. Our pilots are now even taking their own pictures as they are becoming interested in what we see. All our orbits are to the right (as we sit on the right) but today was a “first” in that the pilot did a orbit to the left, especially for the co-pilot (seated on the left) to see what we had been looking at.

Qasr el-Uweinid. © `APAAME_20141015_RHB-0050.

So, what did we see? With over 2,000 images taken by the three of us (Bob, Becc and Mat) in 7.5 hours (see flight trace of today’s excursions) the highlights are particularly difficult to select. Our aim was to survey parts of the black basalt desert in the eastern part of Jordan, starting at Azraq and heading as far east as Ruweishid. Predominantly our targets in this region are prehistoric sites, but Qasr Uweinid always stands out as such a wonderfully situated Roman fort, on a promontory.

A Pendant with a close shave. © APAAME_20141015_RHB-0123.

Mainly we are photographing “Pendant”, “Kite” and “Wheel” sites – all named according to their shape; their date and function are less well known. The most striking Pendant (almost certainly a burial site) was this one – so nearly completely obliterated by a competing road bulldozed through since we last photographed.

A kite with wheel enclosure built over it. © APAAME_20141015_RHB-0463.

There were many Kites but the light this time of year highlights them so well – and rare to have both a Wheel and a Kite so entwined.

YAMOUK written in basalt across a mud pan landing ground. © APAAME_20141015_RHB-0303.

However it was the twentieth century remains which really took our breath away. In preparing for the flight Becc had marked two former RAF installations, visible on Google Earth but we had no idea what would survive. They are remnants from the time when Jordan was under a British mandate (then known as Transjordan), and the creation of the Cairo to Baghdad Airmail Routes. The first to be photographed was a landing ground with name "YARMOUK" created in stone, inlaid in the sand, to one side of the “runway”. The runway consisted of a very long stone-defined landing strip on the hard surface of the mudflat. To our amazement there seems to be almost no recent disturbance, a faint trace of the odd 4x4 wheel track, so prevalent elsewhere, but no sign of a bulldozer, thankfully.

The 'KENSINGTON' landing ground. © APAAME_20141015_RHB-0441.

The second site was one of the circular markers for the Cairo to Baghdad Airmail Route (one of the routes is described in R. Hill’s book on the subject from 1929) – number 17, but curiously this site also has inscribed in the sand the name "KENSINGTON". Both the number and the name are clearly visible on Google Earth. Our flight confirmed there has been little recent disturbance and we could also see what we interpret to be the remains of what must have been a camp, rectilinear stone-built platforms for tents. It is very unlikely any of the pilots from this period (1920s-1940s) are still alive but it would be fascinating to find out if any diaries exist of life at “Kensington”.

Remains of a camp near "Kensington". © APAAME_20141015_RHB-0443.

So, why the longest day? We left the Institute in Amman at 0630, and started flying at about 0715 and didn’t get back to Marka, after a long transit flight from Ruweishid, until almost 5 pm. Normally we do 4 to 6 hours flying (2 or 3 sorties) but today it was 4 separate flights, 3 re-fuellings for the aircraft but very little “fuel” for the pilots or ourselves and a total of 7.5 hours flying.

- Robert Bewley

Publications - APAAME photo in December issue Antiquity

APAAME_20120522_DLK-0096. Photograph: David L. Kennedy

Featuring in the latest issue of Antiquity is this photograph taken by David Kennedy on the 22 May 2012 during our last season of flying in Jordan. You can read more about the photograph and its features in the journal's Editorial:
Editorial, Antiquity, Vol 86 No 334 December 2012: 966. http://antiquity.ac.uk/journal.html#editorial

Flight 20120520: Now online

Our first flight for 2012 is now uploaded to our flickr archive. You can browse the images here.

This flight focused on the stone built structures known as Kites located in the basalt desert of Jordan, but also captured other structures known as Wheels and Pendants. In particular, we were interested in the landscape and other structures surrounding the Kites, and how these features interact.

Here are some highlights. Please click on the images to enlarge (you will be sent to the image on our flickr site).


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Flight 20120522 Taster- Pendant and Wheel

APAAME_20120522_DLK-0095. Photographer: David L. Kennedy. Click to enlarge.

Fantastic example of a Bullseye Pendant, with a tail constructed of small cairns, and a Wheel, with spokes radiating from a central 'hub'.

Chronology: Kites and Wheels

Determining the date for an archaeological site is best determined by excavation, but relative chronologies can be determined by examination of a very simple interaction - what lies on top of something else?

In the stone built structures of the Harret al-Shaam, we have been observing what kinds of sites are most likely to overlie others.

In the Jordan section of the Harret al-Shaam it is most likely, where Wheels and Kites are located in the same area, to see a Wheel manipulating or lying over the structure of a Kite. This most often involves the wheel overlying or using the wall of the tail of a kite, but there are also examples of the structure of the head being manipulated or built over by a Wheel. This chronology suggests that Wheels are a later structure than the Kites. In turn it is possible to see Pendants and Corrals overlying Wheels.

Azraq Wheel 11 overlying tail of Kite 21; Azraq Wheel 173 overlying head of Kite 55; Safawi Pendant 4 overlying Wheel 282. Images: Google Earth. Click to enlarge.

Kites > Wheels > Pendants ≥ Corrals

A recent investigation of a group of Kites located on the Harret in Syria, however, does not follow this broad relative chronology. In a tangle involving no less than 14 Kites and 25 Wheels, four Wheels overlie sections of four Kites, while two Kites can be seen to overlie sections of two Wheels.

Ghadir al Hajj tail of Kite 7 overying Wheel 22; Kite 10 overlying Wheel 24; Wheel 25 overling Kite 11, both overlain by corrals. Images: Google Earth. Click to enlarge.

So, simply an exception to the rule? Investigation will have to continue...

Flickr Featured Sets

Over the last couple of days I have been looking through the Flickr archive and updated a few of our sets.

In 'Tracking Change' we set out to fly over a handfull of sites regularly in the course of our flying seasons to photograph the changes that are occuring, whether they be seasonal, environmental or man made. We have also included a set named 'Development Impacts' which gives examples of the kinds of human activity that are encroaching on Jordan's heritage.
Some sites that have particularly changed over recent years are:

• Yajuz: a small Roman town on the outskirts of modern day Amman
• Qasr el-Mshatta: a 'desert castle' located near Queen Alia Airport
• Jarash: one of the best preserved archaeological sites in Jordan which is the focus of ongoing excavation and reconstruction
• Azraq Shishan: the oasis of Azraq that was (and is) severly under threat from overuse of its water, but has in recent years become a nature reserve in an effort to bring life back to the dying wetlands.

In 'Featured Sets' we hope to build a collection of sets that will act as introductions to the various site types and time periods that are evident in Jordan's archaeological landscape. Our collections so far include

• General Showcase: a selection of some of our favourite sites and photos of Jordan
• Classical Showcase: Classical (Greek and Roman period) sites in Jordan
• Kites: photographs of the various stone build structures known as Kites
• Wheels: a selection of the numerous and somewhat enigmatic circular structures known as Wheels
• Desert 'Castles': popular tourist attraction in Jordan, the scale and layout of these often impressively preserved structures is highly visible from above
• The Hejaz Railway and World War One: the archaeology of modern conflict is still clear throughout parts of Jordan. This set introduces trenches and railway remains from this period, well known for the Great Arab Revolt and exploits of T. E. Lawrence
• Biblical Sites: Jordan is the setting of many episodes from the Bible, and this set features some of the known sites mentioned in the Bible that we have visited.

If you want to see more photographs of a particular site, or we haven't featured one you are interested in, please use the search tool at the top right hand corner of Flickr's site window, being sure to select "Search APAAME's Photostream".

If you have any site types or periods that you think we should feature or photograph in future, please let us know!

Roadtripping to Mesa Country

We awoke in the very small hours of Sunday morning to set out to a special area of Jordan - Mesa Country.

East of Azraq on the edge of the Harrat ash-Sham lie a series of Basalt mesas (flat topped hills). On and around these mesas are an assortment of stone built structures - Wheels, Kites, Cairns, Tower Tombs and Pendants, which in this region were first described in the 1920s by pilots of the Royal Air Force on the Cairo-Baghdad airmail route. It was this landscape that we set out to investigate.

We broke from the main road at dawn and watched the sun rise over the desert as we rattled our way slowly down a questionable track - often no more than a pair of wheel ruts over the pebbly desert floor. Our first stopping point was a couple of Wheels surrounded by Cairn Rings. These were almost unrecognisable from the road, but as we got closer the walls began to be apparent. One was nestled in the slope of the hill while the other lay prominently on top of a rise of basalt boulders. Between these Wheels was a Bullseye Cairn - unfortunately illicitly excavated - but still associated with some Safaitic inscriptions and flint artefacts.

Rajil Wheel with Cairn Ring in the early morning sun. Photographed by Rebecca Banks.

We then returned to our trusty 4WDs (the tyres were unfortunately not so trusty) and continued on our way east. We knew we were getting close when the landscape changed to this:

Mesas in the Qattafi area. Photographed by Rebecca Banks

On the agenda was climbing four of this group of Mesas - Qattafi Mesa 2 (named 'Tell A' by Rees, an RAF pilot), Mesa 3, 'Maitland's Fort' (Mesa 4, again named by an RAF pilot) and Mesa 7 or 'Boyer's Butte' as we have come to know it. It sounds easy, but when you have one of these sitting infront of you, you begin to doubt your fearless leader. After a bit of courage and some concentration not to put your weight on the wrong boulder, you reach the top and the view is absolutely breathtaking. Not a living soul in sight, and the only noise is the wind.

The most prominent features of these mesas are Tower Tomb Cairns, visible as small 'pimples' on their surfaces, easily visible from surprisingly far away. The size of the rounded basalt boulders on these mesas provide the perfect building material to construct these large burial mounds and other features. On two of the mesas, these Tower Tombs were incorporated into Pendants - a tail of smaller cairns connected to the larger burial cairn at the head. Other cairns also littered the surface of the mesas, but it was predominantly the Tower Tombs that had associated inscriptions, varying from ancient to modern.

Tower Tomb on Qattafi Mesa 7. Photographed by Rebecca Banks

Inscription associated with Qattafi Pendant 3 on Mesa 2. Photographed by Rebecca Banks

Unfortunately many of the cairns we came across had been illicitly excavated, with the interiors hollowed out by those looking for burials and assosciated grave goods. As a result it will be very difficult to verify how many of these cairns were indeed used for burials, or whether they served another purpose.

An illictly excavated cairn (Qattafi Pendant 4) on 'Maitland's Fort'. Photographed by Rebecca Banks

Driving out into this country has its rewards, but the journey is not to be taken lightly. The rough terrain means that a punctured tyre is more than likely, and the lack of mobile phone reception makes a satellite telephone a must! Thankfully this time we suffered from only one punctured tyre...

Our Pajero after running afoul of a wayward stone. Photographed by Rebecca Banks.

Wheels at the Azraq Oasis

Outline of a group of wheels near the Azraq Oasis. This group consists of 38 separate wheels.
Drawn: Rebecca Banks

This group of wheels is found along side a mud pan near the Azraq Oasis. It is one of four such large groups in the area. The group shows a huge amount of variation in style between individual wheels, some being merely walled enclosures, some having divisions, and some also including outer rings and cairns and/or hides. Some are much better preserved than others with walls crumbling from age as well as contact with the modern world, including bulldozed tracks through the site.

APAAME_20020401_DLK-0156

Wheels: stone built structures of the Harrat ash-Sham

A simple Wheel (Aritein Wheel 5) with nine spokes radiating from a central point and no hub.

APAAME_20081023_DLK-0038.

The Wheels of northeast Jordan are so-called due to their most common form, a circular structure with low stone walls, and lines radiating from a central point like spokes. Little is known of these sites beyond their type and location, as there has been little archaeological investigation.They were probably amongst the 'circles' mentioned by Rees in 1929. In the 1970s they were studied simultaneously by Helms and Betts (who called their examples 'Jellyfish') and Kennedy and Riley (who preferred 'Wheel (enclosure)'). There are large numbers across the Harrat ash-Shaam of Jordan, and the numbers possibly exceed 1000.

Aritein Wheel 2 seen from ground level. The crumbling low walls can be seen just before the horizon. Photo: Karen Henderson.

The walls are very low on the Wheels, and are built without mortar or shaping of the stone. Although they are well known from aerial photographs and satellite imagery, the structures themselves can be easily missed in the landscape. Betts (1984: 29) notes that when surveying Wheels on the ground, they are so ephemeral as to go unnoticed if one does not already know they are there. The above photograph shows the very slightly raised and darker rocks of a Wheel in the Aritein area, demonstrating how hard they can be to see on the ground.

A plan drawn from a very faint Google Earth image of a singular Wheel found outside the basalt area.

Wheels have large variations in size and type, but they seem to be almost entirely confined to the Harrat ash-Shaam. The only possible example found just outside of the basalt cover in the north of the panhandle is extremely faint and hard to identify. Despite its faintness, the structure appears to be of a coommon form – a large central open hub with straight spokes, and possibly an exterior wall or ring of Cairns around the outside. The mud pan that it sits on makes it very difficult to see, and it is possible there are other examples in the limestone steppe east and west of the basalt that have not been positively identified as yet.

Wheel Typology. Drawn: Karen Henderson.

A Wheel typology (above) has been constructed for the basalt area of Jordan based on several defining features: the type or absence of a central hub; number and straightness of the dividing spokes or walls; presence or absence of Cairns within and/ or surrounding the main internal structure; shape of the main structure; and external wall features. Size is another defining factor. Each of the below features appear in many different combinations and configurations. So far, the types do not seem to have regional differences within the basalt, but there seems to a greater number of them in the southwest and central basalt.

Azraq Wheel 15 overlying the tail of Azraq Kite 32. APAAME_19970527_DLK-0153.

Generally, the structures are built on slopes or hills, although unlike Cairns and Pendants, they are not usually on highly visible ridgelines. They are often found on or near the Kites, either overlying the tails, or built within a Kite head, and it is this which suggests a later date for Wheels than Kites. They are also often grouped together, particularly in areas with a heavier basalt cover, like Azraq, Safawi and Aritein. There does not seem to be a particular pattern to their type when grouped in such a way, as there is large variations in size and shaped, as well as defining features across the clusters.

A large variety of Wheels grouped together near the Azraq Oasis, where these kind of groups appear to be most common. Image: Google Earth.

There is no stratified archaeological evidence available for these structures, and what little there is was collected during archaeological surveys focused on other sites or structures in the 1980s. The related Wheel structures within these survey areas were commented on but little information was collected, as they were not the focus of the investigation. Still, both Helms (1981: 50) and Betts (1982: 186) attribute a Neolithic date based on artefact assemblages. Helms does not give details, merely saying that recognizable Neolithic implements (7^th-5^th millennium) were found within the Wheels. One point here, however is that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish his comments in relation to the Wheels with those pertaining to the ubiquitous corrals, a different site type entirely.

Betts devoted a paper to the structures she refers to as ‘Jellyfish’, and it is these sites which are referred to in Helms’ earlier work (above). She notes the propensity of these sites to be built on the higher plateaus and slopes of basalt, and also the relationship to the Kite sites. Like Helms, she suggests a habitation function for the Wheels. However, neither of them argue this convincingly, since most of their assumptions are based on placement and structure. Betts notes that they are often placed on higher ground above water sources in areas that are more difficult to build on. She suggests this is to provide protection from ‘belligerent peoples’, but it makes little sense to build an enclosure for sleeping and protecting your animals in a place that is away from water, and hard to access.

In short, there is very little known of the Wheels in relation to their function and age. However, much more evidence is emerging in relation to their placement, size and type, and these features may allow a better understanding, and perhaps allow for more reasonable suggestions of function.

-Karen Henderson

For more images of Wheels, please visit our archive: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apaame/sets/72157627680231106/

References:
* Betts, A.V.G. (1982) ''Jellyfish': prehistoric desert shelters', Annual of the Department of Antiquities, Jordan XXVI: 183-188
* Betts, A.V.G. (1984) 'Black desert survey, Jordan: second preliminary report', Levant XVI: 25-34
* Helms, S. (1981) Jawa. Lost City of the Black Desert. Methuen, London.
* Rees, L.W.B. (1929) 'The Transjordan Desert', Antiquity 3: 389-406.
* Riley, D.N. (1982) 'Antiquities recorded by old photographs taken by the Royal Air Force of the desert near Azraq Duruz', in Kennedy, D.L. (1982) Archaeological Explorations on the Roman Frontier in North-east Jordan, Oxford (BAR, Int. Series 134): 345-355.