Umm Zweitineh: From Early Islamic Foundations to Mamluk Prosperity

AMMAN — The archaeological site of Umm Zweitineh is located approximately 10 kilometres north of Amman, on the road between Sweileh and Zarqa, at an altitude of about 995 metres above the sea level. Due to nearby streams, the area was well irrigated and relatively fertile in the past. The mountainous area, well supplied with water, has many olive tree orchards. The Balqa region was strategically important because it connected Damascus with Mecca and Damascus and Cairo. Three towns during the Mamluk Period gained the prominence -Salt, Amman and Zarqa.

The first scholars who studied Umm Zweitineh are C.R. Conder between 1881 and 1882 and Nelson Glueck during the 1930s. More recently, since 2000, the Department of Antiquities undertook a few rescue excavations.

"The salvage fieldwork in the excavated squares yielded walls constructed of two rows of limestone and flint of different sizes, and the space between the rows was filled with smaller stones and mud to boost them," noted Jordanian archaeologist Hashem Khreis, adding that the width of the walls is varying from 0.60 m to 1.40 m and stands to a height varying from one course (ca. 0.50 m height) to four courses (ca. 1.70 m height). 

In all excavated squares, the substructure of the walls was constructed of small and dressed stones, and the superstructure was built of boulders, Khreis continued, adding that two layers could be distinguished in all excavated area: The upper layer yielded Mamluk ceramic repertoires and lower layer yielded Umayyad ones, which indicates that the erection of the Islamic-settlement have taken place in Umayyad and Mamluk phases. 

"The dating of establishment and abandonment of the Early Islamic settlement at the site could not be identified based solely on the material culture. Indeed, the dating of Early Islamic ceramic types has been debated over the past several decades," Khreis said, adding that a Canadian archaeologist Daviau has argued that nearby Tall Jawa’s Early Islamic occupation also dates primarily to the Umayyad period, with no evidence of Abbasid ceramic types. 

Regarding the censer that has been found there, the form and geometric motifs are identical to other censers found elsewhere in the Near East and dated between the 6th and 9th centuries AD. Furthermore, scholars assumed that these incense burners must once have belonged to churches and monasteries that are scattered through the villages and towns of the ancient Near East. 

"Similar circular censer made of brass with three lug handles has been found in the Jubeiha’s church and dated to the 6th century AD," Khreis underlined, noting that since a certain date of the incense burner could not be identified, the assumed church at Umm Zweitineh could have been established in the 6th century AD and continued to be used during the Umayyad occupation. 

Or most likely, the church was built during the Umayyad era sometimes between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, in reference to the continuity of Christianity in the site like other nearby sites, such as the Umayyad-period church at Khilda, Jubeiha and Amman Citadel. 

Shifting to the Middle Islamic occupation at the site, the Mamluk period is significant regarding the social and economic history of Jordan. 

Analytical studies demonstrated that these vessels (olive lamps) were manufactured in specialised workshops in rural settlements rather than urban centres, the scholar said, adding that more fieldwork is required to obtain a clearer picture about the settlement patterns, the above-mentioned argument may also be relevant for the Mamluk Umm Zweitineh. 

"On the basis of this short salvage excavation season, we suggest that Umm Zweitineh was settled since the Iron Age II, with a hiatus during the Persian and Hellenistic eras; it was then reoccupied in the Roman and Byzantine periods. The Byzantine/Umayyad period is the terminus ante quem for the establishment of a real settlement at Umm Zweitineh sometimes between the 6th and 8th and perhaps the 9th centuries AD and the Mamluk period is the terminus post quem for its abandonment around the late 14th century AD," Khreis underscored.

Unfortunately, Umm Zweitineh has been neglected for decades from having systematic excavation as is the case of hundreds of archaeological sites scattered around the periphery of the city of Amman. Such a vast site needed a long-term plan to launch scientific campaigns and laboratory analysis of the material culture, Khreis stressed.

"Without long-term excavations, it is not possible to reconstruct further the occupational history of this small site, Umm Zweitineh during the Islamic period, including its place in the cultural and economic life of the region and its relationship to medieval Amman," Khreis concluded.