Stroll through Endangered Dolmen Fields, now with Audio!

Audio introduction is now available for the fascinating dolmen fields at al-Mureighat and Damiyeh in western Jordan. These ancient monuments to human culture have been standing for roughly 5,000 years, but today are being threatened with destruction by bulldozers from nearby quarrying operations. Help save the dolmens by calling attention to these irreplaceable world treasures and the fact that they remain vulnerable to local, modern expansion.

Umm Hadder

Umm Hadder is a small Hellenistic fortress located along the Wadi al-Kufrayn, just north of the Kufrayn dam in Jordan. The fortress is approximately 40 by 30 meters in size and consists of rows of rooms around a central courtyard, with towers in each of its corners. A large well is located in the middle of the open courtyard.

Umm Hadder is one of several fortresses and many settlements along the Wadi al-Kufrayn during the Iron through the Hellenistic periods. The Wadi al-Kufrayn was probably one of the main access routes from the Jordan valley to the Ammonite plain.

Say good bye to QuickTime

Users might notice a changed format in some of the virtual tours. When Apple released its latest operating systems, Snow Leopard, it signaled that QuickTime would no longer support QTVR (the format of the panoramic and spherical images, which Apple pioneered) in future versions. Thus, we are converting all the QuickTime movies to Flash format. The downside is that this conversion will take a little time. No hurry. QuickTime will continue to have legacy support for QTVR in the foreseeable future, so users will be able to use the project with no interruption. The upside is that Flash is a better interface for QTVR movies. Users will especially appreciate Flash's "fullscreen" option. After a sufficient number of sites have been converted to Flash, we will change the help screens to highlight the differences in flash.

Murayghat

Murayghat, in the hills overlooking the Dead Sea, is an Early Bronze cult center. On small hill are numerous menhirs – standing stones – that characterized religious practices in the Levant for millennia. Many of the stones are arranged in rows, circles, and rectangles, and vary in size up to nearly 2 meters in height. Across the dry wadi on a larger hill facing the cult center is a large dolmen field, with many of the dolmens oriented toward the cult center. Unfortunately, many of the dolmens on the surrounding hills are being threatened by the nearby stone quarry.

Come and visit these megalithic structures of the Bronze Age.

Gamla

Gamla has been called the northern Masada. It was a small Judean village made famous by its “favorite son” Josephus, who led the resistance against the Roman legions, only to surrender to them and serve Vespasian. In addition to its role in the first Judean revolt, Gamla is also important as the location of an early synagogue.

Although included in the project for several years, Gamla was completely re-photographed during the 2009 season. It is well worth the visit.

Jericho

Jericho is often referred to as the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. The area in and around the modern city of Jericho is the home to several important archaeological sites, and none more significant than Tell es-Sultan, the site of “biblical” Jericho. At Tell es-Sultan, continuous settlement can be traced from the Neolithic period into the Late Bronze Age, approximately 6000 years. Subject to three large-scale excavations, Jericho has revealed much about ancient human cultures. Unfortunately, few finds from these excavations remain visible on the site.

Nevertheless, on a tour of ancient Jericho, one may see an impressive round stone tower from the earliest Neolithic period, the remains of an Early Bronze city wall, and some buildings of the Early and Middle Bronze period.

Chorazin

Chorazin is a Byzantine and later village in the hills north of the Sea of Galilee. In the center of the village are a well preserved synagogue and several large courtyard buildings.

Chorazin was first photographed in 2003, but has recently been updated with many more new photographs. Stop by and take a look at the site.