Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Complexity of Early Society in Jordan
If you have lingering doubts about the sophistication of the ancients, ponder the fields of
dolmens that are scattered throughout the country, and were constructed between 5000
and 3000 BC. Come across the local shepherds and they may well ask you: 'Why are you
here? Is anything good here?' That would be a great question to pose to the ancients who
carefully aligned their last resting places along the shoulders rather than the ridges of the
semi-arid hills. As for us moderns, these highly charged sites force a reconsideration of
these early people: how did they lever the monumental bridging stones into place and
what power of belief prompted such laborious, collaborative effort? Many of Jordan's ar-
chaeological treasures provoke more questions than they answer in our human quest to
understand more about our origins.
RIFT VALLEY & THE BIOGRAPHY OF A SEA
You can't think about history in Jordan without factoring in its position on the edge of the ancient Rift Valley. Stand-
ing beside the apologetic trickle of water that runs through Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan today, it's hard to imagine
that some 100,000 years ago the entire Jordan Valley was under the fertile waters of the Red Sea. When the sea re-
treated it left two landlocked stretches of water - the Sea of Galilee (known in Jordan as Lake Tiberius) and the
Dead Sea.
Despite its name - given by the Greek geographer and historian Pausanias, who noticed its life-defying salinity -
the Dead Sea has long been associated with health-giving properties. Book into a Dead Sea spa and you will be part
of a tradition begun in biblical times. Herod visited the spa at Callirhöe near Herodus Spring to treat itching skin,
and Byzantine Christians followed suit along pilgrim roads to Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, Mt Nebo and Lot's
Cave.
Useful in extending life, the Dead Sea has been useful in death, too. Study the haunting eyes of the Ain Ghazal
statues in the National Archaeological Museum in Amman (dated from around 6000 BC, they're reputedly the old-
est sculptures in the world) and you'll see that they are blackened with bitumen. The Greeks and Romans named the
Dead Sea the 'Sea of Pitch' on account of the bitumen that used to float to the surface. This substance was harvested
by the Nabataeans who sold it to the Egyptians, who in turn used it for waterproofing funeral boats and for mummi-
fication. Ships laden with bitumen regularly crossed the sea in ancient times, as illustrated in the 6th-century
Madaba mosaic map. The last piece of bitumen surfaced in 1936.
Today the area continues to contribute to health and wealth with important revenues from tourism and potash.
Part of the western shore belonged to Jordan when the famous Dead Sea scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin shep-
herd at Qumran in 1947. Israel took control of the entire western shore in 1967 after the Six Day War, giving the
term 'Rift Valley' a particularly modern resonance.
