Tell el-Hammam
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (September 2021) |
تل الحمام | |
Umayyad | |
Site notes | |
---|---|
Excavation dates | 1975–1976, 1990, 2005-2016 |
Archaeologists | Kay Prag, Steven Collins |
Tell el-Hammam (also Tall al-Hammam) is an
History
The site was occupied beginning in the Late Chalcolithic period (4th Millennium BC) based on pottery finds. Architectural remains begin in the Late Bronze Age (3rd Millennium BC) and the site was protected by walls, upper and lower, at that time. In the Middle Bronze Age the site reached its maximum extent and fortifications were constructed. Occupation continued through the Iron Age (1st Millennium BC) into the Hellenistic and Roman period.[1]
Many scholars have identified the Late Bronze Age settlement at Tell el-Hammam as
Archaeology
The site covers an area of about 36 hectares of which about 26 hectares are within fortifications, with a small high mound (Upper Tall), which rises to about 30 meters above the plain, and an extensive lower town (Lower Tall) extending to the southwest which is privately owned and currently used for agriculture. The high mound has been impacted by military trenches and roadwork. The upper and lower areas were protected by walls beginning in the Early Bronze Age. The site reached its maximum extent in the Middle Bronze Age (termed Intermediate Bronze Age by the excavator).[clarification needed][citation needed]
Claude Reignier Conder recorded the site in the nineteenth century and Père Mallon described it in detail in 1932. Both noted remains of a Roman bath complex that have since disappeared, which presumably gave the tell its name ("Hill of the Hot Baths").[4][5] In 2011 a small Byzantine bath installation (5 m x 2 m) was indeed discovered at the site.[6]
In 1941,
The Australian archaeologist
Since 2005, excavations at the site have been directed by Steven Collins of
Air burst claim
A group of researchers sponsored by the
Others raised doubts about the claim
An
Physicist Mark Boslough, a specialist in planetary impact hazards and asteroid impact avoidance, has undertaken a sustained critique in social media and in print of the hypothesis that an air burst was responsible for the destruction of human settlements at Tell el-Hammam. His critique calls attention to a perspective of biblical inerrancy that has been used in claims that an air burst destroyed the biblical town of Sodom.[30]
A review of the evidence for an impact event states that the proper criteria for showing an airburst have not been met.[31]
See also
References
- ^ [1]Kobs, C.K., S. Collins, H. Aljarrah, and H. Bonnette, "A Plaque Figurine at Tall al Hammam, Season Six (2011). Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 55, pp. 609-621, 2011
- JSTOR 196563.(PDF). Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 11 (3): 109–115.
- Merrill, Selah (1879). "Modern Researches in Palestine"
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Further reading
- Collins, S., G.A. Byers, and M.C. Luddeni, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, Season Activity Report, Season One: 2005/2006 Probe Excavation and Survey", Filed with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 22 January 2006.
- Collins, S., G.A. Byers, M.C. Luddeni, and J.W. Moore, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, Season Activity Report, Season Two: 2006/2007 Excavation and Survey", Filed with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 4 February 2007.
- Collins, S., A. Abu Dayyeh, A. abu-Shmais, G.A. Byers, K. Hamdan, H. Aljarrah, J. Haroun, M.C. Luddeni; S. McAllister, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, Season Activity Report, Season Three: 2008 Excavation, Exploration, and Survey", Filed with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 13 February 2008.
- [3]Collins, S., K. Hamdan, G.A. Byers, J. Haroun, H. Aljarrah, M.C. Luddeni, S. McAllister, Q. Dasouqi, A. abu-Shmais, D. Graves, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, Season Activity Report, Season Four: 2009 Excavation, Exploration, and Survey", Filed with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 27 February 2009.
- Collins, S., K. Hamdan, G.A. Byers, J. Haroun, H. Aljarrah, M.C. Luddeni, S. McAllister, Q. Dasouqi, A. abu-Shmais, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project, Season Activity Report, Season Five: 2010 Excavation, Exploration, and Survey", Filed with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, 31 January 2010.
- Collins, S. and Y. Eylayyan, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project: End of Season Activity Report—Season Seven: 2012 Excavation, Exploration, and Survey", Filed with the Jordan Department of Antiquities 30 February 2012
- Collins, S. and H. Tarawneh, "The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project: End of Season Activity Report—Season Eight: 2013 Excavation, Exploration, and Survey", Filed with the Jordan Department of Antiquities 15 March 2013
- Collins, S, G.A. Byers, C.M. Kobs and P. Silvia, "The Tall el-Hammam Season Nine, 2014: Excavation, Survey, Interpretations and Insights", Filed with the Jordan Department of Antiquities 28 October 2014
- Collins, S, G.A. Byers, C.M. Kobs and P. Silvia, "The Tall el-Hammam Season Ten, 2015: Excavation, Survey, Interpretations and Insights", Filed with the Jordan Department of Antiquities, 2 April 2015
- [4]Collins, S, G. Byers, C. Kobs, et al, "The Tall el-Hammam Season Eleven, 2016: Excavation, Survey, Interpretations, and Insights", Jordan Department of Antiquities, March 2016
- Porat, Pinhas, "Tombs at Tell el-Hammam (H. Haman)", ‘Atiqot, 29, pp. 29-33, 1996
- Saliby, N., "Tell al Hammam", Syria 64.Fasc. 3/4, pp. 268-269, 1987
- [5]Schath, K., S. Collins, and H. Aljarrah, "The Excavation of an Undisturbed Demi-Dolmen and Insights from the Ḥammām Megalithic Field, 2011 Season", Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 55, 2011
- Skupinska-Lovset, I. L. O. N. A., "Funerary busts from Tell el-Hammam", ‘Atiqot, 29, pp. 35-41, 1996