Tell Johfiyeh

Tell Johfiyeh (2200 BC) is an archeological site in the village of Johfiyeh, Jordan, which dates back to the Iron Age. It is at the northern edge of the modern village of Johfiyeh, 7.5 km south-west of Irbid, in an intensive agriculture area.

Overview

The activities of 2002 indicate that Tell Johfiyeh and the small archaeological sites in its vicinity were used most probably as farmsteads, dating back to the 7th century BC. The following results were obtained: Archaeological sites in the vicinity of Tell Johfiyeh • Founded mainly during the Iron Age • Usually re-settled during the Byzantine and Umayyad era • Most probably agricultural facilities • The sites maintained relations to each other • Tell Irbid or Tell el-Husn probably functioned as central sites • Two phases of settlement could be separated: Iron Age II and Byzantine-Umayyad era •z Remains of the latter were found exclusively on the south- western fringe of the tell and at the eastern slope. Remains of the Iron Age, however, were found all over the site and dominate the finds made so far. • Remains of the Byzantine-Umayyad era are: -A cistern -Remains of a small house -Two almost complete vessels of clay -Numerous clay sherds, glass and metal remains • The remains from the Iron Age belong to domestic activities within an agricultural world: -Numerous fireplaces and cooking spots, grinding- stones, mortars, basalt pestles and scrapers, weaving-weights, spinning-whorls, a three-footed basalt-bowl with tools, „buttons“, numerous stone-vessels, several arrow-heads made of iron and needles as well as a few pearls from carneol

References

Further reading

• 2007 Tell Johfiyeh. Ein archaeologischer Fundplatz und seine Umgebung in Nordjordanien.

Materialien fuer eine Regionalstudie, Alter Orient und Altes Testament (AOAT) vol. 344, Ugarit Verlag, Muenster.

• in press Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotopes of the Animal Tooth Enamel from the late

Iron Age Farmstead of Tell Johfiyeh in north Jordan: A Paleoclimate Study, Ugarit- Forschungen (UF) Bd. 39, Ugarit-Verlag Muenster, 2008

• in press A period of peace and prosperity in Gilead. Tell Johfiyeh and ist surrounding

during the (late) Iron Age. A report on the 2002-2004 and 2007 seasons, Studies in the history and archaeology of Jordan (SHAJ) X, Department of Antiquities, Amman, 2009

• in press Tall Juhfiyya. Preliminary report on the 2004 and 2007 seasons, Annual of the

Department of Antiquities of Jordan (ADAJ) 52, Amman, 2008; Co-Author: al-Sa´ad,Z.

• in press Tell Johfiyeh, in Savage, S.H., Zamora, K.A. and Keller, D.R. (eds.),

Archaeology in Jordan, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) 112, 2008; Co-Author: al-Sa´ad, Z.

• in press Der Tell Johfiyeh in Nordjordanien. Vom spätbronzezeitlichen Rundbau zum

eisenzeitlichen Gehöft, Das Altertum 53,1, Berlin, 2008 in press A period of peace and prosperity in Gilead. Tell Johfiyeh and ist surrounding during the (late) Iron Age. A report on the 2002-2004 seasons, Akten der 52. RAI

• 2008 Tall Johfiyeh. A brief report on the 2007 season, Newsletter of the Faculty of

Archaeology and Anthropology No. 27/28, Yarmouk University, Irbid-Jordan, pp. 7– 8; Co-Author: al-Sa´ad, Z.

• 2005 Tell Johfiyeh, in Savage, S.H., Zamora, K.A. and Keller, D.R. (eds.), Archaeology

in Jordan, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) 109, No.3, pp. 532–534; coauthor: al-Sa´ad, Z.

• 2005 Tell Johfiyeh. Ein eisenzeitlicher Fundplatz und seine Umgebung in Nordjordanien,

in Gerda Henkel Stiftung (Hrsg), Jahresbericht, pp. 20–21

• 2004 Tall Juhfiyya: An Iron Age Site and its Surroundings in North Jordan. Preliminary

Report on the 2002 and 2003 Seasons. Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (ADAJ) 48: 171-180, Amman; co-author: al-Sa´ad, Z.

• 2004 Tall Juhfiyah and Neighbouring Sites: Part of an Iron-Age Trade, Defense- or

Communication System ?, in Khraysheh, F. (Hrsg.) Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan VIII, pp. 217–223, Amman; co-author: Bastert, K.

• 2004 Tell Johfiyeh, in Savage, S.H., Zamora, K.A. and Keller, D.R. (eds.), Archaeology

in Jordan, American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) 108, No.3, pp. 431–432; coauthor: al-Sa´ad, Z.

• 2004 Neue Forschungen in Nordjordanien: Der eisenzeitliche Tell Johfiyeh und seine

Umgebung in Nordjordanien, Das Altertum 49,2: 81-85, Berlin.

• 2004 Zwischen Wüste und Jordan. Tell Johfiyeh - Ein eisenzeitlicher Fundplatz in Nordjordanien,

Antike Welt - Zeitschrift für Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte, Heft 1/2004, Mainz, pp. 51–58.

External links

• Photos of Tall Johfiyeh at the American Center of Research