Some Ancient Towns in the Plains of Moab

Author(s): Nelson Glueck

Source: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, No. 91 (Oct., 1943), pp. 7-26
Published by: The American Schools of Oriental Research
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Number 91 October 1943

meeting should formulate plans for post-war archaeology in the Near

East.
This conference wishes to draw the attention of the Near Eastern Council
when established to the desirability of the following action:
1) That it should recommend to the departments of antiquities and
interested scientific institutions that they should select certain areas, and
important sites of all periods, for excavation in order that known lacunae
may be filled.
2) That it should survey the whole Near Eastern field and its cultural
connections in the widest possible way with a view to solving the main
present outstanding problems of Near Eastern history and prehistory
by excavation according to a scientific plan.
3) That it should recommend to the departments of antiquities that
they list and make a thorough survey of sites in immediate danger of
destruction and draw the attention of all prospective excavators to these
sites.
Resolution on Agenda No. 5.
1) That all those invited to this conference together with other eminent
archaeologists from neighbouring countries be invited to meet as soon
as circumstances permit to elect a Near Eastern Council.
2) That a temporary executive committee be elected here and now to
carry on in the meantime.
3) That the people invited to become members of the Near Eastern
Council be asked to form regional committees for their areas as soon as
possible.
TEMPORARY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ELECTED TO CARRY OUT
RESOLUTIONS OF CONFERENCE JULY 10-11, 1943

Dr. Nelson Glueck, Chairman M. M. Dunand

Professor Frank Brown Mr. J. H. Iliffe
Professor K. A. C. Creswell Professor L. A. Mayer
Mr. P. Dikaios Pere R. de Vaux, O. P.

SOME ANCIENT TOWNS IN THE PLAINS OF MOAB

NELSON GLUECK

In two previous articles in the BULLETIN1 were outlined the main

results of the writer's archaeological survey of the north half of the
east side of the Jordan Valley. Since then, during January and February,
1943, the writer, accompanied again by Rashid Hamid of the Trans-
jordan Department of Antiquities, has been able to supplement this
survey by exploring archaeologically the main extent of the Wadi Yabis
No. 89, pp. 2-6; No. 90, pp. 2-23.
7
Number 91 October 1943

and the continuation of the east side of the Jordan Valley from ed-Damieh
as far as the northeast end of the Dead Sea.
A reexamination of Tell el-Meqbereh, overlooking the Wadi Yabis at
the point where this ovddlemerges from the hills and begins to thread
its way westward to the Jordan through the Ghor, yielded additional
quantities of EB and El sherds. A further discovery was made which
adds considerable weight to the location here of Jabesh-gilead. Approxi-
mately 200 meters from the base of Tell el-Meqbereh is the base of a
high, completely isolated, flat-topped hill to the east. A climb up the
only reasonably accessible, but still steep, SW side of the hill revealed
that its flattish top had once been completely surrounded by a great
stone wall, large sections of which can still be clearly traced. Despite a
luxuriant growth of weeds, a considerable quantity of sherds was found,
duplicating those found at Tell el-Meqbereh. This fortified hilltop is
Tell Abf Kharaz, which completely dominates the approaches to the
Wadi Yabis as it emerges from the eastern hills and winds its way west-
ward through the Jordan Valley. Although there is an excellent view
from Tell el-Meqbereh, beyond Tell el-Husn (Beth-shan), the view from
the top of Tell Abu Kharaz is incomparably finer. Tell Abfu Kharaz and
Tell el-Meqbereh must be considered as one site, the latter being the
residential section of the great fortress towering directly above it. This
double site is the only one which agrees completely with the biblical
data regarding Jabesh-gilead. It will be remembered that the men of
Jabesh-gilead went one night to Beth-shan, recovered the bodies of Saul
and his sons, and returned to Jabesh-gilead to bury the bodies. It is
about a four hour's fast walk from our site to Beis.n.
The examination of all sites near Wadi Yabis has now shown that of
all previous candidates for identification with Jabesh-gilead,2 only one
might lay claim to serious consideration-Tell el-Maqlub. Miryamin
and Deir el-Halaweh, are not earlier than Roman. Tell el-Maqlub, SE
of Kefr 'Abil and directly overlooking the Wadi Yabis from the north,
has earlier pottery and is a fine site, situated on a commanding hill-top
overlooking a bend in the Wadi Yabis, the banks of which at this point
broaden out on either side and are planted to fruit-trees, and to grain
ir season. The flattish hilltop was once surrounded by a strong outer
wall, some clear vestiges of which are still visible. The sherds found
there are EB I-II, MB I-IIA, Iron I-II, and Roman-Byzantine. Despite
the presence of pottery of early periods on Tell el-Maqliub and its location
by the Wadi Yabis, fulfilling two conditions prerequisite for identification
with Jabesh-gilead, it is out of the question. News from the Jordan
Valley penetrates but slowly and accidentally into the highlands with
their isolated valleys, in one of which is Tell el-Maqlub. The residents
of Tell el-Maqlub in the Early Iron Age might not have learned for
days of what had transpired at Beth-shan. Their modern successors
know practically nothing of what goes on in Beisan today, while the
Arabs living in the Ghor know within a few hours what transpires there.
Furthermore, from Tell el-Maqlub to Beisan is a trip of at least four and
a half to five hours each way. The men of Tell el-Maqlub could scarcely
2
BULLETIN, NO. 89, pp. 2 f.
8
Number 91 October 1943

have reached Beth-shan and returned the same night, laden with the
corpses of Saul and his sons.
A survey of the east side of the Jordan Valley between ed-Damieh
and the Wadi Nirnrin confirmed our previous impressions.3 It is a land
without water. It is totally devoid of streams or springs except in a few
places in its Zor, and is in striking contrast to the long stretch of ex-
tremely fertile and well irrigated land extending between the Wadi
Yarmuk and ed-Damieh. As a result of this lack of water, the area
south of ed-Damieh as far as the lands of Emir 'Abdallah north of Wadi
Nimrin, was hardly occupied at all during historical times. Some very
early burial circles were seen, as well as several ancient constructions,
the largest of which was at Besset Khelef. Here some energetic Byzantines
eked out an arid existence, thanks to a little water which rises near the
surface from an underground water table.
The lands of Emir 'Abdallah, extending for several kilometers north
of the Wiadi Nimrin, could not be cultivated but for water pumped from
recently sunk artesian wells. At one point, about six km. NW of Shiuneh,
his engineers have restored an interesting water system, which probably
goes back to Byzantine, and possibly to Roman times. Near the western
part of the gentle slope from the eastern foothills to the middle of the
Ghor, a long line of east-west pits was noticed. At the very bottom of
this gentle slope a small trickle of water emerged. The engineers opened
up these pits, and found that they were in reality deep shafts filled with
debris, which, when cleared, led to an underground water channel. This
chlannel, in turn, had a slight east-west gradient. Eighteen shafts were
opened up, each of them about three meters in diameter and about ten
meters apart. Each shaft, which separately taps the water table, is con-
nected to the one west of it by a tunnel about the height of a man and
half as wide. Each shaft collects a certain amount of water from the
vwater-bearingearth it touches, passing it on through the tunnel to the
next shaft, and so on, until finally a very strong stream of water is col-
lected, without any effort except to keep the shafts and the connecting
tunnel free of debris-which, however, is apparently quite a job. Where
the descending surface slope and the slightly descending slope of the
underground water channel approach, a deep ditch was sunk, becoming
progressively shallower until it merges with the irrigation ditches at its
west end. The water thus obtained irrigates a considerable number of
acres, which the Emir's gardeners have planted to vegetables.
Mr. A. S. Kirkbride, the British Resident of Transjordan, informs the
writer that he has seen such a system of obtaining water at a place
called Jerid, on the Palmyra-Damascus road, and that he has heard of
similar systems functioning in Baluchistan. He also reports such systems
as being employed today at Udhruh 4 and Ma'an in Transjordan. Think-
ing back, the writer believes that the long line of circular pits ranging
from 5 to 15 meters in dimeter, which he saw at Hafriyat Ghadyan in
the Wadi el-'Arabah, is to be explained as one of the above systems of
obtaining water .
3 BULLETIN, NO. 90, p. 3. 4 Annual, XV, p. 76.
5 Annual, XV,
p. 40; the apparently larger diameter of the pits is explained by
9
Number 91 October 1943

There may be a few small sites in the Z6r between ed-Damieh and
the Wadi Nimrin comparable to Tell Zor el-Meqbereh, situated in the
Zor approximately west of Khirbet el-Wahadneh. An examination of
several likely looking sections of the Zor between ed-Damieh and the
WYadiNimrin revealed no comparable sites, and a study of air photo-
graphs showed nothing.6
South of this arid area is an exceedingly rich tract. This rich southern
area stretches from the Wadi Nimrin to the NE end of the Dead Sea,
and is known generally as the 'Arboth Mo'db, the Plains of Moab. It
is particularly with the ancient sites located by the Bible in this area
that this paper is concerned.
Numbers 33: 48-49, reads: "And they camped in the 'Arboth Mo'ab
by the Jericho section of the Jordan; encamping along (the length of)
the Jordan (Valley) from Beth hay-Yesim6th to Abel has-Sittim, in
the 'Arboth M6aob." The 'Arboth Mo'ab has something of the shape of
a truncated harp, the north side being formed by the Wadi Nimrin
and the south by the Wadi el-'Azeimeh close to the NE end of the Dead
Sea. It is watered by a number of important perennial streams, which
wend their way westward to the Jordan. The three main streams, from
north to south, are the Wadi Nimrin, known as the Wadi Sha'ib until
it emerges from the hills, the Wadi el-Kefrein, and the Wadi er-Rameh,
which, two thirds of the way across the Valley, runs into the Wadi el-
Kefrein, and which in the hills is known as the Wadi Hesban. Farther
south, is the dry Wadi Ejrafeh, and then the dry Wadi et-Terfeh, and
finally the Wadi el-'Azeimeh, which before it emerges from the hills is
known as the Wadi el-Heri. South of the Wadi el-'Azeimeh, the eastern
foothills crowd in towards the NE end of the Dead Sea, effectively clos-
ing off the Plains of Moab. There is neither as much cultivable land nor
the fact that the writer obviously measured tlbe earth thrown up around them
rather than the actual diameter of the pits proper. [There is a considerable litera-
ture, scattered through many journals and boolks, on these subterranean tunnel-wells.
For a convenient account of the fiqur or fiqotrai (sing. faqir, now disused) of Syria
see R. Thoumin, G6ographie humaine de la Syria Centrale (Tours, 1936), pp. 42 ff.
the similar system of Iran (where they are called qandt or chahriz) is compactly
described by Fisher, Geographical Review, XVIII (1928), 302 if. (cf. also R. F. S.
Starr, BULLETIN, NO. 58, p. 27). That they go back to Roman times is archaeolooi-
cally certain; see Thoumin, loc. cit., and Seyrig, Syria, 1934, 28 (M. Seyrig also
tells me of unusually large fuqard in the reglion of Palmyra). Polybius (second
century B. C.) describes them as common ii the Parthian Empire in his day, and
says that they were already old (X, 28). Since there is neither documentary nor
archaeological indication that the underground tunnel-wells were known in the
ancient Near East, it seems quite possible that they were developed in pre-
Achaemenid Persia and spread to the Near East in Achaemenian times. In Palestine
anlld Syria they occur in the Jordan Valley, the eastern parts of Syria, especially
in the Qalamun east of the Antilibanus, in the Palmyrene, in regions east and
olthleast of Aleppo. Their significance in the history of irrigation is very great;
cf. my remarks in From the Stone Age to Christianity (1940, pp. 73 f.).-W. F. A.]
(;The idea of Hiolscher, Zeits. d. Deutschen Palistina-Vereins, XXXIII, 1910, p. 24,
that an ancient settlement cannot be thought of as existing in the Z6r has now been
abulndantly disproved; cf. Bergman and Brandstetter, Bull. Pal. Expl. Soc., 1941,
p.1 85-90.

1()
Number 91 October 1943

as much water for irrigating it, in the 'Arb6th Mo6ab 7 as in the Jordan
Valley north of ed-Damieh.
Let us begin with some of the more important ancient sites along the
Wadi Nimrin: Tell Nimrin, Tell Bleibil, and Tell el-Mustah. Like the
Wtadi Nimrin itself, Tell Nimrin undoubtedly preserves the ancient
biblical name of Beth-nimrah.8 The waters of the Wadi Nimrin may be
referred to in the Bible as the " Waters of Nimnrin." 9
Tell Nimrin 10 is almost immediately east of the Arab village of
Shuneh on the south side of the Wadi Nimrin, near the east end of
the plain. It is situated on a western outspur of the hills, which rise to
the Moabite plateau. From the top of Tell Nimrin, the NE end of the
Dead Sea is visible. To the E-ENE is Tell el-Mustalh, not visible, how-
ever, from Tell Nimrin. A considerable number of caves can be seen in
the hill-sides east of the plain of Nimrin. Immediately west of Tell
Nimrin, extending for several kilometers south of the Wadi Nimrin, can
be seen a green belt of irrigated lands.
A modern automobile road has been cut through the north side of Tell
Nimrin, revealing ancient walls, lines of ash and burning, and numerous
fragments of pottery. On the mound is a modern Arabic cemetery. A
careful examination of the sherds shows that the site was occupied from
Roman through mediaeval Arabic times.1l Obviously, therefore, it can-
not be identified with Beth-nimrah. It is yet another example of the
wandering of names of biblical sites from their original homes to new
settlements when the former were destroyed or abandoned. This is a
process which occurred with some frequency particularly from the Hel-
lenistic period onwards, often as the result of peaceful change. Tell
Nimrin is the site referred to by Eusebius and Jerome as being five
Roman miles north of Livias,12--which is approximately correct. Livias
is generally and correctly identified with Tell er-Rameh.
East of Tell Nimrin are considerable traces of ancient habitation.
About 3/ km. east of Tell Nimrin, the road again cuts through a low
mound, revealing building remains and ash levels on both sides of the
cutting. This low mound, whose north side descends quite abruptly to
the Wadi Nimrin, is now close to the hills, whose sides are pockmarked
with numerous caves. The sherds are predominantly mediaeval Arabic.
This site may be considered ,s a continuation of Tell Nimrin in the
n.ediaeval Arabic period. While scrambling up the hillsides to the
south, the writer found an excellent flint of the Chalcolithic Age.
Continuing east alona the road. on the south side of the Wadi Nimrin,
about 1.75 km. ENE of Tell Nimrin, is Tell el-Mustah, a broad, low,
flat-topped hill which dominates the confluence of the Wadl Jari'ah
7Cf. Nurn. 22: 1; 31: 12; 33: 48; 36: 13; RB XL, 1931, pp. 223-226.
8 Num. 32: 36; Joshua 13: 27.
9Isa. 15: 6; Jer. 48: 34. [This stream is the Seil en-Numeirah at the southern
end of the Dead Sea; see Abel, Geographie, I, 178, II, 399.-W. F. A.]
10 Cf. Conder, Survey of Eastern Palestine, I, pp. 237-238; Merrill, East of the
Jordan, pp. 384-386.
11Albright, Annual, VI, p. 48; Abel, RB VII, 1910, pp. 543-545; XL, 1931, pp.
214-215; Geographie, II, p. 278; Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929, pp. 94-98; Teleilat Ghassul,
I, p. 150.
12 Onomasticon 44:
16-18; 45: 21-23; 48: 16-17; 49: 14.
11
Number 91 October 1943

with the Wadi ShaTib. The Jari'ah is a dry waid, which bounds Tell
el-Mustah on its south and west sides. On its north side is the Wadi
Sha'ib, so called until a short distance farther west, when it becomes
known just before passing Tell Nimrin as the Wadi Nimrin. Tell el-
Mustah is already definitely among the foothills at the east end of the
plain of Nimrin; and Tell Bleibil, across the Wadi Sha'ib, almost immedi-
ately NE, is on the last high terrace of the hills facing the plain. The
writer has already reported on the pottery and date of Tell el-Mustah,
which is to be assigned to EfB I.13 The modern road has cut a revealing
swath also through this tell.
The writer had, however, not previously examined Tell Bleibil on the
north side of the Wadi Sha'ib. Located on the top of a fairly high,
isolated hill, it completely dominates the approaches to and from the
Jordan Valley and the highlands east of it. There seem to be ancient
terraces on the steep south side of the hill. The most accessible side is
the NE one, with a small dry wadd curving around the NE, north and
west sides to join the Wadi Sha'ib on the south side. Most of the
perennial waters of the Wadi Nimrin are drawn off into irrigation ditches.
The fairly flat hilltop of Tell Bleibil, on which no building remains are
visible today, is oriented NNE by SSW, and measures approximately
110 by 40 meters. On the top and slopes of the hill numerous sherds
were found, practically all of which, with the exception of a few Roman-
Byzantine pieces, belong to Iron I-II. This had already been ascertained
previously by Albright and others, who are undoubtedly correct in
identifying Tell Bleibil with the Biblical Beth-nimrah.14 There are
definitely no Bronze Age sherds on the site.15 "As so often," Albright
points out, " the site was changed in the Greek period to a more con-
venient one lower (lown and so more easily accessible." 16 It has been
seen that the name Nimrah, already changed to Nimrml or Nimrnrin
Talmudic literature,17 did not wander very far. From Tell Bleibil to
Tell Nimrin SW-WSW of it is a distance of just a little over a kilometer
and a half.
The three sites of Tell el-Mlustah, Tell Bleibil, and Tell Nimrin can
for all practical purposes be considered as one historical site, occupied in
three widely separated periods,-EB I, Iron I-II, and Roman-Mediaeval
Arabic. It will be noticed that the gaps revealed in the history of
sedentary occupation correspond, with the exception of the absence of
an MB I period of occupation, to the historical conditions of settlement
and gaps between periods of settlement, as they prevailed in the other
parts of the Jordan Valley, extending from the Wadi Yarmuik to the
confluence of the Wadi Zerqa with the Jordan.18 There is also an absence
13
Glueck, Annual, XVIII-XIX, pp. 171. 252-253. 257. 264; cf. Mallon, Biblica, X,
1929, pp. 94. 96-98; TG I, p. 150; Neuville, Jour. a-'l. Or. Soc., X, 1930, pp. 193-199;
Abel, RB XL, 1931, p. 215; Geographie, I, p. 175; II, p. 278.
14Albright, Annual, VI, p. 48; Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929, p. 96; TG I, p. 150;
Abel, Geoographie, II, p. 278.
' Abel, RB XL, 1931, p. 215. 16Annual, VI, p. 49.
17Cf. Klein, 'Eber hay-Yarden hay-Yeh5di, p. 13.
1 It is interesting to note in this connection, that in the independent survey of
the Beisan section of the west side of the Jordan Valley by Bergman and Brand-
12
Number 91 October 1943

in the sites along the Wadi Nimrin of the LB II occupation which was
attested to at a number of sites in the upper part of the Jordan Valley.
The writer is inclined to think that this LB II pottery is very late and
belongs historically with the Iron I pottery on the sites where they
occur together.19 Discussion of the other sites visited along the Wadi
Nimrin, including the Chalcolithic Tell Ghanam,'? somewhat less than
4 km. west of Tell Nimrin, on the north side of the Wadi Nimrin, will
be reserved for the more detailed discussion in Explorations in Eastern
Palestine, IV.
About seven kilometers SSE of Tell Bleibil is Tell el-Kefrein, on the
north side of the WTadi el-Kefrein. In the hills to the east it is known
as the Wadi el-Meqta'ah. It retains this name during its passage through
the plains until it reaches a point approximately below Tell el-Kefrein,
where it becomes known as the Waidi el-Kefrein. This wdda contains a
strong stream of water that flows plenteously all the year round. Its
fine waters irrigate a belt of land about 11/2-2 km. wide, and about 8 km.
long. Not all of that stretch is under cultivation. It could be much
more intensively utilized, and the waters much more economically em-
ployed than they are at present. It is noticeable that until one approaches
the Wadi el-Kefrein coming south from the Wadi Nimrin, there is a
marked absence of any important ancient sites. The ancient sites clustered
perforce, as their modern successors do, around the wudydn which have
perennial streams.
Tell el-Kefrein is located on a rocky, completely isolated hill, which
juts like a tall cone, approximately 40 m. high, out of the surrounding
plain. It commands a splendid view of the entire Plains of Moab. The
lands immediately west and south of Tell el-Kefrein are intensively culti-
vated. The hill on which the ancient site is located is almost completely
natural. Ribs of rock jut out of the west side of the hill near its base.
Among them are numerous rock-cut tombs, for the most part badly
destroyed.21 There are also similar remnants of tombs and some caves
on the east side. The rather small top of the hill, which is oriented WSW
by ENE and measures about 15 by 24 m.,22 is used today as an Arab
graveyard. On the top and slopes of the hill were found numerous Iron
I-II sherds and nothing else, as Mallon had already recognized.23 There
are at present no traces of ancient buildings on the top of the hill, which
has been apparently artificially levelled. There can be no question, how-
ever, that a small fortress existed there in Early Iron times.
Whether, however, Tell el-Kefrein is to be identified with the place
called Abel has-Sittim in Numbers 33: 49, as has been universally as-
sumed,'4 is a matter which requires further examination. The writer

stetter (BJPES VIII, 1941, pp. 83-90), the results obtained correspond exactly with
those obtained from the archaeolo,ical survey of the east side of the Jordan Valley.
19Cf. Albright, BULLETIN,NO. 86, p. 20, n. 14 a; Glueck, Annual, XIV,
pp. 14. 22.
82; XV, p. 137.
20
Mallon, TG I, p. 150.
21 For measurements of some of these tombs cf. Conder, SEP I, pp. 140-141.
22
Cf. Mallon, TG I, p. 150; Abel, RB XL, 1931, p. 21(i.
23 Biblica, X, 1929, p. 223; cf. Abel, RB XL, 1931, p. 216; Gcog.raphie, II, p. 234.
Albright, Annual, VI, p. 49; Mallon, Biblica, X, pp. 223-224; TG I, p. 150;
13
aNumber91 October 1943

believes that this identification is incorrect. Before an identification can

be attempted, certain fundamental prerequisites must be fulfilled. It is
necessary: (a) to know the whereabouts of all the ancient sites in what
has first to be determined to be the proper district; (b) to examine care-
fully and competently the sherds found on these sites, and see if they
correspond with the periods of occupation referred to in literary accounts,
or which can be deduced from such accounts; (c) to determine whether
the site being considered conforms with the usage of ancient writers in

'I- Tell el-Kefrein

,' Tell el-?Azeimah

0 1 2 kmS

-' Khirbet e-Sweimeh

Ain es-Sweimeh

Sketch-map illulstrating Glueck's explorations in the Plains of Moab. Being

based on published maps, it is probably inaccurate in detail and should be
corrected to agree more closely with Glueck's stateients of direction and
distance.-W. F. A.

mentioning any particular place. It must always be remembered that

tley were not interested in compiling an onomasticon, but in writing a
religious history, or in using historical and other materials for religious
purposes. They were concerned with a particular place such as Jabesh-
gilead or Succoth, or a particular area such as the 7Arboth M6'db, be-
c,use of certain happenings there. Within this frarw_ vork the biblical
wvriters mentioned particular places because (1) of specific happenings
there; (2) because the places were of outstanding commercial or strategic
importance known to their readers; (3) because they marked the limits
(lCnder, SEP I, pp. 140-141; Abel RB VII, 1910, pp. 542-543; Gcographie, II, p. 234;
lMaisler, Historical Atlas, p. 38.
14
Number 91 October 1943

or were the outstanding sites in a distinctive area, forming a more-or-less

self-contained unit. The writer believes that Tell el-Kefrein was definitely
not the place called Abel has-Sittimn in Numbers 33: 4c, and that it
was merely a post on the road to the incomparably larger and stronger
site of Tell el-HIammam,farther east. Tell el-Kefrein owes its occupation
in the Early Iron Age to the fact that it was on a hill immediately over-
looking a larger expanse of irrigated land along the Wadi el-Kefrein.
As pointed out already, however, Tell el-Kefrein is only large enough to
have provided room for a small fortress. A couple of hundred meters
southwest of Tell el-Kefrein is a small modern village, among whose
houses and refuse piles some Roman, Byzantine, and mediaeval Arabic
sherds were picked up.
1/2 km. WSW of Tell el-Kefrein is Khirbet el-Kefrein, directly on the
north side of the Wadi el-Kefrein. It is a large, completely destroyed
site on the natural plain. It is oriented E-W, and measures about 500
by 9200m.25 Part of its north side is used for an Arabic cemetery. The
area is packed with large quantities of Roman-Byzantine and mediaeval
Arabic sherds. In these periods it was obviously important, but it is
completely uninhabited today. The writer is emphatically in agreement
with the scholars who identify later Abila with Khirbet el-Kefrein. The
history of Abila is linked with that of Livias (see below), now Tell
er-Rameh. Josephus 2 reports that Nero gave Abila and Julias (Livias)
to Agrippa, and that Placidus 7 " took Abila, and Julias, and Bezemoth,
and all those that lay as far as the lake Asphaltitis." It will be seen
that these places are in a line going from north to south, from Khirbet
cl-Kefrein to Tell er-Rameh to Khirbet es-Sweimeh, with which they are
to be identified. Josephus tells his readers furthermore '- that from Abila
to the Jordan was a march of about 60 stadia-which would be approxi-
mately the distance from Khirbet el-Kefrein to the Jordan. The position
of Abila is still further fixed by the fact that in his commentary to Joel
3: 18 Jerome says that Livias (Julius) is six miles from the Dead Sea.29
The shortening of Abelthas-si!ttim to Uittrn 30 and in a later pieriod to Abila, tlie
equivalent of Abel, is reminiscent of what seems to have happenedl also in tlhe case
oi the name Abel-meh6lah. The writer would like to discuss in this connection the
nlame and location of Abel-meh6olah, already dealt with in a previous paper,31 where
the writer developed the thesis that Abel-meh6lah w\as definitely not in the Ghor
on the west side of the Jordan, but " in the rich, cultivable hill-country of Gilead,
east of the JordanT." It wTill be recalled that Abel-meholah was not only the home
of Elisha, but was probably the home of 'Adri'el the son of Barzillai the Meholathite.32
25 Cf.
Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929, p. 223; Abel, RB XL, 1931, p. 216; Conder, SEP
I, p. 149.
26 BJ II, 13. 2.
27 BJ IV, 7. 6. 28 Antiquities, V, 1.1; cf. IV, 8. 1.
29Cf. Abel, RB VII, 1910, p. 543, n. 1; cf. Eusebius and Jerome, Onomasticon,
pp 10: 28; 11: 27.
0 Numn. 25: 1; Joshua 2: 1; 3: 1; Micah 6: 5.
31
BULLETIN, NO. 90, pp. 10 ff.
32 Cf. I Sam. 18: 19; II Sam. 21: 8; cf. Cheyne, Encyclopaedia Biblica, under
Abel-me7iolah; Caspari, Kommentar zum Alten Testament, p. 646, n. 5; Keinnedy,
I and II Samuel, p. 233, n. 19; Smith, H. P., Samuel, p. 172; Novwack, Richter, Ruth,
u. Biicher Samutelis, p. 238, among others. Barzillai, the father of 'Adri'l1 the

15
Number 91 October 1943

It seems reasonable to assume that Meholah, name of the town from which 'Adri'1e
came, is an abbreviation of Abel-meholah just as Sittism is an abbreviation of Abel
has-Sittim. For some indication as to the location of Abel-meholah, reference may
again be made to what has been said above with regard to Abel hasg-ittim. Just
as it could be shortened to ~itttir, and in a later period to Abila, so it was possible
for the name Abel-meh.6lah to be shortened to Metholah, as we have seen in the case
of the name of 'Adri'el the Meholathite, and again in a later period to Abel. This
process of shortening place-names compounded with Abel is testified to further in
the instance of Abel Beth-ma'akhah,3: which in one instance is referred to as Abel-
mayim.34
Two sites suggest themselves for consideration. One is Tell 'Abil which together
with the immediately adjacent Tell Umm el-'Amad has been correctly identified by
Schumacher 85 with Abila of the Decapolis; the other is Tell el-Maqllfb. The
perennial stream of water running through the richly cultivated, shallow Whdi
el-Qeweilbeh, fed by the splendid spring of 'Ain el-Qeweilbeh, was the main reason
for the location of the great Roman city here.36 There are very large quantities of
Roman, Byzantine, and mediaeval Arabic sherds on the site, but apparently nothing
earlier. Nevertheless, the writer is absolutely convinced that both Iron and Early
Bronze pottery are to be found somewhere in the vicinity of this site, just as they
were found in the immediate vicinity of Roman Gerasa.37 The massive Roman,
Byzantine, and mediaeval Arabic settlements built over Tell 'Abil and Tell Umml
el-'Amad may have completely obscured all earlier remnains. It is possible, therefore,
that a prolonged examination will yet reveal the presence of Bronze and Iron Age
pottery, just as at Pella (Tabaqat Fal.il).:3 After examiningl hun1ldredsof sites in
Transjordan, the writer is prepared to say that it is almost axiomatic tlat wherever
there is such a fine spring as 'Ain el-Qeweilbeh, then soilmewhere in the vicinity
must be an Early Bronze and an Iron Age site.
The other site which might possibly have been that of Abel-me.holah is Tell
el-Maqlub. It has, as pointed out above, the proper periods of occupation in early
times, and it is the only site in the vicinity of Kefr 'Abil-which latter place was
extensively occupied in the Roman, Byzantine, and Mediaeval Arabic periods.30 The
writer suggests tlerefore that the name A bel-mehbolah, to be identified perhaps
with Tell el-Maqlfib, wandered in the abbreviated forim of Abel to the subsequently
established near-by site now known as Kefr 'Abil, which was first settled in early
Roman timies. One recalls that Elijah found Elisha ploughing the fields with twelve
yoke of oxen. When the writer visited Tell el-MAaqlfib,the fellalhin were engaged in
ploughing the lands round about, on both sides of the splendid perennial stream of
the WVadlYflbis, with just about a dozen yoke of oxen all told. This is not cited
as proof for the identification of Tell el-Maqluib witlh Abel-rneh.lah!
It will be noticed that both Tell 'Abil and Tell el-Maqlfib are situated by fine
streams of water. The writer accepts Albright's interpretation of Abel as meaning
not " meadow " but " brook, running stream." 40 This is borne out indeed by an exami
nation of every site mentioned in the Bible with the name Abel or compounded with
that name, such as Abel Beth-ma'akhah, Abel-kerdmim,, Abel-mi.sraim, or Abel
ha,-Sittirm.41 Thus the site of Abel has-Sittin Imust be located by the abel of

AMeholathite, is not to be confused with Barzillai the Gileaditc from Ro?glim, who
was one of those who welcomed David and his people to Mahanaimn, Awhenthey fled
there during the Absalom rebellion, and supplied them with food (II Sam. 17: 27;
cf. IT Sam. 19: 32-40).
33
II Sam. 20: 14. 15; I Kings 15: 20; II Kings 15: 29.
34II Chronicles 16: 4; Josephus, Antiquities, VIII, 12.4.
3aAbila, Pella, and Ajlun, p. 47.
*
36
Schumacher, Abila, Pella, and A ilun, pp. 9-51. BULT,LETIN,No. 75, pp. 22-29.
38Annual, VI, p. 39; Quarterly Statement, 1934, p. 31. The writer has found
EB I(?), MB I and Iron I-II sherds at Fahil.
30Cf. Richmond, PEQ 1934, p. 19; Steuernagel, Dcr 'Adschlun, ZDPV XLIX, 1926,
pp. A 395-396.
40 'he Vocalization of the Egyptian Syllabic Orthography, p. 39; cf. BUTLLETIN,
No. 89, p. 15, n. 44.
41 Cf. Abel, Geographic, II, pp. 233-234.

16
Number 91 October 1943
Sittinm, the perennlial stream of the Wiadi el-Kefrein. Abel-meholah would then be
situated by the perennial stream of the Waimldi el-Qeweilbeh or the Wqadi Yibis,
depending upon which of these suggestions, if either, is correct.

We return to the discussion of the site of Abel has-Sittim! It cannot

be identified with Khirbet el-Kefrein nor with Tell el-Kefrein. Abel
has-Sittim is to be identified with Tell el-Hammam, known also as Tell
el-Hammeh es-Samri. It is situated about l21/ km. SE of Tell el-Kefrein
on a high, completely isolated hill, on the south side of the Wadi el-
Kefrein. Between Tell el-Hammam and the Wadi el-Meqta'ah (Wadi
el-Kefrein) is a hot spring, 'Ain el-Hammam, which the writer was not
able to visit. There are apparently some Roman-Byzantine ruins by it.42
The imposing hill upon which the ruins of Tell el-I.tainmam are located,
stands almost at the base of the rise to the plateau of Moab. Tell
el-Hammam commands the outlet of Wadi el-Kefrein, as it emerges in
a fairly broad, partly cultivated wddi from the hills to the east. It is in
many ways the most commanding site in the entire area of the Plains
of Moab, with the possible exception of Tell Iktanui. The large hill of
Tell el-Hammam is ascended by several broad, steep stages. On the
fairly flat, platform-like top of the hill, which is about 35 meters above
the base of the plain, are the remains of a large and originally very
strongly built Early Iron fortress. It is oriented SW by NE, and is com-
pletely enclosed by a great fortress wall, the lines of which can still be
traced. The enclosed rectangular area is guarded at both narrow ends
by massive towers now reduced to heaps of ruins. The top of the hill
dips somewhat towards the center. The highest point is at the SW side,
which is surmounted by the ruins of two(?) towers, between which a
gateway apparently led into the fortified area. The walled area measures
approximately 140 by 25 m.,43with the SW and NE ends somewhat less
wide. The walls appear to be about 1.20 m. thick. The entire top of the
hill, inside the ancient encircling wall, is covered with foundation ruins
of houses. The SW end of the hill-top forms an elevated platform,
separated from the rest of the enclosed area by a cross wall. This raised
section which culminates in the two(?) towers at the SW end is about
33 m. long and about 17 m. wide, and seems to form an inner citadel.
The over-all length has been estimated above. There are traces of a
strong glagis built against the tower at the NE end.44
Large numbers of Iron I-II sherds were found on the upper slopes and
on top of this fortified hill, in addition to a smaller number of EB I
and a few Chalcolithic sherds. The writer did not have time to examine
all of this very large hill. He is of the opinion that this is another of
the double sites previously encountered in the Jordan Valley, such as
Tell el-Qos and Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, and that on part of this hill will yet
be found much larger quantities of EB sherds than he has come across.
The sherds which the writer has classified as EB I, belong to the same
category of pottery as the complete vessels obtained from the necropolis
42
Cf. Mallon, TG I, pp. 150-151; Conder, SEP I, pp. 101. 229-230.
43 Cf. Mallon, TG I, p. 151, who gives the measurements as 45 by 200 meters.
44 For an excellent photograph of the site cf. Mallon, TG I, P1. 11: 1.

17
Number 91 October 1943

at the base of the hill of Tell el-Hammam by Mallon. These have been
published by Mallon,45 who compares them mistakenly to the pottery
obtained from Teleilat Ghassfil.46 Wright 47 has already pointed out
that they must be assigned to EB I. There are no sherds later than
Iron II at Tell el-H.ammam, and none between EB I and Iron I.
It is significant in connection with the gaps in settlement shown by
the pottery of Tell el-Hammam, to note the finds on Tell Abfu Qarf,
about half a kilometer WSW-SW of Tell el-Hammam. The sherds
there belong mainly to MB I, with some EB I and Iron I-II. Tell Abf
Qarf is a large, low, almost flat rise on the south side of the Wadi el-
Kefrein. Tell Abfl Qarf averages about 4-5 m. above the level of the
plain west and north of it. On these sides the rise is very gradual. On
the south and cast sides, the descent is somewhat more abrupt. Irri-
gation ditches lead( water from the Wadi el-Kefrein to cultivated lands
around it, most of them banana plantations. The very top of this low
rise is some 60 m. in diameter. There are some modern burials on it. It
has been swept clean of almost all building remains. For all practical
purposes, Tell Abfi Qarf and Tell el-Hammam may be regarded as be-
longing to one settlement complex. Here again is seen a repetition of
the history of settlement throughout the Jordaln Valley: EB I (I-II),
with a gap extendling to MB I, followed by another gap extending to
EI I-II. Sometimes this latter gap may begin with MB II A and some-
times eld with LII II. After that there is apparently another gap extend-
ing to Romlan--or perhaps better to late Ilellenistic tirnes. Tell et-Tahfin,
a little over 1/ kin. north of Tell el-IHanmam an(d located on a hill over-
looking the Witadi el-Kefrein from the north, was apparently occupied
in the Roman-Byzantine and mediaeval Arabic periods.
It will be seen from the foregoing what an important place Tell
el-Iamimam was: (a) it guards the approaches to the Plains of Moab
from the mountains, and the road to the Na^ir and I.esban highlands
from the Plains; (b) it is the most important site on the Wadi el-Kefrein;
(c) it controls the waters of the entire W^adi el-Kefrein, which marks
the dividing line between the Ghor el-Kefrein and the Gh6r er-Rameh;
(d) it was very strongly fortified in the Iron Age, and probably also in
Early Bronze I; (e) it was for all these reasons an outstanding site,
which would probably have been known to many of the readers of the
Bible. In a word, the site of Tell el-Hammam fulfils the conditions for
being identified with Abel has-Sittim. All these sites on the east side
of the Ghor, at the lower edge of the hills, dominate from naturally strong
fortified positions the perennial streams issuing from the hills.
On the hill-sides east of Tell el-Iammam are the remains of great
fields of dolmens, which extend all the way south as far as the north
end of the Dead Sea and beyond.48 As will be pointed out in more
detail in the next volume of Explorations in Eastern Palestine, they
occur on the slopes leading down from the highlands to the edge of the

45TG I, P1. 61: 1-6. 4TG I, p. 154.

47 The Pottery of Palestine from the Earliest Times to the end of the Early Bronze
A4ge, p. 61.
4S Cf. Conder, SEP I, pp. 229-230.

18
Number 91 October 1943
Ghor along the entire length of the east side of the Jordan Valley. There
is reason to believe that in the cultivated highlands they were at one
time almost as thickly represented as they are on the slopes leading
down from the west end of these highlands to the Jordan Valley. The
writer maintains: (a) that the dolmens of Transjordan and Palestine
are most emphatically 49
not the work of Bedouin; (b) that, on the con-
trary, they are the work of people who belonged to an agricultural
civilization, living in Palestine and especially in Transjordan on separate
farms in long, low, narrow, thick-walled stone houses, in a period of
prevailing peace. The presence of dolmens in barren areas is not to be
initerpreted in the sense that their builders were desert-dwellers, but
-a ther that they were comparatively so numerous, that they spilled over
into marginal lands, where only a dynamic people could survive. The
Nabataeans farmed lands which others before them were not able to
make use of because of lack of numbers, energy, and technical develop-
ment.50 This seems to have been true to a certain degree also of the
dolmen builders. Sometimes their dolmens were situated in barren areas,
directly overlooking fertile lands. This would apply to the dolmens on
thi lower slopes of the hills overlooking the Jordan Valley from the east.
The writer has found the remains of a house of the type described
"bove. It is situated in a grove of trees called Sejeret el-'Asarah, imme-
diately east of the village of Kefr Kifya in northern Transjordan. The
two long walls of the house are still standing; they are made of rude flint
bloeks, with small chunks of stone between them. The walls are oriented
NNW by SSE, with a doorway on the west side. The house measures
10 by 7.50 m., with the walls each about 2.15 m. thick. The doorway
is about 80 cm. wide, and at present 1.10 m. high. The walls, which slope
iinward, perhaps by accident, may originally have been 1.50 to 2 m. high.
The house could have been roofed by putting stone beams or flat slabs
over the parallel walls, in much the same way as the dolmen builders
put great slabs over the dolmens. This structure is strikingly similar to
the long, narrow dolmens, containing two chambers, connected by an
aperture cut into the slab placed in the middle, that can be seen at
Tell Umm el-Qetein on the north side of the Wadi er-Rameh, below and
W -WNW of Tell el-Metabi' on the south side of the wddi.51 The writer
believes that this type of dolmen is closely related to the type of house
which the dolmen-builder erected for himself during his lifetime. The
building of the dolmens and related houses required much energy and
considerable skill. When one thinks of the tremendous effort involved
in prying loose the great slabs of rock of which most of the dolmens are
made, and of dragging them to the desired place, and lifting them into
position, it is impossible to believe that their authors were really nomads.
49 Cf. Neuville, Biblica, XI, 1930, p. 265; Karge, Rephaim, pp. 553-554.
Cf. Glueck, Annual, XVIII-XIX, pp. 149-150. 152, fig. 52.
1 Conder, SEP I, pp. 230-236, has given a good description of these dolmens; cf.
especially the drawings on p. 232. Conder calls this site Tell el-Matabi', which,
however, is the name of the dolmen field on the hill above Umm el-Qetein to the
E-ESE; cf. Vincent, Canaan, pp. 420-421, fig. 292-294; Steuernagel, ZDPV 48, P1.
21: 49; p. A 391; Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929, pp. 224-230; TG I, p. 154.

19
Number 91 October 1943

To judge from the cramped interior of what the writer believes to be

a house of the dolmen period, it would seem likely that the dolmen period
man was anything but a " giant." 52 The writer gives up any tendencies
he may have had 53 of dating the dolmens as late as 2000 B. C., and is
convinced that all the evidence points to a very much earlier date. Al-
ready in 1935, Albright tentatively suggested that the dolmens should
be associated with Tahunian culture of the Neolithic Age.54 Broome,
quoting from a letter of Albright to him, mentions Waechter's evidence
for the presence of Tahunian settlements in the Wadi Dhobai55 and
says, "Albright is of the opinion that the dolmens must be assigned to
the pre-ceramic Tahunian I period, and hence belong to the sixth millen-
nium." 56 Broome's excellent study comes to the conclusion that they
' are to be dated in the fourth millennium, and in all probability as
57 The writer considers this date too late.
early as the year 4000 B. C."
He would rather associate himself with Albright's position for the date
of the original dolmens, as they are commonly seen by the thousands
in Transjordan and Syria, and in lesser numbers in Palestine. It is ob-
vious that the original dolmens were used and reused and that the
presence of Bronze-Age sherds in some and Roman sherds in others
proves just that and nothing else.58 Buried in the dirt near one of the
dolmens at Tell Umm el-Qetein, for example, the writer found an Early-
Bronze I ledge-handle. The possibility must not be left out of con-
sideration that dolmens continued to be built after the period in which
they originated. The writer is struck by the type of the construction
of the neolithic house in ancient Jericho, where " no bricks were used,
59 Had stone been
only mud in slabs or bulk between finished faces."
easily available, the neolithic builders at Jericho might have constructed
their houses of the same large, rough slabs of stone that the probably
contemporary dolmen-builders used.
A little less than 2l/2 km. SE-SSE of Khirbet el-Kefrein is Tell er-
Rameh, which is about 1/2 km. south of Wadi er-Rameh. Wadi er-Rameh
emerges from the eastern hills, where it is known as the Wadi Hesban.
It then flows west and joins the Watdi el-Kefrein some 5 km. before the
latter empties into the Jordan. It is this site of Tell er-Rameh which
has generally been identified with Beth-haram,60 the southernmost of
the four outstanding sites in the Jordan Valley mentioned in Joshua
52Cf.
Wright, "Troglodytes and Giants in Palestine," Jour. Bib. Lit., LVIT, 1938,
pp. 305-307; Brooime, "The Dolmens of Palestine and Transjordania," JBL LIX,
1940, pp. 488-489.
53 Annual, XVIII-XIX, p. 129.
4 JPOS XV, 1935, p. 203. o JPOS XVIII, 1938,
pp. 297-298.
56Broome, p. 496. [The quotation is correct. I am convinced that the true dolmens
of this region antedate 4500 B. C.--W. F. A.]
57 Brooie, p. 492; cf. p. 496, where he records his belief that the fourth millen-
niuin is the latest possible date for the dolmens.
58 Cf. Broome,
59
p. 483.
Garstang, Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology, XXII, 1935, p. 167. The
italics are mine.
6' Cf. Mallon, Biblica, X, 1930, pp. 220-222; TG I, p. 149; Conder, SEP I,
pp. 238-239; Merrill, pp. 383-384; Musil, Joab, I, p. 347; Klein, pp. 12-13; Abel,
RB XL, 1931, p. 219; Geographie, II, p. 273.

20
Number 91 October 1943

13: 27,61 "And in the Valley Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah; and Succoth
and Zaphon." It is a fairly high and almost completely natural mound,
that juts out of the fruitful plain in the same isolated fashion as Tell
el-Kefrein. It is about 20 m. high. Eusebius and Jerome report that
Betharam, a town near Gad near the Jordan, called Bethramtha in
Aramaic, was called Livias by Herod in honor of Augustus." 62 According
to Josephus, as has been seen, its name was some time later changed
again to Julias.63 Abel traces the development of the name from the
biblical Beth-haram to the Beit er-Ram of Muqaddasi in the tenth cent.
A. D., and the Beit Ramah of Yaqiut cir. 1225 A. D.64
The equation of Beth-haram, Beth-ramtha, Beit er-Ranm,Beit Ramah,
Tell er-Rameh with Livias (Julias), whose position has previously been
(lealt with, is undoubtedly correct. It does not prove, however, that
Tell er-Rameh is to be identified with the actual site of ancient Biblical
Beth-haram, which first belonged to Sihon before it was taken over by
the tribe of Gad.65 An examination of the pottery of Tell er-Rameh
proves that this identification cannot possibly be correct. Large quanti-
ties of Roman, Byzantine, and painted and glazed mediaeval Arabic
sherds were found, but not a single sherd that can be ascribed to any
period earlier than Roman.66 The writer paid two visits to Tell er-Rameh,
the second time for rechecking, with the same results. It will be seen
in the fuller discussion to appear in Explorations in Eastern Palestine, IV,
that el-Mazar, about 1/2 km. to the SE, and Tell ed-Dabakiyeh about
1 km. W-WSW, are a part of the complex of the Roman-Byzantine and
mnediaevalArabic site of Tell er-Rameh.67
Where then is the original Early Iron Age site to be located? Albright
cautiously says: " The site of Roman Bethramtha-Livias . . . inherited
the name of Hebrew Bet-haram. .... The Early Iron Age site may not
be at Tell er-Rameh itself, but rather at one of the other mounds in
the immediate vicinity, especially Tell fSghfir and Tell Iktanfi." 68 The
identification with Tell es-Saghfir, somewhat less than 3/ km. NW of
Tell er-Rameh, may be ruled out at once. Occupied today by a small
modern settlement, and obviously never large or important, it was, to
judge from the sherds found around it, first settled in Roman times,
and then occupied through the mediaeval Arabic period.69
Tell Iktanu, however, is a site of a different calibre. Next to Tell
el-Hammam, it is the most important site in the 'Arboth Mo6db. Its
position, its pottery, its fortifications, make it the only possible candidate
for identification with Beth-haram. Tell Iktanui is about 23/4 km. ESE
61Cf. Num. 32: 36.
62Onomasticon 48: 13-15; 49: 12-13.
63
Josephus, BJ II, 13.2; IV, 7.6; cf. Musil, Moab, I, pp. 347-348 for additional
references to position of Livias.
64RB XL, 1931, p. 220.
65 Josh. 13,
24-27; Num. 32, 34-36.
66Abel, RB XL, 1931, p. 220.
67 For the discussion of the occuvation of Tell er-Rlmeh from the Roman
through
the mediaeval Arabic periods cf. Abel, RB XL, 1931, pp. 221-223.
6s Annual, VI, p. 49.
6Merrill, pp. 235-236; Conder, SEP I, pp. 239-240.

21
Number 91 October 1943

of Tell er-Rameh, on the south side of the Wadi er-Rameh, about /2 km.
from it. Irrigation canals from this wddi water banana plantations and
other cultivated areas in the plain around it, which measures ca. 8 x 2.5
km. It dominates completely the plain west of it, as well as the approaches
to the hills east and south of it. It also commands the outlet of the Wadi
er-Rameh from the hills. The arc of the hills near Tell Iktanu begins to
bend sharply SW towards the Dead Sea.
From Tell er-Rameh, the land begins to rise, at first almost imper-
ceptibly, eastward. Then it mounts by a series of rising stages, inter-
sected by numerous irrigation ditches, until the base of the hills is
reached. About 3/4km. NE of Tell Iktaniu on the north side of the Wadi
ec-Rameh is Tell Umm el-Qetein, situated on an E-W rise on a low spur
above the Wadi Qeseib to the north. On this rise are located the long
two-chambered dolmens briefly discussed above. About 1 km. E-ESE
of Tell Umm el-Qetein and about a little more than l1/2 km. E-ENE of
Tell Iktaniu, on a high hill situated among the hills rising abruptly to
the Hesban highlands, is the above mentioned dolmen field of Tell Met.abi'.
Tell Iktaniu itself is between 35 and 40 meters above the plain.
The Wadi er-Rameh with its perennial stream is the last of its size
as one goes south towards the Dead Sea. Wadi er-Rameh forms a very
distinctive boundary line in the Plains of Moab and Tell Iktanu is the
niost important place along that line. The north limit of the Plains of
Moab is marked by the Wadi Nimrin, dominated by Tell Bleibil, ancient
Beth-nimrah. The largest wadi crossing the south part of the Plains of
Moab is the Wadli er-Rameh, dominated by Tell Iktanu, which the
writer would identify with the Beth-haram of the Bible. The abundant
sherds of Tell Iktanui are predominantly MB I and Iron I-II. A small
quiantity of them was found to belong to the first part of EB I and to
the latter part of the Chalcolithic.To
On the top platform of Tell Iktanhi are the remains of a strong fortress,
which, in all probability, was built in its present form in the Early Iron
Age. Most of the Iron l-II sherds were found on this platform and on the
slopes of the hill immediately below it. This fortified area situated at
the SE part of the very summit of the hill is oriented NE-NNE by
SW-SSW. It is surrounded by walls one meter wide, traces of which are
clearly visible around most of the fortified area. It measures about 42 m.
on the east side, with the wall curving around from SE to NW, 35 m.
on the south side, approximately the same on the north side, and about
20 m. on the west side.71 Below the SW side of the fortification is a
rocky spur which descends jaggedly to the plain below. Although some
of the above mentioned EB and MB sherds were found on the top of
the hill, most of them, as well as the few Chalcolithic sherds found, were
picked up on the lower slopes, particularly the south slope, and at the
base of the hill. The process whereby in a later period the name of the
70To this latter part of the Chalcolithic period belong the sherds of TG I, pl.
61: 7; 62: 1-2. To MB I belong TG I, pl. 62: 5. 6(?)-8; cf. p. 151. Biblica, X, 1929,
p. 231.
71Cf. the plan without scale by Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929, p. 230, fig. 2, which
cannot possibly be correct; Merrill, p. 230; Conder, SEP I, p. 230.
22
Number 91 October 1943

Biblical site wandered from its original home near the hills to a place in
tle center of the plain, or at least some distance away from the original
site, to a new home, is repeated in the relationship of Tell Iktanui to Tell
er-Rameh. It is furthermore noteworthy that in these two sites we
find the same chronological pattern as elsewhere in the Jordan Valley:
occupation in Early Bronze I (-II), going back to the end of the Chalco-
lithic; a break; heavy occupation in Middle Bronze I; another break;
heavy occupation during the Iron I-II; another break; heavy occupation
from Roman through mediaeval Arabic times, with the Roman occu-
pation extending perhaps backwards into the Hellenistic period; a final
break in modern times.
As already noted, the hills bordering Tell Iktanuf on the south, curve
around towards the NE end of the Dead Sea, reducing in width the
southern extent of the 'Arboth Mo'db. In this area of the Plains are no
longer streams of water as strong as those of the wudydn thus far dealt
with. There is nevertheless one fairly important wadi, with a certain
amount of water, furnished by strong springs, which marks the southern-
most limit of the arable area of the 'Arb6th Mo'db. It is the Wadi el-
'Azeimeh. It is this southernmost cultivable area, in which Beth hay-
Yesimoth is located; cf. Num. 33: 49: "And they (the Israelites) camped
by the Jordan, from Beth hay-Yesimoth to Abel has-Sittim, in the 'Arboth
Mo'ab." This passage obviously does not mean to exclude the rich lands
further north in the 'Arboth Mo'db, discussed in connection with Josh.
13: 27. Num. 33: 49 and Josh. 13: 27 look, so to speak, at the Plains of
M\oab through different binoculars. Each pair of sites listed in these
verses, Beth hay-Yesimoth and Abel has-Sittim on the one hand, and
Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah on the other, includes land common to
both, and some land comprised only in one or the other. The stretch
from the Wadi el-'Azeimeh, on which Beth hay-Yesimoth has been cor-
rectly located, to Wadi el-Kefrein, on which Abel has-Sittim (Tell
el-Hammam) is located, represents a natural whole, and the stretch
from the Wadi er-Rameh on which Beth-haram (Tell Iktanfu) is located,
to the Wtadi Nimrin on which Beth-nimrah (Tell Bleibil) is located,
represents another natural whole.
The site hitherto identified by all with Beth hay-Yesimoth is Khirbet
Sweimeh, on the south side of the Wadi el-'Azeimeh, about 2 km. from
the NE end of the Dead Sea, and about 1 km. NW of the strong spring
of 'Ain Sweimeh. The most striking reason for this identification is the
similarity of the name Yesimoth to Sweimeh, which is obviously its
arabicized form. The name occurs in Josephus's description of the con-
quest of the Plains of Moab by Placidus, " when he took Abila, Julias,
and Bezemoth." 72 Abel traces the development of the Biblical name to
its present Arabic form in literature extending through the Middle Ages.73
The position of Khirbet Sweimeh corresponds also with the location of
the site as given by Eusebius and Jerome, described as " Bethsimuth,
which is today known as Isimuth," and as being opposite Jericho, about
10 miles south, near the Dead Sea.74 It also corresponds with the site
72 73 RB XLI, 1932, pp. 85-86.
BJ IV, 7. 6.
74 Onomasticon 48: 6-8; 49: 5-7.
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Number 91 October 1943

on the Madeba map, where it is shown near the NE end of the Dead
Sea, surrounded by palm trees, though the name is missing.75
Khirbet Sweimeh is an extensive low mound, some 5 m. above the plain.
Oriented W-WSW by E-ENE, it measures about 75 by 60 m. Part of
it is used as a modern cemetery. On its west side are some rude stone
huts which serve as store-houses, built of stones taken from the site.
Immediately below the SE end of the mound is a brackish water hole,
from which a small quantity of water oozes forth. A small village stands
a few dozen meters away from the SE end of the mound in the plain
proper. Between the mound and 'Ain Sweimeh, about a kilometer to
the SE, is a good stretch of land, irrigated by the waters of the splendid
spring of 'Ain Sweimeh-and planted to thriving wheat at the time of
the writer's visit there on Feb. 10, 1943. Sheikh Selim, one of the heads
of the Ghawarneh Arabs, to whom the Sweimeh lands belong, insisted
that there were 6000 dunams of land under irrigated cultivation. Mr.
A. S. Kirkbride has informed the writer that actually there are about
600 dunams at most. A careful examination was made of the large
quantities of sherds found on and around Khirbet Sweimeh. Many of
them were taken from a deep trench cut across most of the width of the
mound near its west end. The sherds were Roman, Byzantine, and
mediaeval Arabic, with nothing earlier. Pere Abel, whose researches in
the Jordan Valley have contributed so much to our knowledge of this
region, very kindly permitted the writer to examine the sherds he had
collected years ago from Khirbet Sweimeh. They were the same as those
found by the writer on the site, and dated likewise from Roman to
mediaeval Arabic."' It is, therefore, absolutely impossible to identify
Khirbet Sweimeh with Beth hay-Yesimoth. Here, obviously, is another
example of a later site, situated in an open plain, which inherited the
name of the original Iron Age site located somewhere in the vicinity.
All of these unfortified towns in the center of the plains depended for
their security upon the general peacefulness of the times in which they
existed.
The question then remains as to the location of the biblical site of
Beth hay-Yeslmoth.t7 Going east from Khirbet Sweimeh, along the
Wadi el-'Azeimeh, about 3, km. from Khirbet Sweimeh on the south
si(le of the wddl, one comes to Teleilat Umweis. There, with much diffi-
culty, the writer found several dozen sherds, representing the Chalco-
lithic, MB I(?), Iron I-II, and ,Byzantine periods.'8 This site will be
described in more detail in the forthcoming fuller report. Somewhat less
than 5 km. east of Khirbet Sweimeh, on the south side of the Wadi
el-'Azeimeh, is Tell el-'Azeimeh.79 It is situated on the edge of a high,
flat, largely isolated bench, which overlooks the point north of it where
C(f. Abel, RB VI, 1909, p. 230; Geographic, II, p. 275; Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929,
1pp.218-220; TG I, p. 147; Conder, SEP I, p. 156.
7';1]ll XLI, 1932, p. 85; Geographic, II, p. 275; Mallon, Biblica, X, 1929, p. 219.
(7f. Josh. 13: 20; Ezek. 25: 9.
7C(f. Abel, R1B XLI, 1932, p. 84; Mallon, TG I, p. 148.
:! It is apparently the Khirbet el-'Adeirneh of Abel's map in RB XLI, 1932, p. 78,
lig. 1. lbt is not to be colnfused with the Rorna c;amipbelow it to the west, on which
Abel, pp. 82-83, reports.
24
Number 91 October 1943

the Wadi el-HerI emerges from the hills to become known as the Wadi
el-'Azeimeh. The perennial stream of the Wadi el-Heri, fed by the strong
spring of 'Ain el-Heri, emerges from the deep and rough trough of the
Wadi el-Heri and drops down into the Wadi el-'Azeimeh in a small
waterfall. However, an irrigation ditch taps the Wadi el-Heri before
this point is reached, and leads some of the waters over Tell el-'Azeimeh
to some fields WSW of it. The waters that remain and flow into the
Wadi el-'Azeimeh are then led off for the most part today by another
irrigation ditch to some fields near the Wadi et-Terfeh. A good distance,
therefore, before the Wadi el-'Azeimeh passes by Khirbet Sweimeh, its
bed is as dry as a bone.
The bench on which Tell el-'Azeimeh is located falls away very sharply
to the west, commanding a splendid view of the plain below, which
descends in gradual stages from this point westward. Situated about
/4 km. away on the rising ground east of Tell el-'Azeimeh is a fine circular
grave, apparently of dolmen affinity, measuring about 4.50 m. in diameter.
It is built of large stones laid sidewise, measuring on the average about
1.10 by .60 by .25 m. Nearby are the remains of large dolmens. On the
north side of the wddi, in about the same relative position and con-
tinuing northward, is a very extensive dolmen field, dominated about
2 km. to the NE by the high point of Rujm Abf Qa'il. On the top of
Rujm Abi Qa'il are the remains of an early, circular tower(?), measur-
ing about 8.50 m. in diameter. Six rows of stone blocks 1.80 m. high
are still visible in position on the south side. It is barely possible that
this was the huge base of a great dolmen.
The more or less oval bench of Tell el-'Azeineh is marked with the
remains of a number of foundations of ancient buildings. One of these
buildings, the second to the south of the ruins overlooking the Wadi
el-'Azeimeh, is oriented N-NNE by S-SSW, and is some 19 m. square,
with walls 1 m. thick. The ruins of several other large buildings can be
made out.80 Sherds were predominantly Iron I-II, with a small number
that could be assigned to the end of Chalcolithic and to EB I. Here
again thus, is an important site of Iron I-II and earlier date, situated
in a dominating position astride the tracks joining mountains and plains.
Furthermore, it controls the Wadi el-'Azeimeh, which marks the southern-
mnostboundary of the cultivable sections of the Plains of Moab. Tell
e!-'Azeimeh the writer identifies with Beth hay-Yesim6th. Its original
name wandered later to the site now known as Khirbet Sweimeh.
This completes the examination of the Biblical sites located in the
Plains of Moab. It has been seen that they were all located at the east
edge of the Plains. They were always built on easily fortified and usually
isolated hills, dominating perennial streams and strategic roads. The
question of security was obviously paramount in the minds of the settlers
at the beginning of the Iron Age. They chose sites for their towns and
fortresses which might guard the fertile, irrigated plains from which
they gained their sustenance. During the Early Iron Age each settlement
was strongly fortified, whether located in lowlands or highlands. The
Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Israelites lived throughout their
o0Cf. AMallon,TG I, p. 1T51; NIeuville, Biblica, XI, 1930, p. 261.
25
Number 91 October 1943

entire Early Iron Age in a state of actual or expected danger. It was

an age in which fortress walls had to be built high and strong, and
perpetual watch kept for lurking enemy.
In the case of the Early Iron towns of the Plains of Moab, there was
one particular reason which determined their location at the base of the
hills at the east edge of the Plains. This was the necessity of guarding
the source of the perennial streams. It may be appropriate to emphasize
here what is so well known that it is often forgotten, namely that culti-
vation in the entire Jordan Valley depends almost completely upon
irrigation. Between the Wadi Yarmuk and the Wadi Yabis a certain
amount of dry cultivation is possible; farther south it is not. Were the
life-giving waters cut off from most of the fields no crops could possibly
grow. Of what avail would it have been to build strong fortresses during
the dangerous days of the Early Iron Age at the places in the open areas
of the Plains of Moab where they have generally been located-as for
example Beth-haram at Tell er-Rameh, or Abel has-Sittim at Khirbet
el-Kefrein, or tBeth hay-Yesimcth at Khirbet Sweimeh.-if the enemy
should cut off, or divert the water as it emerged from the hills into the
plains? To have cut off the flow of water in the hills above would have
been impracticable without a major engineering effort. Once, however,
the streams emerge from their canyons in the hills and begin to flow
across the plains, it is a comparatively simple task to dig ditches and
divert the water. It might be said in objection to this statement, that
the inhabitants of the Plains could always get water from the Jordan.
They could, for drinking purposes, by walking 5-10 km. or more for it,
but they had no means at their disposal for pumping. Even today,
irrigation with the waters of the Jordan has been attempted at only one
place on the east side of the Jordan, namely in the lands around the
Iron I-II site Tell Zor el-Meqbereh; and as the name indicates. they are
situated in the Zor, that is, along the very banks of the Jordan. The
inhabitants of the entire Jordan Valley were dependent for water to
irrigate their lands upon the streams that came down from the hills and
coursed through the plains. Their civilization may be described with the
v,ords
" And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all of the Kikkar of the Jordan.
All of it was irrigated, . . . like a garden of God."
The location and history of the towns of the Plains of Moab can be
understood only in this sense. There were four streams which traversed
these plains and four fortresses which in biblical times guarded their
eastern gates.

Jerusalem, March 25, 1943.