Internships and Fellowships

Preserving Ancient Statues from Jordan
 Exhibition brochure

In 1985 a buried cache of plaster statues was recovered from the prehistoric site of 'Ain Ghazal (AYN ga-ZAHL), located on the outskirts of Amman, the capital of Jordan. The site was exposed in 1974 during bulldozing operations for a new road. Begun in 1982 and still in progress as a joint American-Jordanian expedition, excavations at 'Ain Ghazal have also uncovered houses, stone tools and weapons, stone and clay figurines, sun-dried clay vessels, human burials, plant remains, and animal bones. Study of this evidence reveals that 'Ain Ghazal was an important early farming village in central Jordan, shedding new light on the architecture and technology, economy, art, and ritual life of this ancient culture.

 Archaeologists and a conservator excavate a pit containing plaster statues at the site of 'Ain Ghazal, Jordan, in 1985. Courtesy of 'Ain Ghazal Research Institute and Yarmouk University Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. (56k jpg)

A Village of Farmers, Herders, and Hunters

An Arabic name meaning "spring of the gazelles," 'Ain Ghazal is located on a stream bed east of the fertile Jordan River valley. About 720 meters above sea level, it lies within an environmental zone that receives sufficient annual rainfall to support farming without irrigation. 'Ain Ghazal covers an area of over 30 acres and is one of the largest early agricultural villages known in the Near East. The site was occupied continuously from about 7200 to 5000 B.C., and its inhabitants lived in multiroomed houses built of stone walls and timber roof beams and equipped with cooking hearths. Fine plaster made from limestone, often decorated with patterns applied by hand in red paint, covered the walls and floors of these houses. Archaeologists were able to date the occupation at 'Ain Ghazal through carbon-14 dating of plant remains recovered from cooking hearths and other contexts.

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 Last updated: July 28, 1996