Überblick
The Wadi Shuʿaib Archaeological Survey Project (WSAS) was initiated in 2016. During the fall of 2016, a first preliminary survey campaign was conducted in the region of the Wadi Shuʿaib, stretching from the town of as-Salt in the northwest to the Jordan Valley (Shuna South) in the southwest of Central Jordan.
The Wadi Shuʿaib constitutes one of the major routes connecting the southern part of the Jordan Valley (coming from Jerusalem and the oasis of Aricha/Jericho on the western side of the southern Jordan Valley) with the central Jordanian highlands in the region of as-Salt, and continuing towards Amman in the southeast and the Baqʿah Valley in the northeast. While the upper reaches of the Wadi Shuʿaib (here also referred to as the “Wadi as-Salt”) – including adjacent tributrary wadis such as the Wadi al-Kafrat and Wadi al-Azraq –, features fertile soils watered by the perennial waters of the wadi and abundant annual rainfalls, the southern part of the wadi´s course consists of dry lands until it finally merges and junctures with the Jordan River. In general, the hilly flanks in the Wadi Shuʿaib are difficult to explore, the area receives about 200 mm of rain annually which is minimal for sheep and goat herding, but is not sufficient for extensive agriculture. However, since the wadi carries large amounts of water – being fed by several natural springs in the vicinity of as-Salt in the north (e.g. the springs ʿAin Jazzir and ʿAin Ğadūr near as-Salt) as well as the rich amount of annual rainfall from the Transjordanian highlands, the wadi itself provides enough water throughout the year. In several parts of the course of the wadi, flat areas right next to the wadi bed therefore allow for intensive cultivation. The wadi encompasses three natural environmental zones: the Mediterranean woodlands in the north, the foothill steppe, and the riparian forest associated with the wadi bed and springs. Based on current evidence, agricultural practices in these areas did not include large-scale terracing, but were rather focused on the exploitation of moderate topographic niches as well as soil pockets between lapies.
The alluvial fan of the Wadi Shuʿaib, where to wadi enters the southern part of the eastern Jordan Valley and the Ghor, represents the southern end of the wadi (here referred to as “Wadi Nimrin”). The Jordan Valley (ca. 105 km long) lies entirely below sea level, from the freshwater Sea of Galilee (-212 m), the Jordan River meanders south and empties into the Dead Sea at -394 m below sea level. The Jordan Valley receives rain only during the months of October through May, while the north receives ca. 380 mm rainfall a year, the southern part receives only half of this and thus must be considered a semi-arid desert environment. On the eastern Jordanian side, the Jordan Valley is dissected by numerous smaller wadis, which flow from the Transjordanian Highlands into the Valley, one of which is the Wadi Shu‘aib.
While several surveys have been conducted in parts of this region before, it has hitherto never been properly surveyed as a whole, since previous efforts either concentrated on the areas around as-Salt in the north, or sites in the Jordan Valley in the south. Thus, since previous exploration of the wadi itself so far has been very limited, the initial intention of the Wadi Shuʿaib Archaeological Survey Project (WSAS) was to thoroughly record and document all archaeological sites within the area of the Wadi Shuʿaib, starting just south of the modern town of as-Salt in the north – including parts of the Wadis as-Salt and al-Kafrat – down to the town of Shuna South (Shunet Nimrin) in the eastern Jordan Valley. The total area surveyed thus comprises a length of ca. 18 km from north to south, and covers an altitude difference of approximately 1000 m. The survey area extends two kilometers on each side of the wadi bed, while the wadi itself was chosen a natural transect.