Wadi al-Far'a ( ar, وادي الفارعه) or Tirzah Stream ( he, נַחַל תִּרְצָה, Nahal Tirzah) is a stream in the northern

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

that empties into the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

south of

Damia Bridge Jisr ed-Damiye ( ar, جسر الدامية , Jisr ed-Damieh, Bridge of ed-Damieh), known in English as Damiyah Bridge, as Prince Muhammad Bridge in Jordan, and as Gesher Adam ( he, גשר אדם, , Adam Bridge) in Israel, stretches over the Jordan ...

. It is the largest stream in the West Bank. Wadi al-Far'a is located in the rugged area of the West Bank and cuts east through the Jordan Valley, passing through the Palestinian village of Wadi al-Far'a. The Tirzah Reservoir is used to collect the floodwater of Wadi al-Far'a before it flows into the Jordan River.

Name spelling

The Arabic name of Wadi al-Far'a is transliterated in Roman script in many ways. The definite article can be written as ''al''-, ''el''-, without hyphen, or it can be left out altogether. The name of the wadi can be spelled Far'a, Fa'ra, Far'ah, Fa'rah, Farah, Fari'a, or Fari'ah. With diacritics it is Wādī al-Fāri`ah. The Hebrew name also has a variety of transliterations to Roman script. The word for valley or stream: ''Nahal'' or ''Nachal''. The main part of the name: Tirza, Tirzah, Tirtza and Tirtsa.

In ancient sources

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...

names a place of crossing near the confluence of the watercourse '' Naḥal Yabok'' with the

, not far from Wadi al-Far'a, known in classical antiquity as ''Coreae'' ( gr, Κορέας), and where is now the "Old Roman Bridge" (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

: ''Mukatta' Damieh''), which once marked, in Josephus' words, "the first entrance into Judea when one passes over the midland countries." The site is listed in the 6th century Madaba map, and whose location agrees with the modern identification of ''Tell el-Mazar''.

Bypassing Pella and Scythopolis he came to ''Coreae'', where travelers from the interior cross into Judaea.

Archaeology

Heavy Neolithic sites

The village of Wadi al-Far'a is close to a number of Heavy Neolithic archaeological sites of the Qaraoun culture. Three such sites were discovered there by Francis Turville-Petre between 1925 and 1926. These are Wadi Farah,

Shemouniyeh Shemouniyeh is a Heavy Neolithic archaeological site of the Qaraoun culture in the Palestinian Tubas Governorate in the northeastern West Bank, located five kilometers southwest of Tubas. It is located on a plateau over the north of the Wadi Fa'r ...

, and an occupational site at

Wadi Sallah Wadi Sallah is a branch of the Wadi Fa'rah where a small cave is located in the Palestinian Tubas Governorate in the northeastern West Bank, located five kilometers southwest of Tubas. The cave was discovered and excavated by Francis Turville-Pet ...

. The site at Wadi Farah was identified as a

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

on a high terrace at the meeting point with the Wadi Salhah. Large numbers of massive flint tools and debris were found and linked to this little known culture. Tools found included picks, adzes, borers and flake scrapers.

Tell el-Far'ah (North)

An archaeological mound situated near the village of Wadi al-Far'a, Tell el-Far'ah (North), has been identified as the location of

biblical The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

Tirzah. The tell has occupation layers from the

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

Chalcolithic The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', "stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, and

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. It is called Tell el-Far'ah (North) in order to distinguish it from

Tell el-Far'ah (South) Tell el-Far'ah (South) (also Tell el-Fārʿa) is an archaeological site on the bank of HaBesor Stream in the northern Negev region, Israel. Not to be confused with the site Tell el-Far'ah (North). It is located between the modern settlements of Ei ...

, an archaeological site south of Gaza.

References

Bibliography

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External links

*Survey of Western Palestine, Map 15
IAAWikimedia commons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fara, Wadi Rivers of the State of Palestine Rivers of the West Bank Neolithic settlements Neolithic Heavy Neolithic sites Archaeological sites in the West Bank Tributaries of the Jordan River