![Falls sketch 24](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Falls_sketch_24.jpeg)
Wadi Shueib ( ar, وادي شُعَيب), Arabic for the Valley of Jethro and properly Wadi Shuʿeib but with many variant
romanisations, is a
wadi
Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...
in
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
.
The
alluvial fan
An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to semiarid climates, but a ...
of the wadi where it enters the southern part of the eastern
Jordan Valley
The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...
is known as Wadi Nimrin, which leads 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 ...
. The site of
Tell Nimrin Beth-Nimrah or Beth-nimrah ( he, בית נמרה), also called Nimrin and Bethennabris, was an ancient city in Transjordan, which features prominently the history of ancient Israel and Judah. Tell Nimrin has been identified by Nelson Glueck as the l ...
is located at the southern end of Wadi Nimrin.
[Alexander Ahrens]
"From the Southern Jordan Valley Plains to the Transjordanian Plateau: Current Archaeological Fieldwork in the Wadi Shuʿaib, Jordan"
''The Ancient Near East Today'', October 2019 Vol. VII, No. 10[Gafny, S. ''et al.'' (2010)]
Map of the Lower Jordan River
retrieved 14 April 2020
Etymology
Wadi Shueib is named for the
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 ...
figure
Jethro, Shuʿeib in Arabic.
Geography and ecology
Wadi Shueib lies west of
Sweileh
Sweileh ( ar, صويلح, Ṣuwayliḥ, alternatively spelled Suwaylih, Swaylih or Swaileh) is district number sixteen in Amman, Jordan out of twenty-seven. It lies to the north of the city center. It was founded by Chechen settlers in 1906 duri ...
at elevations from to
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...
. It is draining an area of approximately .
Towns and villages along the wadi include
Salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
,
Fuheis
Fuheis ( ar, الفحيص) is a Christian majority town in the central Jordanian governorate of Balqa. It lies in Wadi Shueib between Salt and Amman, at a distance of 6 and 13 kilometers respectively. It has an elevation between 740-1050 meter ...
, and
Mahis
Mahis ( ar, ماحص, Māḥis, alternatively spelled Mahas) is a town in the Balqa Governorate northwest from the governorate's capital Salt, and west of Amman. Its population was 17,754 in 2015. Most of the population of Mahis descends from the ...
, which discharge treated and untreated sewage into its course.
Modern dam
An earth-filled dam was constructed across it in 1968.
Archaeology
Excavations have confirmed that the area was a
major site during
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
's
Neolithic period
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 ...
.
See also
*
Rivers of Jordan
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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* .
* .
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External Links
Photos of Wadi Shu'eibat the
American Center of Research
The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past and ...
Rivers of Jordan
Tributaries of the Jordan River
{{Jordan-river-stub