Khirbat Ataruz () or Ataroth () is an archaeological site in Madaba Governorate,

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 site was settled during the

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 mostl ...

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

, Roman and Islamic periods, with most findings dating from the Iron Age. A Moabite temple dated to mid-9th to early 8th century BCE found at the site is linked to the narrative of the Mesha Stele and the story of the conquest of Ataroth from the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. The site is the location of one of the best preserved Iron Age temples in the

Southern Levant The Southern Levant is a geographical region encompassing the southern half of the Levant. It corresponds approximately to modern-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan; some definitions also include southern Lebanon, southern Syria and/or the Sinai P ...

(

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and the

Palestinian territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The ...

Geography

Jebel Attarus in the Heinrich Kiepert 1841 map of Palestine (combined) (cropped)

Khirbat Ataruz is located in the Dhiban Plateau, situated on the ridge of Jabal Hamidah, between the rivers of Zarqa Main and Sayl al-Hidan, about 10 kilometers from the town of Libb and 3 kilometers from of the ruin from Hellenistic and Roman times in

Machaerus Machaerus (Μαχαιροῦς, from grc, μάχαιρα, , makhaira sword he, מכוור; ar, قلعة مكاور, translit=Qala'at Mukawir, lit=Mukawir Castle) was a Hasmonean hilltop palace and desert fortress, now in ruins, located in ...

Settlement periods

The site has 12 layers of human settlement, each representing a distinct time in the history of the site. The main period of settlement is the Iron Age. The site was abandoned throughout the Persian period and resettled in the late Hellenistic period and through the early Roman period. In later Roman and Byzantine periods the site was abandoned again and resettled in the Early and Middle Islamic periods.

Iron Age

During the Iron Age, the site was an important residential and cultic center. Apart from agriculture, the site also harbored industries such as metal, weaving, and textile production.

Archaeological evidence

It is evident in the excavation that the earliest settlement was built and maintained by a national or regional entity that was violently destroyed. It existed for one century or less, lasting from the late Iron I period to the early Iron IIA period. After the destruction around the late 10th century to early 9th century BCE, a large temple was built at the highest place of the site, which lasted for a short period and had changes to its outline made during the early-mid 9th century BCE. The temple was destroyed, but the site was resettled and lasted for a long period of time between the late Iron IIA and the Iron IIB, with the ruins of the temple still being used for cultic activities. Remains of agricultural structures were found, such as aqueducts, storage facilities and the kitchen remains. The site was abandoned after the Iron IIB period and no architectural remains attest to the Persian period.Ji (2012), p. 218

Historical context

The site of Khirbat Ataruz is identified with the Iron Age settlement known as Ataroth, which appears both in the

Book of Numbers The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and c ...

of the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Mesha Stele found in the nearby site of

Dibon Dhiban, (Arabic: ''Ḏiʾbān'') known to the Moabites as Dibon ( Moabite: *; Hebrew: ''Dīḇōn''), is a Jordanian town located in Madaba Governorate, approximately 70 kilometres south of Amman and east of the Dead Sea. Previously nomadic, ...

. The biblical source refers to Ataroth as one of the settlements established by the Tribe of Gad, along with Aroer and Dibon. It is also mentioned in relation to Heshbon and

Mount Nebo Mount Nebo ( ar, جَبَل نِيبُو, Jabal Nībū; he, , Har Nəḇō) is an elevated ridge located in Jordan, approximately above sea level. Part of the Abarim mountain range, Mount Nebo is mentioned in the Bible as the place where Moses ...

, which are also found in central Transjordan. The Mesha Stele was commissioned by

Mesha King Mesha ( Moabite: 𐤌𐤔𐤏 *''Māšaʿ''; Hebrew: מֵישַׁע ''Mēšaʿ'') was a king of Moab in the 9th century BC, known most famously for having the Mesha Stele inscribed and erected at Dibon. In this inscription he calls himself ...

, the king of Moab, who rebelled against the rule of the Kingdom of Israel under the

House of Omri The Omrides, Omrids or House of Omri ( he, , translit=Bēt ʿOmrī; akk, 𒂍𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿, translit=bīt-Ḫûmrî) were a ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) founded by King Omri. According to the Bible, the Omride rulers of ...

. According to the Books of Kings, Mesha was a vassal king who paid tribute to Israel in the shape of livestock and wool. The stele describes this relationship as oppressive. After the death of

Omri Omri ( ; he, , ''‘Omrī''; akk, 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿 ''Ḫûmrî'' 'ḫu-um-ri-i'' fl. 9th century BC) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the sixth king of Israel. He was a successful military campaigner who extended the northern kingdom of ...

, his son

Ahab Ahab (; akk, 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 ''Aḫâbbu'' 'a-ḫa-ab-bu'' grc-koi, Ἀχαάβ ''Achaáb''; la, Achab) was the seventh king of Israel, the son and successor of King Omri and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bib ...

(whose name is not mentioned in the stele) continued to oppress Moab. Mesha rebelled against Israel probably during the reign of Jehoram (ruled c. 850 – c. 840 BCE), who was occupied with a war against Aram-Damascus under the rule of

Hazael Hazael (; he, חֲזָאֵל, translit=Ḥazaʾēl, or , romanized as: ; oar, 𐡇𐡆𐡀𐡋, translit= , from the triliteral Semitic root ''h-z-y'', "to see"; his full name meaning, " El/God has seen"; akk, 𒄩𒍝𒀪𒀭, Ḫa-za-’- il ...

in the north. He captured Ataroth and killed its inhabitants as offering to his god Chemosh. Later he settled the town with the Sharonites and Maharatites (two unknown groups).

Later periods

The site was resettled during the Hellenistic period as a rural village that relied on agricultural economy based on crops, wine and oil. Parts of the Iron Age temple were reused for cultic purposes and other parts were reused for residential purposes. It lasted until the Early Roman period and was abandoned throughout the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The site was resettled again during the Early and Middle Islamic periods, when it was a thriving and populous medium-sized village that reused most of the walls from the previous settlement, and especially the temple ruins.

References

Bibliography

* * Ji, Chang-Ho (2012), "The early Iron Age II temple at Hirbet ‘Atarus and its architecture and selected cultic objects". In J. Kamlah (Ed.), Temple building and temple cult: Architecture and cultic paraphernalia of temples in the Levant (2.-1. mill. B.C.E.) (pp. 203–222). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, in the website o
Ataruz Project
* * *{{Cite journal , title=Khirbat 'Ataruz 2015: A Preliminary Report , journal=Andrews University Seminary Studies , url=https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3770&context=auss , last1=Ji , first1=Chang-Ho , issue=1 , volume=58 , pages=85–104 , last2=Bates , first2=Robert D. , year=2020 , last3=Hawkins , first3=Ralph K.

External links

Ataruz Project
Archaeological sites in Jordan Biblical places