The Northern Jordan Survey 2003-Agriculture in Late Islamic Malka and Hubras Villages: A Preliminary Report of the First Season

• Published in: Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 2005-08, Vol.339 (339), p.67-111
• Main Author: Walker, Bethany J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural land; Agricultural seasons; Archaeological surveys; Art and archaeology; Ayyubids and Mameluks; Glazes; Inheritance of caliphates; Islam; Mameluks; Mica; Mosques; Ottoman Empire; Pottery; Quartz; The modern ages; Villages; Wadis
• ISSN: 0003-097X; 2161-8062
• DOI: 10.1086/BASOR25066903

The Northern Jordan Survey was designed to explore patterns of expansion and reduction in village life during the Mamluk and Ottoman periods that are documented by archaeological surveys in other regions of the country. A political ecological model, pulling from both archaeological and archival sources, has been adopted for this purpose to explore the long-term effects of imperial land management policies and traditional planting practices on settlement, markets, political structure, and the environment. The first season targeted the villages of Malka and Hubras, selected for their prominence in written sources of the period, some of which have not been published previously and were studied in manuscript form. Surface survey of ceramics, architectural remains, and agricultural installations, combined with pollen analysis, indicate that while there is evidence for some reduction in settlement and agricultural productivity late in the 14th century C.E., it is not on the scale of the rural decline posited elsewhere in the country. The survey also produced a significant quantity of Ottoman wares, both imported and of local manufacture. Some of these wares are published for the first time for Jordan in this article.