Evaluation of archaeological site potential on the Tall al-Kharrar area Jordan) using magnetic and resistivity methods Awni Batayneh á Abdallah Al-Zoubi á Ula Tobasi á George Haddadin Abstract Magnetic and resistivity geophysical sur- veys were conducted over the Tall al-Kharrar ar- chaeological site, at Wadi al-Kharrar, east of Jordan River, Jordan. The objective of the survey was to 1) map buried structures; 2) locate buried artifacts; 3) identify target zones quickly, thereby reducing the required amount of costly excavations; and 4) evaluate the applicability of geophysics to the ar- chaeological study of historic sites in Jordan. Mea- surements of the total magnetic ®eld and pole± dipole resistivity surveys yielded anomalies, which are associated with walls, ¯oors, mosaic ¯oors with ornaments, iron construction tools, channels, and a church abattoir. Keywords Archaeological site á Jordan á Magnetic á Resistivity á Tall al-Kharrar Introduction The hill called Tall al-Kharrar is on the eastern side of the Jordan River Fig. 1). The site is almost ¯at with an alti- tude of about 330 to 370 m below sea level m b.s.l.) sur- rounded by mountains on the east and west. The site soil is of Lisan Marl Formation of Late Pleistocene to Recent in age. This formation consists of chalk, marly chalk, gyp- sum, and sand. The climate is very hot in summer April to September) with temperatures in excess of 40 °C. Rainfall is rare and does not exceed 30 mm annually. The presence of the Jordan River to the west provides a natural irrigation source and the area is economically important for agriculture and cattle raising. Jordan, the holy land, excited the comment of numerous travelers, annalists, and itinerant pilgrims who visited Jordanian sanctuaries from the 3rd to the 19th century A.D. Field survey and excavation works carried out by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan DAJ), along the Wadi al-Kharrar Waheeb 1998), identi®ed remains of architectural features in 21 locations scattered over 2 km 2 east of the Jordan River. The discovered sites consisted of churches, buildings, pipes and channels, three plaster-lined pools, mosaic ¯oors, stone piles, two caves, and an oasis. The discovered sites belong mainly to following archaeo- logical periods: 1. Chalcolithic±Early Bronze Age Periods 3300± 2300 B.C.). 2. Iron Age I±II 1200±918 B.C.). 3. Early to Late Roman Periods 1st±4th century A.D.). 4. Early to Late Byzantine Periods 4th century±636 A.D.). 5. Islamic Period 641±750 A.D.). Objective and field measurements In June 1998, geophysical surveys were performed at Tall al-Kharrar site by the Geophysics Division of the Natural Resources Authority of Jordan. The objective of the study was to 1) map buried structures; 2) locate buried arti- facts; 3) identify target zones quickly, thereby reducing the required amount of costly excavations; and 4) evalu- ate the applicability of geophysics as an archaeological aid in studying historic sites in Jordan. Total magnetic ®eld and resistivity measurements were collected. Magnetic data were collected at ®ve locations area A through E, Fig. 1) with a Geometrics G-856 Por- table Proton Magnetometer with a sensitivity of 1 nT, on a 1-m grid station along survey lines spaced 2 m apart, at a height of 1.2 m above ground. Base stations were set up at the beginning of each line. A total of 6,000 magnetic measurements were made at the ®ve locations. Three magnetometer readings were taken at each position and averaged. Geoelectric sounding data were collected with a Campus GeoPulse Resistivity Meter. Measurements were made using the pole±dipole electrode array because it required Received: 15 May 2001 / Accepted: 29 June 2001 Published online: 14 August 2001 ã Springer-Verlag 2001 A. Batayneh &) á A. Al-Zoubi á U. Tobasi á G. Haddadin Natural Resources Authority, Geophysics Division, P.O. Box 7, Amman, Jordan E-mail: [email protected]Tel.: 962-6-5857600 Fax: 962-6-5811866 Research article 54 Environmental Geology 2001) 41:54±61 DOI. 10.1007/s002540100397
