PhD canditate 

A Reassessment of the Iron Age in the Northern Jordanian Plateau (1200 BC – 550 BC): A Typological, Chronological and Petrographic Analysis

The idea of the current study arose from the applicant's participation in the survey of the archaeological site of Tell Ushayer (3 km west of the city of Irbid), under the direction of Prof. Dr. Dominik Bonatz from the Free University of Berlin. The Iron Age pottery discovered from the 2018 survey season was studied in a master's thesis prepared by the applicant in 2019. Results from the master's thesis suggest that the northern Jordanian plateau is one of the areas of the Southern Levant that has not been sufficiently studied thus far. The region lacks a robust chronology based on Iron Age cultural materials. Rather, it is studied through evidence from central and southern Jordan and northern Palestine. The main reason for this is the relative lack of archaeological excavations at Iron Age sites, and of the sites that have been excavated, not all results, such as their pottery repertoires, have been published. Furthermore, no well-stratified pottery has been found in the northern Jordanian plateau dating from the end of the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Iron Age (1200 BC – 550 BC). These facts prompted me to take a step toward improving the understanding of the northern Jordanian plateau by doing an integrated and comprehensive study of the unpublished and well-stratified Iron Age ceramic from three excavated sites (Tell Al-Mughayer, Tell el-Husn, and Tell Ushayer) out of nine excavated sites on the plateau. 

Funded by the DAAD, based in Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS) in the Ancient Objects and Visual Studies (AOViS) program.

The PhD project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Dominik Bonatz and Prof. Dr. Elisa Roßberger.

For further information please check the following link

https://www.berliner-antike-kolleg.org/en/bergsas/promovierende/aovis/laith_alshboul/index.html