Byzantine to Umayyad Period

On Tall Zirā‘a in northwest Jordan, excavations were carried out by the German Protestant Institute of Antiquities of the Holy Land and the Biblical Archaeological Institute between 2003 and 2011 and in 2014. Three areas were opened and archaeological remains dating back more than 5000 mil lennia were uncovered. This volume contains the description and evaluation of the architectural remains and finds from the late Roman to the Umayyad period. The buildings, coins, and everyday objects attest to the establishment of a rural settlement in the Late Roman period, next to which a monastery was built in the Byzantine period. A Greek inscription naming monks and a high church official attests to the importance of the monastery. Even after the Islamic takeover in AD 636, both the settlement and the monastery remained. In AD 749, the settlement and the monastery building came to a dramatic end due to a devastating earthquake. After that, there was no significant resettlement until the Mamluk period.