• from Bert de Vries in Meyers et al (1997)

Umm el-Jimal is an extensive rural settlement constructed of black basalt in the lava lands east of Mafraq, a seventy-minute drive northeast of Amman, Jordan (39°19' N, 36°22' E). One of the largest and most spectacular archaeological sites in Jordan, Umm el-Jimal is located on tire edge of a series of volcanically formed basalt flows that slope down from the Jebel al-Druze, a mountain 50 Ion (31 mi.) to the northeast. This sloping black bedrock provided ancient Umm el-Jimal with two basic resources: stone for constructing sturdy houses and water for drinking and agriculture. The ancient name of the site is not known. David L. Kennedy has argued convincingly that Thantia, Howard C. Butler's suggested name (see below), is better located to the west on the Via Nova (Kennedy and Riley, 1982, pp. 148- 152). Flenry I. MacAdam (1986) has put forward Surattha, from Ptolemy's Geography, as an alternative.

What survives above ground is an amazingly well-preserved Byzantine/Early Islamic town nearly a kilometer long and a half-kilometer wide, with 150 buildings standing one to three stories high and several towers up to five and six stories. The site's dramatic skyline of somber stone at first gives the impression of a bombed-out modern town. Only close up does it become apparent that this is not a modern war casualty, but an agglomerate of fifteen-hundred-year old ruins. Inside, the visitor is plunged into a scene of eerie beauty. Walls run in every direction, without apparent plan or order. Neatly stacked courses of stone protrude from a mad confusion of tumbled upper stories. The blue-gray basalt everywhere gives a somber and cool sense of shadow that belies the blaze of bright desert sun. Here and there pinnacles of wall extend their fingers of cantilevered roofing beams to create gravity-defying silhouettes against the cloudless sky. Doorways and alleys lead from room to room and building to building. Large private houses predominate, but there are also fifteen churches from the sixth and seventh centuries, a praetorium, a barrack, gates, and numerous reservoirs.

Umm el-Jimal became known to travelers in the mid nineteenth century, but the first major work there was done by the Princeton University Expedition to Southern Syria in 1905 and 1909, directed by Butler. Butler (1913) published a list of early visitors to the site who had recorded their impressions. It was first reached in 1857 by Cyril Graham, who published a brief description of the ruins the following year. In 1861-1862 William H. Waddington copied several inscriptions and, more than a decade later, Charles Doughty passed through the ruined city. At about the same time Selah Merrill, then the American consul in Jerusalem, visited it. Gottlieb Schumacher published the first architectural plans, of a church and the city gates, in 1894. In 1901 Rene Dussaud and Frederic Macler copied several inscriptions. [See the biographies of Butler, Merrill, Schumacher, and Dussaud,]

In winter 1904-1905, Butler's team made the first site map, which included public buildings: the praetorium, barracks, 15 churches, reservoirs, gates, 20 houses, and monumental tombs. He published it with an excellent text and restored plans of typical buildings (Butier, 1913). Enno Littmann cataloged numerous Greek, Latin, Nabatean, Safaitic, and Arabic inscriptions (Littmann et al, 1913). George Horsfield published early aerial photographs (Horsfield, 1937) and Nelson Glueck included Umm el-Jimal in his assessment of Nabatean influences on southern Syria (Glueck, 1951). In 1956, G. U. S. Corbett did exploratory excavations of the Julianos church, from which he determined that Butler's founding date (fourth century) was erroneously based on a reused funerary text (Corbett, 1957). [See the biographies of Horsfield and Glueck.]

The Umm el-Jimal Project (1972-1995) excavated for eight field seasons over twenty-two years, under the direction of Bert de Vries, for Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. The first phase of the project consisted of five campaigns that ended in 1984. There is a current phase of excavation that is a series of summer field seasons. The project's overarching purpose has been to understand rural life on the Arabian desert frontier during the succession of Roman, Byzantine, and Early Islamic hegemonies. This began with the study of what was visible above ground—tire Late Antique town already described—but two major discoveries forced a backward expansion of historical horizons. The first was a fourth-century Roman fort (castellum) within the town's perimeter wall that was ruined and abandoned as the town grew around it. The second was a totally ruined village, about half the size of the town and 200 m to its east, dated to the heyday of Nabatean and Roman expansion in the Hauran (first-third centuries CE) .

The 1972-1973 season was devoted to mapping the site, to fill in details omitted from Butler's selective architectural survey. In 1974 preliminary soundings were dug as a representative sampling, which determined that the basic stratigraphic profile ranged from Late Roman to Umayyad. In 1977 the focus was on four major sttuctures: the barrack, praetorium, house XVIII, and the perimeter wall. It was concluded that the town was continuously inhabited from the Late Roman through the Umayyad periods; no Early Nabatean Roman occupation levels were found. Fall 1977 was devoted to consolidating the barrack perimeter walls with force-pumped aerated cement.

In 1981 new work included the excavation of the northeast church, tire Numerianos church, various water channels, and the Via Nova Traiana (6 km, or 4 mi., to the west). This work confirmed that the standing buildings are mainly the product of a rural agrarian culture that flourished in the Hauran from the fourth to eighth centuries CE, A major discovery was the identification of the ruined area (100 X 100 m) between the Roman reservoir and the east church as a castellum built in about 300 and used as part of the Roman frontier defenses in the fourth century. In January 1983, the gate of house XVIII was cleared and its walls consolidated.

In 1984 further work was done on the churches and the castellum, while the focus shifted to activities outside the walls of the Byzantine-Umayyad town. These included completing a walking survey of terrain within 10 km (6 mi.) of the town and excavating cemeteries and reservoirs east of it. The major discovery in that season was the Nabatean/ Roman village (called al-Herri) buried under the rubble field adjacent to the reservoirs. The village began in the late first century CE, at the time of the last Nabatean expansion into southern Syria, flourished in the second and third centuries, and was destroyed during the turmoil of the late third century. The presence of this Nabatean/Roman site does much to explain the lack of earlier occupation layers under the Byzantine town. The numerous reused Nabatean and Greek inscribed tombstones must have been robbed from the cemeteries of this earlier village. In 1992 architectural studies of four Late Roman and Early Byzantine structures (houses 35,49,119, and the praetorium) and detailed mapping of the castellum and the Nabatean/Roman village were carried out, including low-altitude aerial photography by Wilson and Ellie Myers. These survey data have been used to develop Geographic Information System (GIS) computer images and maps of the site. The 1993 season focused on consolidation and site development, including stabilizing the high walls of the praetorium and excavating house 119 in preparation for its adaptation as a museum and visitor center. House 11 9 proved to be a completely Umayyad construction on a cleared Byzantine domestic site. Field research in the 1994 season concentrated on the systematic excavation of the Nabatean-Roman village and smdying the sixth-century burials outside the later town.

In summary, from the first to the third centuries CE, a small Arab village with both Nabatean and Roman features flourished at al-Herri. A praetorium and a few other imperial Roman sttuctures were erected 200 m to the west. In about 300, the castellum was built; it lost its military function late in the fourth century. The much smaller barrack that replaced it was constructed early in the fifth century. As the imperial military presence diminished, the Early Byzantine town (fifth-sixth centuries), consisting of 129 houses and 15 churches, prospered, a product of a self-sufficient economy and political security. This town survived in somewhat diminished form through the Umayyad period. Following plague and earthquake in the mid-eighth century, the only human presence at the site for the next century was squatters in the ruins. Then, after centuries of inactivity, the town enjoyed a brief revival when Druze resettled it between 1910 and 1935.

• from Orit Peleg in Stern et al (2008)

Umm el-Jimal is a rural town in northeastern Jordan, constructed on the edge of a basalt flow extending from Jebel el-Druze. The site is remarkably well preserved, with over 150 buildings standing, some up to their third story. A small village under Nabatean and Roman influences existed at the site from the first to third centuries CE. A castellum was built circa 300 CE, replaced late in the fourth century by barracks, much smaller in size. In the fifth and sixth centuries, the imperial military presence at the site diminished, and the town prospered, witness to the construction of 15 churches. During the last decades of the sixth century, the site suffered the twin ravages of plague and Persian invasions. The Umayyad conquest brought centralized authority to the site, and it was inhabited without interruption until its abandonment following the earthquake of 748/749 CE (see below, The Islamic Period, in this entry). It was only resettled by the Druze in 1910–1935.

The ancient name of the site is unknown. H. C. Butler suggested the name Thantia from the Peutinger Map. H. MacAdam has proposed Surattha, mentioned in Ptolemy’s Geography. Umm el-Jimal became known to travelers in the nineteenth century, but the first major work was carried out and the first site map produced by the Princeton University Expedition to Southern Syria in 1905 and 1909, directed by H. C. Butler. In 1956, G. U. S. Corbett excavated the Julianos Church. A long-term project of investigation was conducted at the site between 1972 and 1995, by B. de Vries on behalf of Calvin College, Michigan.

The small Nabatean village is located 200 m to the east of the later town. The excavations exposed three domestic structures and a roadway. The relative simplicity of the architecture and the small overall size of the settlement are indicative of a rural village.

Umm el-Jimal was a military station on the fortified frontier defensive system constructed by Diocletian and Constantine; the castellum at the site dates from this period. It is 100 by 100 m in size and surrounded by a wall with offset towers and staircase-platforms that may have served as bases for ballistae. The principia and aedes with a built base for the standards were found on the main axis. The gradual transformation from military post to civilian town was completed in the early fifth century, when the castellum was converted into a marketplace. Barracks erected inside the now constructed town walls served as a bivouac for the diminished garrison. In the sixth century, a church and extensive domestic complex were built in the southeastern part of the old castellum, while the robbed-out northern half lay in ruins.

Monumental underground tombs are located in the vicinity of the site. Their doors open into central chambers, from which multi-tiered burial vaults radiate. In addition, numerous tombstones, inscribed with the names and ages of the deceased, have been found in secondary use as corbels and stairway treads in the Byzantine town. A large number of simple cist tombs were also exposed in close proximity to the site.

In the gently sloping valley in which the site is built, numerous terrace walls, dams, and channels were surveyed, indicating intensive agricultural activity. Two huge reservoirs (c. 40 by 20 m each) were also encountered. The western one is of intriguing construction, consisting of a massive oval clay dike resting directly on the bed of the wadi. Both reservoirs, built in the Early Roman period, remained in use to the end of the late Byzantine period.

Fifteen churches were exposed at the site. The Numerianos Church has an adjoining cloister and a flagstone court to the west. A synthronon was apparently added in a remodeling of the church in the early Umayyad period. Sometime later in the Umayyad period, a wall was built separating the apse from the nave and the structure ceased to function as a church. The Double Church shows no evidence of Umayyad use or reuse. It had a series of three well-constructed plaster floors, the last of which was well preserved and painted red. The chancel screen wall contained a reused Safaitic inscription. The excavation at the Julianos Church yielded several inscriptions and a thumiasterion originating from a pagan temple and reused at the church.

The dwellings exposed at the site are mostly modest in size and consist of an open courtyard, several small rooms, and occasionally stables. In some cases, rooms are preserved to ceiling level, with the corbelled roof supported on a central arch. Some ceilings are over 5 m high.

• Umm al-Jimal in Google Earth
  Umm al-Jimal
  
  click on image to explore this site on a new tab in Google Earth
• Aerial Photo from APAAME
  Umm al-Jimal
  
  APAAME

• Plate 2.3 View of the Barracks
  Plate 2.3
  
  Umm al-Jimal: general view of the Barracks
  
  Photo A. Walmsley
  
  de Vries (2000)
  from de Vries (2000)
• Plate 3.1 West facade of the Barracks
  Plate 3.1
  
  Umm al·Jimal: detail of the west facade of the Barracks
  Photo A. Walmsley
  
  de Vries (2000)
  from de Vries (2000)
• Figure 3.2 The Western
  Figure 3.2
  
  Umm al-Jimal. Barracks: view of the western towers from the courtyard. The U-shaped collapse scar of the third-floor wall is a typical mark of seismic shaking. Note the rotated block on the right side of the scar and the twisted wall on the left side of the photo: these are further indicators of lateral loading, twisting, and collapse of walls.
  
  Kázmér et al. (2024)
  of the Barracks from Kázmér et al. (2024)
• Figure 3.3 Western Wall
  Figure 3.3
  
  Umm al-Jimal. Barracks, western wall. Note the twisted walls below the U-shaped collapse feature. The wall closer to the viewer is tilted inwards, the farther one is bulging outwards. These are clear markers of repeated, strong lateral loading
  
  Kázmér et al. (2024)
  of the Barracks from Kázmér et al. (2024)

• Earthquake Archeological Effects chart
  Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
Tilted Walls?                       bulging walls? U-shape collapses? rotation features? (displaced blocks) extension features? (displaced blocks)	Barracks Fig. 4 Plan of the castellum Drawn by Bert de Vries de Vries (1993)	Plate 2.3 Umm al-Jimal: general view of the Barracks Photo A. Walmsley de Vries (2000) Plate 3.1 Umm al·Jimal: detail of the west facade of the Barracks Photo A. Walmsley de Vries (2000) Figure 3.2 Umm al-Jimal. Barracks: view of the western towers from the courtyard. The U-shaped collapse scar of the third-floor wall is a typical mark of seismic shaking. Note the rotated block on the right side of the scar and the twisted wall on the left side of the photo: these are further indicators of lateral loading, twisting, and collapse of walls. Kázmér et al. (2024) Figure 3.3 Umm al-Jimal. Barracks, western wall. Note the twisted walls below the U-shaped collapse feature. The wall closer to the viewer is tilted inwards, the farther one is bulging outwards. These are clear markers of repeated, strong lateral loading Kázmér et al. (2024)	Kázmér et al. (2024:33) noted the presence of tilted and bulged walls, U-shaped collapse features, and rotation and extension features due to both the first and second earthquake.	VI+? VII+? VIII+? VIII+? VIII+?

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Kázmér et al. (2024:33) estimated a local intensity of VII (7).

• Earthquake Archeological Effects chart
  Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)
  
  Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)
  of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
Tilted Walls                       bulging walls U-shape collapses twisted walls torsion-related damages extruded and chipped ashlars rotation features? (displaced blocks) extension features? (displaced blocks)	Barracks Fig. 4 Plan of the castellum Drawn by Bert de Vries de Vries (1993)	Plate 2.3 Umm al-Jimal: general view of the Barracks Photo A. Walmsley de Vries (2000) Plate 3.1 Umm al·Jimal: detail of the west facade of the Barracks Photo A. Walmsley de Vries (2000) Figure 3.2 Umm al-Jimal. Barracks: view of the western towers from the courtyard. The U-shaped collapse scar of the third-floor wall is a typical mark of seismic shaking. Note the rotated block on the right side of the scar and the twisted wall on the left side of the photo: these are further indicators of lateral loading, twisting, and collapse of walls. Kázmér et al. (2024) Figure 3.3 Umm al-Jimal. Barracks, western wall. Note the twisted walls below the U-shaped collapse feature. The wall closer to the viewer is tilted inwards, the farther one is bulging outwards. These are clear markers of repeated, strong lateral loading Kázmér et al. (2024)	We studied the Barracks site, where several standing high walls and a mostly intact tower have been preserved. The city was established during the Nabatean period, converted by Romans for military purposes, and remodeled for ecclesiastical and secular uses during Byzantine times (de Vries, 2000). Several earthquake traces were observed, such as: tilted walls, bulging walls, U-shape collapses, twisted walls, torsion-related damages, extruded and chipped ashlars. Initial observations indicate a left-lateral slip in the western wall and a right-lateral slip in the southern wall suggest a SW-NE strong motion direction. Earthquake Archaeological Effects (EAE) classification yielded high (VII-VIII) intensity. The causative faults are possibly the north-south Dead Sea Transform Fault (70 km away), or the nearby SE-NW Wadi Sirhan fault zone. - Al-Tawalbeh et al (2019) Kázmér et al. (2024:33) noted the presence of tilted and bulged walls, U-shaped collapse features, and rotation and extension features due to both the first and second earthquake.	VI+ VII+ VIII+ VII+ VII+ VI+ VIII+? VIII+?

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Al-Tawalbeh et al (2019) estimated a SW-NE strong motion direction and intensities of VII-VIII (7-8) using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

Kázmér et al. (2024:33) estimated a local intensity of IX (9).

Al-Tawalbeh, M. A.., Rasheed Jaradat, Abdulla al-Rawabdeh, Khaled al-Bashaireh, Anne Gharaibeh, Bilal al-Khrisat (2019). The Roman Barracks at Umm el-Jimal, Northern Jordan: an Archaeoseismological Analysis. Conference: Routes, Goods, and Ties; Recent Discoveries and Problems of Southern Levantine Archaeology. Karakow, Poland.

de Vries, B. (1993) The Umm el-Jimal Project:1981-1992

de Vries, B. (1995) The 1993 and 1994 Field Seasons at Umm al-Jimal

de Vries, B. (2000). "Continuity And Change In The Urban Character Of The Southern Hauran From The 5th To The 9th Century: The Archaeological Evidence At Umm Al-Jimal." Mediterranean Archaeology 13: 39-45.

Kázmér, M., Major, B., Al-Tawalbeh, M., Gaidzik, K. (2024). Destructive Intraplate Earthquakes in Arabia—The Archaeoseismological Evidence . In: Abd el-aal, A.ea.K., Al-Enezi, A., Karam, Q.E. (eds) Environmental Hazards in the Arabian Gulf Region. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 54. Springer, Cham..

Littmann, E. et. al. (1913) Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Syria Section A Part 3 Umm idj-Djimal, Brill, Leiden

B. de Vries, Umm el-Jimal: A Frontier Town and its Landscape in Northern Jordan, 1: Fieldwork 1972–1981 (JRA Suppl Series 26), Portsmouth, RI 1998

The Umm el-Jimal Project

Umm el-Jimal Project Library

Photos of Umm al-Jimal at ACOR

Photos of Umm al-Jimal at Manar Al-Athar (Oxford University)

Butler, Howard Crosby. Ancient Architecture in Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, 1904 - 190 5 and 1909 , Division II. Leiden, 1913 . See Sectiun A (Southern Syria), part 3 : "Umm Idj-Djimal."

Corbett, G. U. S. "Investigations at 'Julianos' Church' at Umm elJimal." Papers of the British School at Rome 2 5 (1957) : 39-65 . de Vries, Bert. "The Umm el-Jimal Project, 1972-77. " Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 2 6 (1982) : 97-116 . Also published in Bulletin of the American Schoots of Oriental Research, no. 24 4 (1981) : 53-72 .

de Vries, Bert. "Umm el-Jimal in the First Three Centuries A.D." In The Defence of the Roman and Byzantine East, edited by Philip Freeman and David L. Kennedy, pp. 227-241 . British Archaeological Reports, International Series, no. 297 . Oxford, 1986 .

de Vries, Bert. "The Umm el-Jimal Project, 1981-1992. " Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 3 7 (1993) : 433-460 .

de Vries, Bert. "What's in a Name? The Anonymity of Ancient Umm el-Jimal." Biblical Archaeologist 5 7 (1994) : 215-219 .

de Vries, Bert. Umm el-Jimal: A Roman, Byzantine, and Early Islamic Town in Northern Jordan. Ann Arbor, 1995 .

de Vries, Bert. "The Umm el-Jimal Project, 199 3 and 199 4 Field Seasons." Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 3 9 (1995) . Glueck, Nelson. Explorations in Eastern Palestine. Vol. 4 . Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 25 . New Haven, 1951 . See "Eastern Syria and die Southern Hauran" (part 1 , pp. 1-34) .

Horsfield, George. "Umm el-Jamal." Antiquity 11 (1937) : 456-460 , pis. 1-4 .

Kennedy, David L., and Derrick N. Riley. Archaeological Explorations on the Roman Frontier in North-East Jordan. British Archaeological Reports, International Series, no. 134 . Oxford, 1982 .

Littmann, Enno, et al. "Greek and Latin Inscriptions." In Syria: Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Division III, Section A, Part 3 , Umm Idj-Djimdl, pp. 131-223 . Leiden, 1913 .

Littmann, Enno. "Nabatean Inscriptions." In Syria: Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Division IV, Section A, Umm Idj-Djimdl, pp. 34-56 . Leiden, 1914 .

Littmann, Enno. "Safaitic Inscription." In Syria: Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Division IV, Section C, Part 3 , Umm Idj-Djimal, pp. 278-281 . Leiden, 1943 .

Littmann, Enno. "Arabic Inscriptions." In Syria: Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expedition to Syria, Division IV, Section D, Umm Idj-Djimal, pp. 1-3 . Leiden, 1949 .

MacAdam, Henry I. Studies in the History of the Roman Province of Arabia: The Northern Sector. British Arch