Next Monday October 23rd, Spanish archaeologists Juan José Ibáñez and Juan R. Muñiz will talk about two of the longest running projects of Spanish archaeology abroad.
Since 1988 the Spanish archaeological teams have set their centre of studies at this point of the Zarqa River basin. In that year, work began on the Neolithic and Bronze Age sites preserved in the mountain.
In the case of the Jebel Mutawwaq project, it is the 35th anniversary of the works in this settlement of the Early Bronze Age (3500-2900 BC) formed by a settlement of 13 hectares and a dolmen complex composed of 1100 specimens of which less than 300 are currently preserved. The research of this proto-urban site -currently directed by Muñiz and Polcaro-, has been recognized in academic and research fields. The group of houses, temples, production buildings, etc., surrounded by a unique fence that gives its name to the mountain (Mutawwaq) have been extensively published in national and international journals.
Neolithic research had a brief first stage in the years 1988-1990, which was resumed in 2014 by the team led by Juan José Ibáñez. The name "Kharaysin" comes from the work of locating the site on the lower terraces of the elevation. In this second stage, the preserved architectures of the evolutionary process of the passage from a nomadic hunter-gatherer society to a sedentary society of farmers and herders (9000-6800 BC) have been studied. The discovery of artistic expressions in flint and lime pavements form part of some of the most novel and well-known contributions of these works.
These decades of work have also established a direct relationship of friendship between the inhabitants of Quneya and these work teams. Their specialization in the field of archaeology has also provided them with a greater opportunity for employment for the younger generations of the area.
