Skip to navigation – Site map

HomeNuméros13Les terres cuites à la uneA Unique Shrine From the Late Iro...

Les terres cuites à la une

A Unique Shrine From the Late Iron Age in Jordan

As reported in Nieuws-Suriname, December 2014
Jaimee Uhlenbrock

Abstract

In October and November of 2014 an archaeological team lead by Lucas Petit of the University of Leiden and Zeidan Kafafi of Yarmouk University uncovered a 2,700-year-old shrine at Tell Damiyah in Jordan. This had been in the center of a small village that had been closely allied with the Neo-Assyrian capital, as is attested by written sources and ceramics. The shrine was in the form of a rectangular building with a platform measuring eight by six metres. The discovery of this shrine is of considerable importance since this is the first late Iron Age shrine to have been brought to light in the region.

Top of page

Full text

1In and around the shrine building were found terracotta figurines of horses and women, along with other imported and local material that testifies to wide-ranging cultural contacts. The figurines were handmade and still preserve much of their painted details, such as horse trappings.

A characteristic terracotta horse from Tell Damiyah with painted details.

A characteristic terracotta horse from Tell Damiyah with painted details.

2This shrine may have been frequented by merchants and travelers since it is located at the intersection of principal trade routes close to a Jordan river crossing. The entire area of the village, including its shrine, was destroyed by a massive fire around 700 B.C.E.

Top of page

List of illustrations

Title A characteristic terracotta horse from Tell Damiyah with painted details.
URL http://journals.openedition.org/acost/docannexe/image/635/img-1.jpg
File image/jpeg, 174k
Top of page

References

Electronic reference

Jaimee Uhlenbrock, A Unique Shrine From the Late Iron Age in JordanLes Carnets de l’ACoSt [Online], 13 | 2015, Online since 01 September 2015, connection on 29 March 2024. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/acost/635; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/acost.635

Top of page

About the author

Jaimee Uhlenbrock

Department of Art History, State University of New York, New Paltz

By this author

Top of page

Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

Top of page
Search OpenEdition Search

You will be redirected to OpenEdition Search