THE CITY OF COPPER AXES: ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH,
RESTORATIONS AND TRAINING IN THE EARLY BRONZE AGE SITE OF KHIRBET AL-BATRAWY
Lorenzo Nigro, Department of Oriental Studies - Sapienza University of Rome
Yazid Elayan, Director General of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan
Pilot Project: excavations, restorations and valorization, and training of local staff (2005-2019)
Introduction: The Discovery of the City of Batrawy
The city of Khirbet al-Batrawy represents a rare example of an early urban centre arising in a peripheral area of the ancient Near East at the dawn of urban civilization in the 3rd millennium BC. The discovery of Batrawy in 2004 by the Expedition to Jordan of Rome "La Sapienza" University and the discovery of its Royal Palace in 2009 opened up new perspectives on the settlement of these fringe regions, especially in the period before the domestication of the camel.