The site of Khirbat al-Batrāwī was as a major fortified town of the Early Bronze II-III (2900-2300 BC), acting as the central place of Upper Wadi az-Zarqa (North-Central Jordan), at a strategic crossroad of tracks connecting the desert and the steppe to the Jordan Valley (Nigro 2009; 2010). Batrawy was discovered in 2004 and systematically excavated by Rome Sapienza University (www.lasapienzatojordan.it), with the scientific direction of Prof. Lorenzo Nigro, in strong cooperation and under the aegis of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, with the participation of the Queen Rania’s Institute of Tourism and Heritage of the Hashemite University of Zarqa.

Previous five seasons (2005-2009) at Batrawy already allowed to indentify the EB II-III Main City-Wall, which encompassed the whole site, and the EB II city-gate; the EB III northern defensive works displaced on at least three lines; the EB IIIB dwelling quarter inside the city-wall; the EB II-III Broad-Room Temple on the easternmost terrace, as well as several domestic units and installations of the EB IVB (2200-2000 BC) village, which occupied the hill after the abandonment of the EB III city (see full bibliography at the bottom).

During the 6^th season (May 2010), a major building dating back from the third quarter of the 3^rd millennium BC (EB IIIB) was brought to light with large rooms and solid stone walls. Within this building (a palace?) a large rectangular (7.5 x 4.9 m) storeroom (L.1040) was discovered, hosting at least 20 huge pithoi and storage jars containing carbonized seeds (one also red ochre), as well as several other pottery vessels and objects in a pretty good state of preservation for a total number of more than 120. Also medium size jars, pattern-combed metallic jars, as well as other vessels, were collected from the storeroom, all of them sunk into a thick stratum of ashes, broken and heavily burnt mudbricks and plaster fragments, stones and carbonized wooden beams. Big jars and pithoi were aligned on two rows along the walls of the storeroom, often with small vessels at their foot. Red-burnished jugs, black-burnished pointed juglets, medium size jars, and a special double-handed red-burnished vessel with a grooved high pedestal, apparently a ceremonial vase, were also retrieved, illustrating an almost complete set of pottery from the very end of the life of the city (2400-2300 BC). Also objects found in the storeroom are noteworthy: several worked bones (also a bone knife), to be interpreted as luxury goods, as well as a carefully worked basalt stone potter’s wheel is a sound witness of the technological achievements reached by the Batrawy community in the 3^rd millennium BC, and points at the palace as the institution prompting ceramic standardization.

An extraordinary find was done in the middle of the storeroom, where in a cachette dug in the floor four copper axes were grouped. The latter discovery is particularly significant for Early Bronze Jordan, since copper weapons previously known from the whole Levant are a few specimens, and the ones retrieved in the palace of Batrawy illustrate distinguished types. Moreover, the recent identification of copper mines in Wadi Feinan (Wadi ‘Arabah) may indicate the source of metal used for the Batrawy axes.

Such a discovery illustrates the achievement of an early city and of its palace, and will allow to outline more precisely the historical picture of early Jordanian urbanizations in the 3^rd millennium BC, brought to a sudden end, in the case of Batrawy, by a fierce conflagration around 2300 BC.

Rome Sapienza University and the DoA have also started comprehensive restorations of the monuments excavated, which will transform Batrawy in one of the most attractive sites of Jordan for pre-classical periods.

Bibliographic References

L. Nigro, “Between the Desert and the Jordan: Early Urbanization in the Upper Wadi az-Zarqa - the EB II-III fortified town of Khirbet al-Batrawy”, in P. Matthiae et al. (eds), 6 ICAANE. Proceedings of the 6^th International Congress of the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. 5 May – 10 May 2008, “Sapienza”, Università di Roma, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2010, Vol. 2, pp. 431-458.

L. Nigro, “Khirbet al-Batrawy: a Case Study of 3rd millennium BC Early Urbanism in North-Central Jordan”, in F. al-Khraysheh et al. (eds), Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan X, Amman 2009, pp. 657-677.

Catalogue of the exposition “Giordania. Crocevia di popoli e di culture” (Roma 2009: Civita), held in Rome (Palazzo del Quirinale, Sale delle Bandiere. 23 October 2009 - 31 January 2010), Rome 2009.

L. Nigro, M. Sala, “Preliminary Report of the Fourth Season (2008) of Excavations by the University of Rome “La Sapienza” at Khirbat al-Batrāwī (Upper Wādī az-Zarqā’)”, in Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 53 (2009), pp. 371-384.

L. Nigro, “Batrawy. Una porta sul deserto”, in Archeo 298 (dicembre 2009), pp. 72-81.

L. Nigro, “Khirbat al-Batrawi”, in MUNJAZAT 10 (2009), in press.

L. Nigro (ed.), Khirbet al-Batrawy II. The EB II city-gate, the EB II-III fortifications, the EB II-III temple. Preliminary report of the second (2006) and third (2007) seasons of excavations (= Rome «La Sapienza» Studies on the Archaeology of Palestine & Transjordan, 6), Rome 2008.

L. Nigro, M. Sala, A. Polcaro, “Preliminary Report of the Third Season of Excavations by the University of Rome “La Sapienza” at Khirbat al-Batrāwī (Upper Wādī az-Zarqā’)”, in Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 52 (2008), pp. 209-230.

L. Nigro, “Preliminary Report of the First Season of Excavations of Rome “La Sapienza” University at Khirbet al-Batrawy (Upper Wadi az-Zarqa, Jordan)”, in J.M. Córdoba et al. (eds), Proceedings of the 5th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (5-8 April 2006), Madrid 2008, Volume II, pp. 663-682.

L. Nigro, “Khirbat al-Batrawi”, in MUNJAZAT 9 (2008), pp. 72-74.

L. Nigro, “Preliminary Report of the Second Season of Excavations by the University of Rome “La Sapienza” at Khirbat al-Batrāwī (Upper Wādī az-Zarqā’)”, in Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 51 (2007), pp. 345-360.

L. Nigro, “Nella città fantasma”, in Archeo 272 (ottobre 2007), pp. 44-57.

L. Nigro, “Khirbat al-Batrawi”, in MUNJAZAT 8 (2007), pp. 63-65.

L. Nigro (ed.), Khirbet al-Batrawy. An Early Bronze Age Fortified Town in North-Central Jordan. Preliminary Report of the First Season of Excavations (2005) (= Rome «La Sapienza» Studies on the Archaeology of Palestine & Transjordan, 3), Rome 2006.

L. Nigro, “Preliminary Report of the First Season of Excavations by the University of Rome “La Sapienza” at Khirbat al-Batrāwī (Upper Wādī az-Zarqā’)”, in Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 50 (2006), pp. 229-248.

L. Nigro, “Khirbat al-Batrawi”, in MUNJAZAT 7 (2006), pp. 57-59.

L. Nigro, “Khirbet al-Batrawy: una città del Bronzo Antico tra il deserto basaltico e la Valle del Giordano”, in Scienze dell’Antichità 13 (2006), pp. 663-688.