Jordan is a country in the Near East bordered by Israel, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The country's name comes from the Arabic Al Urdun, referencing a fortified site but also meaning "prominence", though various sources also claim the name comes from the Hebrew word Yarad ("descender"), referencing the downward flow of the River Jordan.
The region has a long history as an important trade center for every major empire from the ancient world to the present age (from the Akkadian Empire to the Ottoman Empire), and numerous sites in the country are mentioned throughout the Bible; 180 times in the Old Testament and 15 times in the New Testament.
Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) founded cities in the region (such as Gerasa) and the Nabateans carved their capital city of Petra there from sandstone cliffs. Early in its history, the area attracted and inspired traders, artists, philosophers, craftspeople, and, inevitably, conquerors, all of whom have left their mark on the history of the modern-day country.
Jordan, formally known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, has been an independent nation since 1946 after thousands of years as a vassal state of foreign empires and European powers and has developed into one of the most stable and resourceful nations in the Near East. Its capital city, Amman, is considered one of the most prosperous in the world and a popular destination for tourists. The history of the region is vast, going back more than 8,000 years, and encompassing the tale of the rise and fall of empires and the evolution of the modern state.
Archaeological excavations date human habitation in the region of Jordan back to the Paleolithic Age (around two million years ago). Tools such as stone hand-axes, scrapers, drills, knives, and stone spear points dated to this time period have been found in various locations throughout the country. The people were hunter-gatherers, who led a nomadic life moving from place to place in search of game. In time, they began building permanent settlements and establishing agricultural communities.
The Neolithic Age (c. 10,000 BCE) saw the rise of stable, sedentary communities and the growth of agriculture. These small villages eventually became urban centers with their own industry and initiated trade with others. Large urban centers developed such as the city of Jericho, claimed to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, with an approximate founding date of 9,000 BCE.
According to scholar G. Lankester Harding:
far higher culture than we had hitherto suspected, for here was not merely a village of well-built houses with fine plaster floors, but there was a great stone wall all around the settlement with a ditch or dry moat in front of it. This implies a high degree of communal organization, of subordinating the personal interests to those of the many.
Communal interests are also evident in the ancient monuments raised at this time. Throughout the Neolithic Age, the people constructed megalithic dolmens across the land (very similar in size, shape, and methods used to those of Ireland). These dolmens are thought to be monuments to the dead or possibly passageways between worlds. These dolmens are often found in fields of circled stones whose meaning remains unclear, but it is obvious that the builders would have had to work in groups for a common cause to create these sites.
Lime Plaster Statue from Ain Al-Ghazal
Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (Copyright)
The dolmen sites were most likely religious in nature and visited for worship, divination, and festivals by the people of the nearby cities. The largest settlement of the Neolithic Age in Jordan was Ain Ghazal, located in the northwest (near the present-day capital of Amman). Inhabited c. 7000 BCE, Ain Ghazal was an agricultural community whose artisans created some of the most striking anthropomorphic statuary in early history. The statues found at Ain Ghazal are among the oldest in the world today.
The community had over 3,000 citizens and engaged in trade and the manufacture of pottery, which increased the wealth of the people individually and the city collectively. Ain Ghazal continued as a prosperous settlement for 2000 years between c. 7000 BCE and 5000 BCE when it was abandoned, most likely due to overuse of the land.
