This book is the result of 14 seasons of excavation at the small site of Mudayna Thamad in central Jordan. These excavations have contributed archaeological insights into the history, life and culture of the Iron Age kingdom of Moab, Judah’s eastern neighbour. The site yielded an outstanding repertoire of rich, imported, and exotic finds and a unique industrial quarter at the time of the Assyrian control of the Levant. This book discusses the architecture and finds in the gate and fortifications, as well as a large domestic quarter and the late Iron II temple at the north end of the mound. Evidence for the people of Mudayna Thamad comes from a collapsed tomb southwest of the town. Pottery and object illustrations, along with architectural plans illustrate the activities carried out at the site and provide evidence for its history and economy.

AUTHOR

Robert Chadwick served as field supervisor at Tall Jawa and co-director of field work at Mudayna Thamad. He taught Near Eastern history at McGill and Bishops Universities in Quebec, Canada.

P. M. Michèle Daviau, project director of the Wadi Thamad Project, is Professor Emerita of Near Eastern Archaeology at Wilfrid Laurier University. She directed excavations at Tall Jawa, south of Amman (vols. 1–5, 2002–2020), WT-13 (Wadi Thamad Shine, 2017), and Mudayna Thamad.

Margreet L. Steiner is an independent Iron Age specialist who has excavated widely in the southern Levant. She served as field director at Mudayna Thamad.

Margaret A. Judd is a bioarchaeologist and chair of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. She researches the shaping, maintenance and destruction of the human body in response to sociocultural and resource stress. She has worked extensively in Jordan and Sudan.

Contributors: Robert Chadwick, P. M. Michèle Daviau, Steven J. Edwards, Christopher J. Gohm, Margaret A. Judd, Margreet L. Steiner.

REVIEW

‘This book is a significant contribution to the archaeology of the southern Levant during the Iron Age. By meticulously analysing the archaeology of the site of Khirbat al-Mudayna Thamad, this multidisciplinary project sheds light on the history, chronology, economy, and way of life of the people that inhabited in the Iron Age kingdom of Moab, in south-central Jordan.’ Professor Juan Manuel Tebes, Catholic University of Argentina & National Research Council

‘This is a very important site excavated recently and on a large scale. It has a fundamental importance as a primary data source.’ Dr Bruce Routledge, University of Liverpool