2.3.1 Site identification and environment
Tell es-Sa’idiyeh [figs.2.1-4] is situated in the middle Jordan Valley 1.8 km east of the River Jordan, immediately south of Wadi Kufrinjeh17. Sa’idiyeh is positioned in the eastern Ghor (the terrace east of the river plain or Zor), and is clearly visible from the west bank of the Jordan (Tubb 1998: PI. 2a). The Upper Tell (esh Sharqi) stands at approximately 40m above the surrounding valley floor (at c.234m below sea level). The Upper Tell connects with the Lower Tell (cemetery) in the east (at c.260m below sea level). Tell es-Sa’idiyeh is c. eleven hectares in total area. The Lower Tell on which the cemetery is found makes up an area of c. four hectares, with the Upper Tell (settlement) area measuring c. seven hectares. According to rank size analyses of LBA and Iron Age sites in the western Galilee (Lehmann 2001: 77-93), the Upper Tell at Sa’idiyeh would be
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Sa’idiyeh is in an ideal position in terms of cultivable land, water availability, and communication routes. The Wadi Kufrinjeh probably flowed year-round in antiquity from the mountains o f Gilead, providing a rich alluvial fan that extends across the valley floor. The average annual rainfall in this part o f the central Jordan Valley is c.200-300 mm, allowing dry farming, although not without risk of drought. In antiquity, perennial springs close to the site may have enabled seasonal flooding and natural irrigation in the surrounding fields, buffering the risks of low annual rainfall (Dorrell 1988). The secondary fan of the Kufrinjeh and the marl scarp to the west of Sa’idiyeh may have provided an ideal north-south communication route and also ease of access between the eastern highlands and the River Jordan (ibid.). To the west, the landscape changes with the barren katarah marl hills marking the boundary of the lower Zor and the River itself.
A crossing point of the Jordan close to Sa’idiyeh existed within recent antiquity (Tubb 1988a: 48).
Various attempts have been made to identify the ancient name of Sa’idiyeh in the Bronze and Iron Ages. Ramesside sources from Egypt and Palestine provide references for Pella (Tabaqat Fah’l) and Rehob (assumed to be Tel Rehov) in the north central Jordan Valley.
However, there are no clear textual references to LBA sites in the middle Jordan Valley.
Knapp equates the Amama toponym Sapuna with Sa’idiyeh (1993: 44-5), presumably following Albright’s identification of Sapuna with Biblical Zaphon and Sa’idiyeh (Albright 1926: 46; 1943: 15-17; 1968: 106, n.29). Two el-Amama letters found in Egypt come from Sapuna (EA 273, 274), and belong to a group of documents that typically list land, garrisons or fortresses owned by the pharaoh. Some urban centres were under Egyptian control in the Amama period (14th century), whereas others were
‘flying the Egyptian banner The latter is apparently the case for Sapuna. Na'aman proposes the location for Sab/puma as being in the coastal plain near Gezer (1979: 680, n.33, contra Albright; also cited in Knapp 1993: 44-5).
Sa’idiyeh is commonly identified as one of two sites mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and later Talmudic sources: Zaphon (Albright 1926: 46; 1943: 15-17, MacDonald 2000: 145) or Zarethan (Glueck 1950-51: 114-5, 1968: 126-130). Using these sources, both place names can be situated in ancient Gilead, and more specifically in the central Jordan Valley18. Glueck’s identification of Sa’idiyeh with Zarethan was favoured by Pritchard
in his preliminary reports (Pritchard 1964: 9; 1965a: 10), whereas Albright continued to assert that Zarethan was north of Sa’idiyeh (1968: 106, n.29). Pritchard concluded that it was not possible at present to positively identify the ancient name of Sa’idiyeh (1985: 3, Pritchard & Tubb 1992: 1295). The British Museum expedition has also favoured the identification of Sa’idiyeh with Biblical Zarethan, following Glueck’s identification (Tubb 1990b: 94). No new evidence has become available from recent excavations that resolves the problem of Tell es-Sa’idiyeh’s identification in ancient documentary sources.
2.3.2 Summary o f archaeological research and publication to date
Archaeological research at Tell es-Sa’idiyeh began with surface collections at Sa’idiyeh by Glueck during World War II, who found evidence of occupation from Early Bronze to Byzantine periods. Limited soundings were made by De Contenson in 1953 east of the Lower Tell, where evidence of Chalcolithic occupation was found19. Two major excavation campaigns have been carried out at Tell es-Sa’idiyeh. The first campaign was undertaken by James Pritchard from the University of Pennsylvania Museum (henceforth UPM) between 1964 and 1967, and the second by Jonathan Tubb from the British Museum20 (henceforth BM) between 1985 and 1996 [fig. 2.5]. The Sa’idiyeh excavations have so far yielded evidence for occupation in the Early Bronze, Late Bronze and Iron Ages, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Islamic periods. A summary of the strata on the Upper and Lower Tell is summarized in table 2.1.
Pritchard’s excavations on the Upper Tell exposed an Iron Age settlement sequence (Str.
VII-IV) dated to the 10^-8^ Centuries, including a complex of houses and streets (Str.
VI). A staircase and water system were excavated on the Upper Tell, dated to the 12th- 10th centuries. A monumental structure on the Upper Tell was dated to the Persian period (Str. Ill), with Hellenistic (Str. II) and Roman (Str. I) levels also found. Pritchard also reports that Tell es-Sa’idiyeh was used as a burial ground by local Bedouin21.
Pritchard’s Lower Tell excavations intended to expose the Early Bronze Age settlement, although unexpectedly they revealed part of the cemetery dating to the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age (1980: 1). Approximately forty-five graves were excavated in 1964 and 1965. Excavations at Sa’idiyeh undertaken by the UPM were interrupted by the 1967 war, and not resumed.
The BM excavations were more extensive and intrusive than Pritchard’s earlier campaign, with nine excavation seasons between 1985 and 1996. This provides a longer
Upper Tell sequence (Str.XVII-VII), adding new information to Pritchard’s findings.
Sub-stratum XII levels in Areas AA and KK (Tubb et al 1997: 67-68) correspond with the LBA and the LB-Iron transition. The best preserved and most extensively excavated Iron Age levels on the Upper Tell are represented by stratum XII attributed to the EIA (discussed in further detail in App.D). Other Iron Age settlement levels include Str.VIII- XI, provisionally dated to the l O ^ 111 Centuries (Tubb 1988a: 34-40). Tubb’s Lower Tell excavations were principally aimed at exposing Early Bronze (EB) remains. As the cemetery was found to overlay these remains, a major objective was to record and remove the burials in order to expose large areas of the underlying settlement. Other features recorded on the Lower Tell include the foundations of an early Islamic ‘khan’
(Tubb 1988a: 47-9).
Pritchard’s final reports include The Cemetery at Tell es-Sa’idiyeh, Jordan (1980) and Tell es-Sa’idiyeh: Excavations on the Tell 1964-1966 (1985). Tubb’s excavation of the Upper and Lower Tell is is currently published in preliminary form (Tubb 1988a; 1990a;
1990b; Tubb & Dorrell 1991, 1993, 1994; Tubb et al 1996, 1997). The entry for Tell es- Sa’idiyeh in the New Encyclopedia o f Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land summarizes the main findings of both the Pennsylvania and British Museum excavations until 1990 (Pritchard & Tubb 1992). Other publications focus on the role of Sa’idiyeh during the 13th -12th Centuries, the presence of ‘Sea Peoples’ groups, and Egyptian involvement in the region. (Pritchard 1968; Tubb 1988b, 1990b, 1995, 1998: 82-92, 95- 106).