AL-LAHUN Jordan |
The site of Lehun
(Lahun, al-Lahun or Khirbet Lahun) is located in central Jordan, a region
better known in the Bible as the land of "Moab". It lies more
precisely on the northern plateau of the Wadi Mujib (biblical Arnon), between the
ancient King's Highway and the modern Desert Highway, 82 km S from Amman
and 30 km SE from Madaba.
|
The site can be reached from Dhiban (ancient Dhibôn, on the King's Highway)
or by the "Desert Highway" (direction Dhiban) through the paved road to Umm er-Rassas, by turning
S at Mesheirfeh (ca 3 km).The region is historically important: Dhiban,
actually a small village, 7 km W from Lehun, was the former capital of King Mesha
in the 9th Century B.C.E., and its military fortress at Ara'ir, was built some
3 km W from Lehun.
We have no antique literary
resources about Lehun. Some travellers and archaeologists passed the site, as R. Bruennow and von A.
Domaszewski in 1904, N. Glueck in 1933 and M. R. Savignac in 1936, but they gave us
little information. Some authors, such as F. G. Peake, K. S. Abujaber, F. A. Ghraibeh
and A. Hill mention the region of Lehun and its inhabitants, who belong to the
Saleitha tribe. They claim to be part of the Beni Sakhr family, coming from South Arabia
and settling in Mesheirfeh and Lehun.
Various reasons explain why the site of Lehun was
alternately inhabited or abandoned in the various periods of its existence from
prehistory until modern times, such as environment, strategic position,
climate, water supplies and rainfall, geology and political events. In general Lehun is
located in one of the better-watered regions of Jordan, which are often
characterised by permanent settlements in Antiquity. They contrast with
the desert region, where rainfall is scarce and nomad settlements are seasonal,
and therefore temporary. Belonging to the northern Moabite plateau, the Lehun
region is largely open to the arid steppe and the desert. It has a
semi-arid Mediterranean microclimate, between the mild coastal and the dry
desert climate, in an area where "desert and sown" were often
confronted. This is certainly one of the reasons why alternately nomads
and sedentary people chose Lehun in history.
The archaeological
concession of Lehun is 1100 m by 600 m and is divided in different natural sectors
(sectors A-D, Lehun Excavation area's). The altitude ranges from 748 m to 719 m
above sea level. It is divided NS by the Wadi Lehun and EW by various
seasonal wadis, which delimit small natural areas in a hilly landscape.
The southern part of the site is well protected by the abrupt cliffs of the
Wadi Mujib plateau. It has a strategic position as it allows one to
overlook the whole area: in the west the Dead Sea; in the south the Wadi Mujib
valley and the Karak plateau; in the east the desert. This defensive
situation explains why this is where the earliest remains were discovered,
dating from periods of struggle for life and war: prehistoric flints, an
impressive Early Bronze fortified town, a Late Bronze/Iron Age I village with
its precinct wall, and an Iron Age II stronghold. In the northern part, on
the slopes of the Wadi Lehun, where humidity and vegetation are more permanent,
some settlements appeared in more peaceful and commercial periods. Being
in the vicinity of the fertile fields of the Moabite plateau, this part of the
site is also close to the trade routes existing since the Nabataean
period. Lehun shows traces of Nabataean and Roman occupation (temples,
tombs), as well as from the Islamic period (a farm, a mosque and a small
village), and from Ottoman houses and modern times.
[Homepage] [Geology]
[Chronology] [History of Excavations] [Excavation Results] [Future of Lehun] [Further Reading] [Acknowledgements]
[Contacts & Links]
[Newsletter]
[Picture Gallery]
[Website map]