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Jordan has a complex history that has left tangible traces in numerous archaeological sites scattered throughout the country. This unique heritage of inestimable cultural value must be documented, thoroughly researched, and protected in order to prevent its destruction and loss. In this context, knowledge and documentation can be achieved through the application of non-destructive geophysical and geomatic methods. This work represents a synthesis of the results of twenty years of projects carried out at the archaeological sites of Basta, Petra, Um-Hamat (Karak), Umm ar-Rasas, Wu'Ayra, Madaba, and Shawbak. This study enables the exploration of new buried structures in the ground and the documentation of the state of preservation of the structures. It provides an up-to-date overview of Jordan's rich archaeological heritage and supports restoration projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Jaya Palace and the New Shawbak Town. A Medieval frontier and the return of the urbanism in the Southern Transjordan The recent discovery – made during the 2018 campaign ofthe ‘Medieval Petra’ Mission of the University of Florence – of the residential al-Jaya Palace at the bottom of the hill of Shawbak’s ‘incastellato’ site is of particular relevance both for medieval and Islamic heritage in Jordan (no architecture of a comparable quality from the Ayyubid-Mamluk periodhas ever been found in the country) and mostly for the archaeological confirmation that underneath al-Jaya, lays the ancient medieval capital city of southern Jordan, founded by Saladin, on the same site of the castle-capital of the previous Crusader Lordship of Transjordan. This result represents a triple confirmation for the scientific program of the Mission: the productivity of the ‘Light Archaeology’ methodology that characterizes our approach; the real existence of the city whose foundation we had deemed to be able to propose (owing solely to the ‘light’ reading son the walls of the ‘castle’); and the excellence of the formal level of the building – perfectly matching the quality of the political and productive structures documented earlier in the castle – that speaks of a cultured and refined city and of an extraordinary strategic project that can be attributed to Saladin’s political intelligence. A project that gave back a new centrality to the entire southern Transjordan and started a settlement and political tradition that is the basis of modern Jordan itself (it is not accidental that the first capital of the state was Ma’an). Once the urban structure that has now appeared is understood, future research will be able to direct the excavations so as to address another great historical question which 2018 investigations have highlighted: we know the birth and begin to read the life of this extraordinary town, butwhen, how and why did it perish so much so that it was forgotten by history (and to be rediscovered by archaeology)? Perhaps for the first time, we will have an opportunity to study archaeologically an aspect of the historical crisis that, probably during the 15th century, engulfed the Arab-Islamicworld, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest. It is an intriguing perspective to be addressed in tandem with a renewed public archaeology program: conservative restoration, social valorization, broad communication directed both to the local communities and to the international public with the implementation of the master plan 2010-14, and, finally, tourist routes connecting Shawbak with the Petra area.

The view from ‘pre-Crusader’ Shawbak: towards a first contextualization through GIS visibility and spatial analyses The purpose of this study is to provide a first preliminary interpretation of part of the evidence from Shawbak castle which attests to the presence of a ‘pre-Crusader, probably Byzantine fort. The strategic features of the location of the fort, in particular a great abundance of water resources, made it indeed strategically advantageous during the Crusader period and in the later Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Stratigraphic evidence from readings of extant buildings and excavations revealed that the first Crusader foundation of the castle was laid out upon the remains of a LateRoman/Byzantine fortification identified in different parts of the castle. The presence of such fortification should probably be considered contextual to the presence of major forts and potential watchtower sites that have been documented by previous surveys in the area, in particular, a system of strategic locations depending on the castellum of Da’janiya betweenthe Desert highway to the east and the Via Nova Traiana to the west. The need to protect the fertile strip of land east of Shawbak and the natural resources of the area might have required a system of visual control attested to in other nearby regions, which could have involved a signaling network in communication with Shawbak. In this paper, a series of visibility analyses are proposed in order to demonstrate that such system could have worked for Byzantine Shawbak.

The purpose of this study is to provide a first preliminary interpretation of part of the evidence from Shawbak castle which attests to the presence of a 'pre-Crusader, probably Byzantine fort. The strategic features of the location of the fort, in particular a great abundance of water resources, made it indeed strategically advantageous during the Crusader period and in the later Ayyubid and Mamluk periods. Stratigraphic evidence from readings of extant buildings and excavations revealed that the first Crusader foundation of the castle was laid out upon the remains of a Late Roman/Byzantine fortification identified in different parts of the castle. The presence of such fortification should probably be considered contextual to the presence of major forts and potential watchtower sites that have been documented by previous surveys in the area, in particular, a system of strategic locations depending on the castellum of Da'janiya between the Desert highway to the east and the Via Nova Traiana to the west. The need to protect the fertile strip of land east of Shawbak and the natural resources of the area might have required a system of visual control attested to in other nearby regions, which could have involved a signaling network in communication with Shawbak. In this paper, a series of visibility analyses are proposed in order to demonstrate that such system could have worked for Byzantine Shawbak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent discovery -- made during the 2018 campaign of the 'Medieval Petra' Mission of the University of Florence -- of the residential al-Jaya Palace at the bottom of the hill of Shawbak's 'incastellato' site is of particular relevance both for medieval and Islamic heritage in Jordan (no architecture of a comparable quality from the Ayyubid-Mamluk period has ever been found in the country) and mostly for the archaeological confirmation that underneath al-Jaya, lays the ancient medieval capital city of southern Jordan, founded by Saladin, on the same site of the castle-capital of the previous Crusader Lordship of Transjordan. This result represents a triple confirmation for the scientific program of the Mission: the productivity of the 'Light Archaeology' methodology that characterizes our approach; the real existence of the city whose foundation we had deemed to be able to propose (owing solely to the ''light' readings on the walls of the 'castle'); and the excellence of the formal level of the building -- perfectly matching the quality of the political and productive structures documented earlier in the castle -- that speaks of a cultured and refined city and of an extraordinary strategic project that can be attributed to Saladin's political intelligence. A project that gave back a new centrality to the entire southern Transjordan and started a settlement and political tradition that is the basis of modern Jordan itself (it is not accidental that the first capital of the state was Ma'an). Once the urban structure that has now appeared is understood, future research will be able to direct the excavations so as to address another great historical question which 2018 investigations have highlighted: we know the birth and begin to read the life of this extraordinary town, but when, how and why did it perish so much so that it was forgotten by history (and to be rediscovered by archaeology)? Perhaps for the first time, we will have an opportunity to study archaeologically an aspect of the historical crisis that, probably during the 15th century, engulfed the Arab-Islamic world, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest. It is an intriguing perspective to be addressed in tandem with a renewed public archaeology program: conservative restoration, social valorization, broad communication directed both to the local communities and to the international public with the implementation of the master plan 2010-14, and, finally, tourist routes connecting Shawbak with the Petra area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present the results of the rescue excavations conducted at the site of "Wali Yosha" northeast the Shawbak castle. It first presents a brief about the history and definition of Islamic shrines followed by a short introduction to the history of human settlements in the Shawbak area. The second part of the paper includes an introduction about the site and a discussion of the results of the rescue excavations and the archaeological finds. The pottery shards found at the site indicate that the principle period of occupation at Wali Yosha is the later Islamic period, mainly the Ayyubid-Mamluk (12th - 16th c. AD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]