Dolmen 317 and Its Hidden Burial: An Early Bronze Age I Megalithic Tomb from Jebel al-Mutawwaq (Jordan).

The article presents the results of the 2013 Spanish-Italian Archaeological Expedition to Jebel al-Mutawwaq, an Early Bronze Age I village and dolmen field along the Middle Wadi az-Zarqa Valley (Jordan). In particular, this article focuses on the discovery of a burial hidden inside a well-preserved dolmen comprising an entire adult skeleton. The pottery sherds and two large scrapers, found as funerary gifts, date the burial to the EB I, identical to the nearby village. The analysis of the human bones and of the associated artifacts could indicate that the inhumation should be related to an important member of the community, perhaps an individual connected to the activities of the Temple of the Serpents, an EB I sanctuary discovered inside the settlement during the past excavations. The custom of removing burials from the dolmens at the end of their use is well attested by past excavations. But the burial of this individual was left inside the tomb for reasons that remain unclear, though we speculate that those reasons were religious in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]