Name of Monument:

Tall Abu Sarbut

Location:

Central Jordan Valley, Jordan

Date of Monument:

Hegira 8th–9th centuries / AD 14th–15th centuries

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Description:

Tall Abu Sarbut is located in the Central Jordan Valley about 70 km northwest of Amman, 1.5 km from Dayr Alla. It is a low hill that measures 250 m east to west and about 125 m from north to south. The highest point of the tall is at 252 m below sea level.
Three seasons of archaeological investigations were conducted at the site between 1988–90 as a joint venture between the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, the University of Leiden and the Netherlands Institute for the Near East. The main objective of the project was to verify the nature and the extent of the site.
Archaeological excavations uncovered a large Mamluk multi-roomed building with courtyards. In one of the courtyards a bread oven (tabun) was found. The walls were built of sun-dried mud bricks on stone foundations. The walls and the floors were plastered. Archaeological investigations demonstrated that the site was an important part of the sugar-production industry in the area; the sugar industry being a main source of revenue in the Jordan Valley during the Mamluk period. The nature of the archaeological finds discovered during the excavations showed that the site was not associated directly with the actual refinery of sugar but it was an important storage and distribution centre for the sugar that was produced in the area.

View Short Description

Tall Abu Sarbut is located in the Central Jordan Valley about 70 km northwest of Amman. It is a low hill that measures around 250 m x125 m, and its highest point is 252 m below sea level. It has structures built of sun-dried mud bricks on stone foundations. The site was an important part of the sugar-production industry in the area; the sugar industry being a main source of revenue in the Jordan Valley during the Mamluk period. Although not associated directly with the actual refinery of sugar, it was an important storage and distribution centre for the sugar that was produced in the area.

How Monument was dated:

The monument was dated by analysis of the material remains comprising mainly ceramics discovered during the course of archaeological investigations at the site, which dated the site to the 7th–9th / 14th–15th centuries.

Selected bibliography:

Haas, H., et al, “First Season of Excavations at Tall Abu Sarbut, Jordan Valley”, Preliminary Report, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, XXXIII (1989), pp.323–6.
Haas, H., et al, “Second and Third Seasons of Excavations at Tall Abu Sarbut, Jordan Valley”, Preliminary Report, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, XXXVI (1992), pp. 335–43.
Musil, A., The Northern Hegaz, New York, 1926.
Peterson, A., Early ottoman Forts on The Hajj Route in Jordan, unpublished MA thesis, University of Oxford, 1986.
Yassine, K. H., The Archaeology of Jordan, Essays and Reports, Amman, 1988, pp.187–206.

Citation of this web page:

Mohammad Najjar "Tall Abu Sarbut" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;jo;Mon01;24;en

Prepared by: Mohammad Najjar
Copyedited by: Mandi Gomez


MWNF Working Number: JO 24