Archaeology Sector

Archaeological sites- Ihab Dababsa, Ahmad Rjoob and Kim DeWall

Purpose
Methodology
Conclusions
Bibliography

1. Purpose:

The Wadi el-Far'a Project recognizes the importance of including a study of the material cultural heritage, particularly the archaeological sites in the wadi's watershed.
In keeping with the worldwide recognition that "…it is public duty to have some policy with regards to conservation" (Renfrew and Bahn 521), the emerging Palestinian State has recognized the responsibility of its governing bodies to make a plan for the management of its material cultural heritage. Some efforts have been put forth by a number of bodies with the Palestinian National Authority to establish a plan of action for cultural resource management. Within this context, the Birzeit University - Calvin College partnership aims to contribute to this ongoing effort to inventory the material cultural heritage sites of Palestine and create an aid for those making decisions about the management of the material cultural heritage sites within the region of the Wadi el-Far'a.
The following is a summary of the aims of the Birzeit-Calvin project team for the study of the material cultural heritage of the region:

Organize already existing information and new information about the archaeological sites in the project's study area.
Visit already recorded sites in order to 1) assess their current state; 2) add additional information about these based on surface observations; 3) make any needed corrections to the already existing information about these.
Record new sites encountered in the process of visiting already documented sites.
Create a database of the archaeological sites and use that to construct a separate archaeological site layer in the project's GIS.
Compile information that will aid planning decision makers in the development of the region.
Make recommendations for further work in the region.

2. Methodology

In order to help define and then subsequently realize the aims of the project as outlined above, the work plan was divided into three sections: 1) Study of previous archaeological surveys; 2) fieldwork; 3) Organization of the data. The team used different survey efforts as models, several of which are outlined below.

Study of Previous Archaeological Surveys

In the early nineties, the Jordan Department of Antiquities and the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) initiated an inventory project entitled "The Jordan Antiquities Database and Information System (JADIS)" as a tool for cultural resource management within Jordan. The development of this inventory had several functions:

to generate a computerized inventory of archaeological and historical sites;
to monitor development and threats of construction in urban and rural environments;
to be able to intervene with greater efficiency where sites already known but poorly protected could be endangered by construction;
to provide scholars, students, and researchers with updated information on the status of archaeological sites in the country, and with a tool for the study of settlement patterns and the evolution of human occupation;
to provide easy access to archaeological and bibliographic references related to sites;
to monitor and address the needs of national and international research in the Jordan

The following JADIS procedures were adapted for our own survey strategy:
The research for JADIS was geared to inform the Jordan Department of Antiquities of important sites for which no reporting system had been set-up previously. JADIS' primary aim was organizing already existing information and putting it on a map. The information gathered, though, had many secondary uses, which included: "…biographical searches, settlement pattern analyses, and regional history, and also educational and management-oriented applications, since the information collected and the software which handles the information allow easy retrieval of basic data concerning the archaeological sites in their geographical and cultural setting" (Preface to JADIS).
JADIS not only helped the team define goals, but also gave the team a framework for collecting data and organizing this data. The team used the JADIS Site Form sheet (1.10), the Code Summary sheet (1.11), the codes for defining periods and describing periods (1.17) and the discussion of the "Problems of Data Reliability" (1.12) in order to create a data collection sheet for the Wadi el-Far'a Survey.
Of all the Far'a surveys consulted, these three provided the most significant information: The Survey of Western Palestine by C. R. Condor and H. H Kitchener; The Manasseh Hill Country Survey: The Shechem Syncline by Adam Zertal; and the Palestine Survey of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR).

1. The British Exploration Fund's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), conducted by C. R. Condor and H. H. Kitchener from 1881 - 1884, includes information about the archaeology, geography, geology, and natural history of Palestine (Abu El-Haj 22). Condor and Kitchener produced maps on a scale of 1:63, 360 (or 1 inch: 1 Statute Mile).

2. An Israeli team directed by Adam Zertal (Tel Aviv University) conducted an illegal survey, which was published in 1996 as The Manasseh Hill Country Survey: The Shechem Syncline (in Hebrew). One of the most comprehensive and most recent surveys conducted in the region, its publication contains a large amount of information about a number of sites in the study area. This survey is valuable for site names, site coordinates (both UTM and Palestine/Israel), and descriptions of soils, type of water, site dating, and other descriptions. It also includes pictures of sites, pottery drawings, maps (scale of 1:50,000), and other descriptive information.

3. The cultural resource management project of the Palestinian National Authority's Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) entitled Cultural Heritage in Palestine, but commonly referred to as the Palestine Survey (PS), was conducted in conjunction with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology (which includes the Department of Antiquities). The PS is the first Palestinian survey that concentrates on the inhabited areas and the archaeological sites close to these areas.

3. Conclusions:

An understanding of the history of site management and the state of archaeology and archaeological site provides a context for the team's recommendations. In general, the area's material cultural heritage has suffered due to lack of or poor site management. The team found that a large number of the sites in the Wadi el-Far'a have been plundered and partially damaged by illegal excavations and other means of human destruction

The overarching goal of the Birzeit-Calvin partnership is sustainable development of the Wadi al-Far'a. All the sectors of the Birzeit-Calvin partnership have a common goal of sharing the work completed. At the national level, the work completed would benefit the work of a number of different ministries within the Palestinian National Authority, namely the Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology (which includes the Department of Antiquities), the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Local Governorates, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, and the Ministry of Education. In addition to those branches of the PNA, the academic community would also benefit. In the case of the archaeology sector this would include the Institute of Archaeology at Birzeit University. At the international level, the work could help the efforts of NGOs and IGOs working in the region as well as organizations like USAID and the UNDP.
The dissemination of the project's work to the above named institutions and organizations could be done in a number of ways, including submission of the project's report to these, an online site containing the report, knowledge that the work has been done, and through educational seminars.

4. Annotated Bibliography