For more than ten years (1994-2007), work at Pella focussed on the excavation of the six architectural phases of the massive mud-brick and stone Fortress (or Migdol) temple, the largest (32x 28m) of its type ever discovered. The temple had distinct Middle Bronze (ca. 1800-1500 BCE), Late Bronze (1500-1200 BCE) and Iron Age (ca. 1000-800 BCE) phases, one on top of the other. Finds were spectacular, and included several figured, painted and incised ceramic cult stands; Egyptian stone statuary, metal and clay figurines, lapis and gold jewellery, faience and glazed ceramics, and many ceramic bowls, jugs and jars (bearing ‘tree of life’ motifs) and a large mixing bowl with ‘bulls-head’ handles.
In more recent seasons (since 2005) our attention turned to the exploration of a series of related secular building complexes that lie to the west of the temple. The first uncovered was a very large Iron Age Building (detected in 1997 and under intensive exploration since 2005), which by the end of the 2017 field season had resulted in the excavation of parts of at least 46 rooms, many with their contents preserved by a fiery destruction (ca. 800 BCE) which destroyed the site.
We now know a very great deal about what went on in each individual room, of what is turning out to be a structure of unprecedented size and grandeur. It is contemporary with a small Iron II period 12 x 8m structure, the latest of the temples in the sequence, suggesting that in the Iron Age II, the secular complexes were much more the source of wealth and power than the relatively unimportant temples.
Most recently in 2013-2017, we've started to get an idea of the large Middle Bronze Age (1800-1500 BCE) Palatial residence that seems probably to be a structure of the ‘Courtyard Palace’ type, the main palace-form of the later MBA in the southern Levant. We have only exposed a few rooms and courtyard areas of this structure, but the thick yellow plaster floors, and the intriguing mud-brick features, along with the administrative paraphernalia (scarabs, cylinder seals and their sealing impressions on clay) all suggest the presence of a major administrative structure, which seems to reflect the wealth and power of the huge Stone Migdol temple phase to its east.
At the end of the 2017 season, one phase of Early Bronze Age (ca. 3200 BCE) and one phase of middle Chalcolithic (ca. 4500 BCE) architecture had been uncovered in deep soundings, indicating the promise of things to come. In 2019, we plan to further explore the major civic structures, in new trenches to the north and west of the current excavation zone.
We look forward to an interesting and rewarding season as we expand our work exploring one of the more fascinating and important cities of ancient Jordan.
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