Abstract

This lecture will focus on giving an overview of new research undertaken in the well-known Roman to early Islamic-period city Gerasa/Jerash located in modern northern Jordan. The work undertaken by the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project since 2011 has given priority to understanding one specific area of the city, the highest point within the walled city, prominently located overlooking the Roman-period Artemision. This quarter, comprising approximately 4 hectars of land, has been investigated in order to understand the development of the city within the already known areas and determine whether looking at areas outside of the so-called centre of the city might give insight into urban development processes. The project has yielded fruitful results, including new evidence for the street layout, domestic housing, water management in the periods from the 1st century AD into the mid-8th century AD, when a devastating earthquake hit the region, and activity in the Northwest Quarter came of a halt.    

This lecture, no. 4, is a part of a lecture series by Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (Urbnet), Aarhus University. UrbNet presents the lecture series Urban Network Evolutions at the Danish Institute in Athens in spring/fall 2017, focusing on the development of urban networks and the way in which urban encounters catalysed societal and cultural changes. During a total of six lectures, the subject of urbanism will be elucidated with reference to different geographical contexts: The Middle East, Africa and Northern Europe – as well as different types of evidence/finds: ceramics, metal and water management. Finally, perspectives will be offered on a new approach to the topic: High-Definition Archaeology.  

Programme for the lecture series.