Abstract

In 2014 an interdisciplinary project has been started with the goal to reconstruct historical land use and landscape change in the hinterland of three cities in Northern Jordan from Bronze Age till modern times, combining archaeological, historical and scientific methods. One major step was to conduct intensive transect surveys radiating out from the towns. The objective of this survey was rather to look for different types of artefact distribution resulting from a certain type of agricultural activity than being restricted to detecting new settlements. In general significant differences of material culture on the fields were observed. Questions regarding the origin of these artefact scatters and their relationship to field use during different periods are to be investigated.