The publication of the final publication from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023 marks a significant milestone in the study of trade, movement, and interaction across southern Jordan. Directors of the project and editors of the volume Craig A. Harvey (University of Alberta), Emanuele e. Intagliata (University of Milan), and Rubina Raja (Aarhus University), together with collaborators bring together the results of the 2023 archaeological survey at the military fort and offers new perspectives on one of the region’s overlooked but strategically important sites.

This newly released volume offers the most comprehensive presentation to date of the archaeological work carried out at Khirbet al-Khalde (ancient Praesidium), a strategically located fort and possible caravanserai along the Via Nova Traiana in southern Jordan. While historical sources have long attested to the far-reaching trade networks of north-western Arabia and the Negev, recent archaeological research is transforming our understanding of how commerce, mobility, and interaction actually unfolded across this arid landscape. Bringing together advanced analytical approaches and a renewed focus on the smaller sites that were situated along these trade routes, the Khirbet al-Khalde survey provides new insights into the site’s character, chronology, and development. The chapters in this volume present a full account of the 2023 survey, including the results from the surface collection of glass, ceramics, building materials, and other finds, the detailed mapping that took place during the survey, and the assessment of long-term site damage. An elaborate study of the glass fragments found at the site has also recently been published in Antiquity.

The results give us a new understanding of the dynamics of trade and movement through this borderland region, and a clearer picture of the role that the site of Khirbet al-Khalde played within a major corridor linking the Red Sea with the wider Near East and Mediterranean region. 

Read more about the book series here.

Read more about the Khirbet al-Khalde volume here.

References

Harvey, C. A., Intagliata, E. E., & Raja, R. (eds). 2025. Khirbet al-Khalde: Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023, The Archaeology and History of Western Asia (300 BCE–750 CE), vol. 2 (Turnhout: Brepols).

Harvey, C. A., Intagliata, E. E., & Raja, R. 2025. ‘Preface and Acknowledgements’, in Khirbet al-Khalde: Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023, edited by C. A. Harvey, E. E. Intagliata and R. Raja (Turnhout: Brepols), pp. 1–2.

Harvey, C. A., Intagliata, E. E., & Raja, R. 2025. ‘Overview of the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023 Campaign’, in Khirbet al-Khalde: Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023, edited by C. A. Harvey, E. E. Intagliata and R. Raja (Turnhout: Brepols), pp. 3–28.

Harvey, C. A., Intagliata, E. E., Mokránová, K., Raja, R., & Zoppi, M. 2025. ‘Damage Assessment at Khirbet al-Khalde’, in Khirbet al-Khalde: Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023, edited by C. A. Harvey, E. E. Intagliata and R. Raja (Turnhout: Brepols), pp. 29–52.

Harvey, C. A., Intagliata, E. E., & Raja, R. 2025. ‘Ceramic Building Materials’, in Khirbet al-Khalde: Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023, edited by C. A. Harvey, E. E. Intagliata and R. Raja (Turnhout: Brepols), pp. 157–84.

Harvey, C. A., Intagliata, E. E., & Raja, R. 2025. ‘Other Finds — Coins, Metal and Stone Artefacts, Metal Slag, Crucibles, and Coral’, in Khirbet al-Khalde: Final Publications from the Khirbet al-Khalde Archaeological Project 2023, edited by C. A. Harvey, E. E. Intagliata and R. Raja (Turnhout: Brepols), pp. 207–14.