Tell el-Maqlub

Tell el-Maqlub ('Over-turned mound') is a Bronze and Iron Age archaeological site in Ajloun Governorate, Jordan.

Tell el-Maqlub
تل ٱلْمقلوب
Shown within Jordan
LocationAjloun Governorate, Jordan
Coordinates32.402370°N 35.6823°E / 32.402370; 35.6823
TypeSettlement
Site notes
ConditionIn ruins
Public accessYes

Location

Tell el-Maqlub is situated atop of a hill overlooking a bend in Wadi Yabis, in a region known in biblical times as Gilead. It is located 35 km from the Sea of Galilee, 75 km from the Mediterranean Sea, 11 km east of the Jordan River, 3 km northeast of Halawah, and 20 km south-southwest of Beit She'an, Israel.

Biblical identification

Tell el-Maqlub is commonly identified with biblical town of Jabesh Gilead by several archaeologists and biblical scholars.[1][2][3][4][5] This identification is thought to be in accordance with the account of Eusebius, who described "Iabeis Galaad" in the 4th century CE as a "village beyond the Jordan located on the mountains six miles from the city of Pella on the road to Gerasa."[6]

Other biblical scholars, including Nelson Gluck, preferred to identify Jabesh-Gilead with Tell Abu el-Kharaz, located further east along the Wadi Yabis, based on the biblical account given in the Book of Samuel of Jabesh being a night's march from Beit She'an.[7]

Findings

Tell el-Maqlub was once surrounded by a massive defensive wall, parts of it are still visible today.[7] Potsherds from the Early Bronze Age (I-II), Middle Bronze Age (I-IIA), Iron Age (I-II) and Roman-Byzantine periods were found here.[7]

Based on archeological surveys conducted at the site, Tell el-Maqlub was a large, fortified town during the Iron Age, and when the nearby hills were first terraced for agriculture.

Notes
  1. Merrill, S (1883) [1881]. East of the Jordan: a record of travel and observation in the countries of Moab, Gilead, and Bashan. R. Bentley. New York: Scribner's. p. 440.
  2. Noth, M. (1953). "Jabesh-gilead: Ein Beitrag zur Methode alttestamentischer Topographie". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins: 28–41.
  3. Simons, J (1959). The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament: A Concise Commentary in XXXII Chapters. Leiden: Brill. p. 315.
  4. Aharoni, Y. (1979). Rainey, A.F. (ed.). The Land of the Bible: A Historical Geography (2 ed.). London: Burns & Oates. pp. 379, 437.
  5. Finkelstein, Israel; Lipschits, Oded; Koch, Ido (2012). "The Biblical Gilead: Observations on Identifications, Geographic Divisions and Territorial History.". Ugarit-Forschungen ; Band 43 (2011). [Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar]. p. 131. ISBN 978-3-86835-086-9. OCLC 1101929531.
  6. McDonald, Burton (2000). East of the Jordan: Territories and Sites of the Hebrew Scriptures (PDF). American Schools of Oriental Research. pp. 202–204.
  7. Glueck, Nelson (1943). "Some Ancient Towns in the Plains of Moab". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. 91: 8–10. doi:10.2307/3219054. ISSN 0003-097X.
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