This dataset relates to the results of excavations by the Faculty of Archaeology (University of Warsaw) during April and May 2023 at Khirbat as-Sar, an archaeological site located in the south-western suburb of Amman, Jordan. The team was headed by Associate Professor Mariusz Burdajewicz, PhD (University of Warsaw), and included Prof. Jolanta Mlynarczyk (University of Warsaw) as co-director.
The data presented includes various elements of field documentation: a description of the areas excavated, with preliminary conclusions (Field Report), a set of photographs, GIS data, and a list of finds inventoried and deposited with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan.
The following dataset is designed for researchers working on a range of topics related to the archaeology of the Near East, spanning from the Iron Age to Ottoman times. In particular, it may be of interest to scholars interested in the current state of research on the history, culture, and development of settlement on the Belqa plateau, which in antiquity was the territory of the biblical Ammonites, with its capital at Rabbath-Ammon (present-day Amman). Later on, the city, renamed Philadelphia (of the Decapolis), was one of the flourishing centres of Greco-Roman, Byzantine, and eventually Islamic culture. Khirbat as-Sar, as a multi-period site, is highly promising for various research topics. Overall, the dataset provided is already likely to be useful to other researchers before the final publication of the excavations comes out, after the end of the current project (2026).
The excavation project at Khirbat as-Sar is funded by the Polish National Science Centre (OPUS 22, UMO-2021/43/B/HS3/00813).
Please check back for updates, for the years of the 2024 and 2025 excavation seasons.
Website:
https://khirbet-sar.archeologia.uw.edu.pl/
(2025)
