Baja
بعجة · Ba'ja · Baja (Jordan)
Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c.7400–6800 BCE)·PPNB (southern Levantine highland)·🇯🇴 Ma'an Governorate, Petra hinterland highlands, Jordan
About
About Baja
Spectacular PPNB cliff-top village (c.7400–6800 BCE, LPPNB) on isolated sandstone mesa 1160 m, accessed by slot siq, 1.5 ha. Two-storey corridor houses with painted plaster, burial cist with 2500-bead child necklace (turquoise, shell, amber) 2023 PLOS ONE, mother-of-pearl workshop, sandstone slab architecture. Excavated 1997– by Hans Georg Gebel (Free Univ. Berlin) and Christoph Purschwitz shows proto-urban collective with stair tunnels and perimeter wall. Overshoot evidence, suddenly abandoned.
Why it mattersMost elaborate LPPNB architecture in Jordan; 2500-bead necklace and collective-building model.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Why build on inaccessible mesa?
- 02Cause of abrupt abandonment?
Theories
- 01Collective protection vs ritual aggregation
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.7400 BCE
- Period
- Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c.7400–6800 BCE)
- Culture
- PPNB (southern Levantine highland)
- Builders
- Petra-hinterland PPNB households
- Purpose
- Hilltop collective hamlet with bead/ornament workshop, defensible aggregation
- Abandoned
- c.6800 BCE LPPNB collapse
- Rediscovered
- 1984 survey; 1997 Gebel excavation
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.7400 BCE
Cliff-top village founded on mesa
c.7000 BCE
Multi-storey houses and wall built
c.6800 BCE
Abrupt abandonment; landslide?
2023
Bead necklace child burial published
On the ground
Structures & features
30.4100° N · 35.4600° E · 1180 m · 3 mapped features
Baja — Siq entrance
entranceNarrow 40 m sandstone siq with steps, only access
30.4105° N · 35.4605° EBaja — Multi-storey quarter
houseTwo-storey corridor houses with plaster and beads
30.4100° N · 35.4600° EBaja — Child necklace burial
burialPPNB child burial with 2500-bead necklace, central building
30.4095° N · 35.4595° E