Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh
تل السعيدية · Tell es-Saidiyeh, Tell Saidiyeh, Zarethan?
EB through Persian; LB-Iron cemetery peak·Canaanite → Egyptian residency (LB) → Philistine/Sea Peoples → Iron Ammonite·🇯🇴 Balqa–Jordan Valley, Wadi Kufrinjeh mouth, Jordan
About
About Tell es-Sa‘idiyeh
Twin-town tell in central Jordan Valley (45 m high, 480×240 m), excavated 1964–67 James Pritchard and 1985–2013 Jonathan Tubb (British Museum). Occupied EB-Rescue through Iron and Persian with large LB–Iron cemetery (500+ graves) of Egyptianized anthropoid coffins, double-pithos burials and Sea Peoples horizon. Classic 12th c. BCE collapse cemetery with Egyptian residency, then Iron I Philistine Bichrome and Iron II Ammonite-type houses. Identified as biblical Zarethan (Joshua 3:16). Lower valley silt buries extensive lower town.
Why it mattersLargest LB–Iron anthropoid-coffin cemetery in Jordan Valley; documents Egyptian retreat and Sea Peoples arrival via mortuary practice.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Zarethan identification certainty
- 02Sea Peoples presence as Philistine Bichrome import vs local adoption
Theories
- 01Tubb Egyptian residency model vs Wengrow Egyptianizing emulation
- 02Anthropoid coffins as ethnicity vs military status debate
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.2500 BCE EB; LB cemetery c.1400–1100 BCE; Philistine Iron I c.1150 BCE
- Period
- EB through Persian; LB-Iron cemetery peak
- Culture
- Canaanite → Egyptian residency (LB) → Philistine/Sea Peoples → Iron Ammonite
- Builders
- Canaanite Egyptians then Philistine settlers; Ammonite town
- Purpose
- Valley double mound controlling Jabbok–Jordan ford (Zarethan)
- Abandoned
- c.550 BCE Persian level abandonment
- Rediscovered
- Excavated Pritchard 1964–67; 1985– Tubb (BM)
- Excavation
- Excavated
1180 BCE
Anthropoid clay coffin cemetery peak (Egyptian garrison dead)
1985
British Museum reopens cemetery with continuous 28 seasons
On the ground
Structures & features
32.2680° N · 35.5780° E · -10 m · 2 mapped features
Anthropoid coffin cemetery (Area BB)
necropolis500 cist and anthropoid clay-coffin graves
32.2685° N · 35.5785° EUpper LB mudbrick town
settlementLB houses beneath cemetery
32.2680° N · 35.5780° E