Wadi Hammeh 27
وادي الحمة 27 · Wadi al-Hammeh 27 · WH 27
Early Natufian (14,500–13,000 BP)·Early Natufian (Levant)·🇯🇴 Irbid Governorate, Jordan Valley, Wadi Hammeh east bank near Pella (Tabaqat Fahl), Jordan
About
About Wadi Hammeh 27
Large Early Natufian base camp (c.14,500–13,000 BP) on a terrace over Wadi Hammeh, opposite Classical Pella, excavated by P. Edwards (U. Sydney 1983–1990). Earliest stone architecture in Jordan Valley: pitted stone slab floors, massive wall footings 0.8 m thick, plastered storage pits and >20 burials with dentalium shell head-dresses. Faunal and grinding stone intensity proves broad-spectrum delay–return economy immediately before the Natufian fluorescence seen at Wadi Ein Gev and Hayonim Cave, anchoring northern Jordan Valley sedentary onset.
Why it mattersEarliest architecture in Jordan Valley; demonstrates sedentary life + storage before agriculture, model for Natufian emergence.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Massive wall — defensive or communal?
Theories
- 01Foothill ecotone base camp exploiting valley floor + highland oak acorn zones
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. 14,500 BP (Early Natufian)
- Period
- Early Natufian (14,500–13,000 BP)
- Culture
- Early Natufian (Levant)
- Builders
- Natufian foragers
- Purpose
- Year-round base camp with storage and cemetery
- Abandoned
- c.13,000 BP (transition to Late Natufian elsewhere)
- Rediscovered
- 1983 Edwards survey; excavated 1983–1990, 2006–
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c.14500 BP
Slab floors laid over wadi terrace
c.14000 BP
Burial cluster with shell caps interred
1983
First trench exposes 0.8 m stone wall
On the ground
Structures & features
32.1860° N · 35.5780° E · -80 m · 2 mapped features
Stone slab floor building
buildingPhase 1 building with limestone slab floor and curvilinear wall
32.1862° N · 35.5783° EBurial cluster
burialGroup burial with dentalium caps and ochre
32.1858° N · 35.5778° E