A two-week season of ground survey of the Jarash Hinterland was carried out between 17 September and 29 September 2005. The 2005 season was intended to be the first season of a project of survey covering an area of c. 10 sq km centred on the Roman city of Gerasa.
The project was directed by Prof. David Kennedy (University of Western Australia) and Fiona Baker (Firat Archaeological Services) with a
team from Australia and the UK.
Despite the difficulties of surveying through the back gardens and little olive groves of the local land-owners, an enormous amount was recorded and opened up a new slant on what this area beyond the West wall was like in Roman times.
Foremost, of course, as expected, were the
cemeteries and great tombs of the well-to-do. Two just near the West wall itself had long been known, with their extensive underground capacity for multiple layers of sarcophagi. Also long-known but far less familiar was what we called the
Tomb of the Councillor. Sarcophagi were found everywhere - including
one group, heaped in an olive grove, apparently the remains of a tomb uncovered when a nearby house was built. Others were being reused - one for mixing cement. All told we recorded 26 sarcophagi, presumably dragged from some of the underground chamber tombs of all sizes we recorded.
Much more common were the rock-cut graves seen everywhere in the rocky outcrops of the area. We recorded 84 of those. Although this latter type are relatively simple they probably still represent to burial places of the upper end of the social scale.
Associated with the rock-cut grave types in particular were numerous minor quarries. Indeed, the two were linked - a rock-cut grave produced usable stone and quarries created slots and chambers. 31 were recorded.
Especially interesting was the discovery of what may have been an "industrial area". Just west of the city walls. Throughout an extensive olive grove large numbers of sherds were found, mainly broken kiln-wasters, and here and there pieces of vitrified kiln shell. The pottery is of a Late Roman-Early Islamic type.
There were hints of other structures perhaps once located in the vicinity - a monolith inscribed with Christian
crosses (an extra-mural church?), tesserae (mosaics from a house or church), a possible milestone base (a road),
inscriptions (8), ...
All told, 217+ "sites" were recorded in an area of 80 ha. Much of this area was already under roads, houses or inaccessible gardens. Much more undoubtedly lay beyond our time and resources. Sadly further funding was not immediately available and in 2006 a brief visit revealed dozens of new houses in various stages, a bulldozer cut into the
Tomb of the Councillor and evidence everywhere of the intensification of development.
