[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
The volume under review is an important addition to the series of studies presenting the final results of the joint Danish-German excavation at Gerasa/Jerash. In eleven chapters it covers the material related to exterior and interior architectural decoration, including sculpture, architectural elements, architectural ceramics, and wall and floor revetments such as paintings and mosaics. All the finds come from fill layers and in-situ contexts uncovered during field work in the Northwest Quarter from 2011 to 2016. The typological and chronological varieties reflect the uninterrupted occupational phases of the northwestern neighborhood of the Decapolis city of Gerasa/Jerash, spanning the centuries from the Hellenistic to the Islamic period, roughly until the earthquake of 749 CE when the area was eventually abandoned. The specificity of the finds and their locations highlight several aspects related to production, usage, spoliation, reuse, and recycling, equally important when dealing with a well-defined urban context. Concurrently, the long chronological horizon sheds light on the process of selection and requalification, allowing us to capture the spatial and temporal changes in the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods.
Chapter 1 (Lichtenberger and Raja) offers methodological considerations and contextualizes the finds discussed in this volume from the point of view of urban archaeology. Chapter 2 (Kreuz) focuses on the architectural stone elements, either plain or with moldings, documented in the five-year excavation project. The analysis has the bold aim of framing the material within its fluid implementation in the city’s buildings focusing on primary use, spoliation, reuse and recycling. The catalogue of eighty-two entries includes bases, capitals, entablatures, column drums, moldings and miscellaneous elements from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The corpus is well-contextualized, although an additional effort to trace the provenience, type of marble and limestone (very shortly discussed on p. 17) would have been much welcomed. Such an analytic discourse would allow to shed light on workshops, trade on local and regional levels, and the faith associated with the spoliation of classical monuments during Late Antiquity and Early Islam. Furthermore, the extremely uncommon form of the loculus block for reliquary n. 81 (pp. 57–58) deserves a longer discussion owing to its importance.[1]
Lichtenberger and Raja (Chapters 3 and 4) discuss two types of special materials: the Byzantine interior decoration elements such as sigma table, chancel screen, marble relief in champlevé technique, and in stone. However, here as well, the type, source and origin of the raw material is not specified. The finds are attested in secondary contexts, although initially used in religious buildings, either the church or the synagogue that stood in that area of the city. It remains unclear why the fragments of a second marble chancel screen were discussed instead in Chapter 2 (pp. 54-55). In Chapter 4, a monumental limestone block with altar iconography is examined. The block was reworked and reused in an oil press. According to comparative evidence, it was originally used to decorate a monumental archway entrance to a pre-Hadrianic Roman sacred space. No such religious buildings have been identified to-date in the ancient city’s fabric.
Ebeling (Chapter 5) presents the evidence for ceramic building materials, in total 323 selected pieces including roof tiles (tegulae and imbrices), tubuli (box flue tiles), pila units (hypocaust bricks), lateres (floor or wall tiles), and a few miscellaneous pieces, likely industrial objects. Like other finds discussed in the book, none of these materials stems from a primary context, but rather from secondary use or dump assemblages. The types and forms show great variety, although the tegulae constitute the main typology, appearing together with imbrices and other building elements. Many tegulae were found in a domestic context, yet no complete tiled roof can be reconstructed. The second half of the chapter provides an extremely useful catalogue of the material retrieved by the Danish-German mission, which can be certainly useful for parallels and comparisons with similar contexts in other sites in Jordan.
In Chapter 6, Ebeling and Barfod provide an scientific analysis of the building ceramics, focusing on their composition and textures. Having been exposed to high temperatures, the finds can provide information on the nature of the firing procedure and the fuel types, which may lead to a better understanding of the local technological know-how and the various workshop traditions. In Chapter 7, misfired ceramic tegulae are discussed by Barfod, Ebeling and Lesher. The study of the source and chemical composition of partially melted tegulae reveals the local origin of the roof tiles sampled.
The second part of the volume, entirely dedicated to wall and floor revetments, begins with Chapter 8, in which Damgaard Thomsen discusses various typologies of painted wall plaster. None of the collected paintings shows a continuous section; pieces were mostly fragmented and found in secondary fill and soil deposits. This situation is due to the fragility of the sand- and lime-based mortar and plaster. The common styles include geometric patterns in a variety of colors, and light to dark shades of various colors such as blue, red, orange, green, yellow, and purple/brownish. Very few examples contain lines, figures or graffiti (inscriptions), and the largest group consists of unpainted plain plaster. The painted wall decorations attest to the repetition of patterns from the Roman to the Umayyad periods, expressing regional styles and choices without clear distinctions between the Roman, Byzantine, and Umayyad phases. Important contributions of this chapter are its placement of the material within a broader regional context, and the overview of the technical aspects of the decoration, which without doubt will be extremely useful for future studies. The chapter ends with a catalogue of plaster and mortar fragments divided according to context, area and architectural structure (cistern, hall, house etc.). What seems to be missing here is an archaeometric analysis of samples (as for example petrographic thin sections) to determine the dominant type of aggregate (such as quartz, limestone, bioclasts, charcoal, etc.) and other microorganisms, an investigation which may offer insights into the skills of the decorators, the provenance of the material, and the possible existence of a local industry.
Barfod (Chapter 9) discusses the issue of the color palette and pigments employed in wall paintings, showing that a modest range of colors was used in the area, either for economic reasons or because of the low availability of imported pigments such as the kaolinite pinks, the Egyptian blues, and the bright cinnabar reds.
Wootton in Chapter 10 addresses the mosaics, both in-situ floors and related finds identified in mixed fills, where the size, weight, and material of the bedding fragments suggest that such pieces originally belonged to floors dated to the Late Roman or Early Byzantine periods. The large number of loose elongated tesserae found in the same contexts were used for the bedding of the mosaic floors as aggregate, in order to make them more resistant to damage. A second possible hypothesis is that such tesserae were simply raw components awaiting further processing.
Two trenches marked as N and W, situated just to the north-west of the so-called Synagogue Church, were excavated in 2015–2016 and revealed a large rectangular building paved with mosaics with at least three phases. Two mosaic floors with inscriptions, the first dated to 576 CE, decorate the building aligned with the Synagogue Church[2], and communicated directly with its atrium via a set of stairs. The mosaicked hall served as an assembly place for the unit of Electi Iustiniani mentioned in the inscription. The second mosaic with an inscription was placed on the west side of the communication doorway in 591 CE. The two inscriptions refer to the patronage of the same person, Stephanos, son of Kosmas, daikon of the unit, during his first and third term. Part of the hall is identified in the second mosaic as a kellion, although the exact meaning of the term in this specific context remains unclear[3].
Three special units with names related to Justinian are attested in Egypt around the same date. The identification of a selected military unit might shed light on the requalification of the area, possibly after the confiscation of synagogue property following the Samaritan revolt (or some other urban unrest) in favor of the Electi Iustiniani.
Military presence in Jerash in Late Antiquity can be also evinced from the dedicatory inscription of the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damianus financed by the tribune Daghisteos, who can be identified, according to David Kennedy, as a general who served under Justinian and was mentioned by Procopius in his account of the military campaigns in Lazica[4]. It cannot be excluded that selected military units were stationed in cities while most of the countryside remained under the control of the Arab foederati[5].
Important considerations can be put forward concerning the quality of the mosaic that decorated this public space, namely, its fitting perfectly into the stylistic breadth of other, contemporary church pavements discovered in the same city. Among these are the Chapel of Bishop Marianus, the clergy house and the baths of Placcus (built next to the cathedral of the city), and the houses and shops lining the Cardo Maximus. Wootton suggests that seasonality had an impact on the work of the local mosaicists since both floors were concluded in March and July, showing preference for spring and early summer months. An additional overview is given of loose tesserae, some coming from an upper floor and others used as aggregate. These leftovers, a stored quantity of tesserae and their eventual recycling serve as indicators that mosaics were still a known medium in Islamic Jerash.
In Chapter 11, Boschetti and Wootton discuss the loose mosaic glass tesserae retrieved in the Northwest Quarter of Jerash. These glass tesserae of various textures and colors (opaque white, yellow, blue, green, turquoise, brown, black, and a few gilded) probably came from wall decorations, although none were found in situ. Their chemical composition allows their Levantine and Egyptian provenance to be identified and shows that glass mosaics were produced, imported and employed in the city from the second to the seventh centuries. There is also evidence for glass recycling and recoloring in tesserae identified as Levantine I, while gilded tesserae were mostly imported from Egypt.
Overall, this volume certainly deserves attention. It builds on previous articles that have appeared in various journals on most topics presented here, while placing the finds in their local and regional perspective. The volume strongly contributes to the on-going discussion on the fate of cities during two crucial transitional periods (from Roman to Byzantine, and from Byzantine to Islamic), showing that continuity was their hallmark, especially when viewed from the human perspective[6]. Additional reflections on old and new research methods are also a valuable undertaking of the Danish-German excavation project in relation to the studies of the Decapolis, and will certainly become both a useful tool for scholars working on parallel subjects and a valuable source for critical discussion in a broader Mediterranean transregional perspective.
Authors and Titles
Volume 1: Architecture and Building Ceramics
Contextualizing Finds from Complex Urban Archaeological Contexts: Methodological Considerations on the Architectural Elements, Building Materials, and Mosaics from the Northwest Quarter (2011–2016) — Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja
Architectural Elements from the Northwest Quarter of Jerash — Patric-Alexander Kreuz
Byzantine Interior Decorational Elements from the Northwest Quarter — Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja
A Monumental Architectural Limestone Block with Altar Iconography — Achim Lichtenberger and Rubina Raja
Ceramic Building Materials from the Northwest Quarter — Philip Ebeling
An Archaeo-Scientific Analysis of Building Ceramics from the Northwest Quarter — Philip Ebeling and Gry H. Barfod
‘Misfired’ Ceramic Tegulae from the Northwest Quarter — Gry H. Barfod, Philip Ebeling, and Charles E. Lesher
Volume 2: Wall Paintings and Mosaics
Wall Paintings from the Northwest Quarter of Jerash: Roman to Middle Islamic Periods — Kristine Damgaard Thomsen
The Colour Palette of the Northwest Quarter: Geochemical Evidence from Pigments Used on Roman and Early Islamic Wall Decorations — Gry H. Barfod
The Mosaics: In-situ Floors and Fragments in Jerash — William T. Wootton
Mosaic Glass Tesserae from the Northwest Quarter of Jerash — Cristina Boschetti and William T. Wootton
Notes
[1] On the typology of reliquaries see: D. Bianchi, Archäologische Zeugnisse für den Reliquienkult im Heiligen Land, Mitteilungen zur Christlichen Archäologie 28 (2022), 45–65.
[2] The synagogue church, uncovered in the 1920s by an American-British expedition, was erected in 530/531 CE over the synagogue (built in the 5th century).
[3] Two mosaic inscriptions, dated to 566 and 569/570 found in the rectangular rooms built to the southeast of the Procopius Church in Jerash mention the term kellion. According to Gatier it refers to communal or collective halls paved with mosaics in the time of Bishop Marianus. P.-L. Gatier et alii, “Le bâtiment communautaire de l’église dite «de Procopios» à Gérasa.” Syria 99 (2022): 203–238.
[4] D. Kennedy, The Roman Army in Jordan, London 2004 (2nd ed.), pp. 115–116.
[5] B. Hamarneh, The Justinian Renaissance in the East: Reality or Illusion? In: A. Castrorao Barba and G. Castiglia (eds.), Perspectives on Byzantine Archaeology: From Justinian to the Abbasid Age (6th–9th Centuries). Turnhout: Brepols (2022), 81–92.
[6] L. Blanke, (Re)constructing Jerash: History, Historiography and the making of the Ancient City. In: E. Key Fowden, S. Cagaptay, E. Zychowicz-Coghill, and L. Blanke (eds.), Cities as Palimpsests? Responses to Antiquity in Eastern Mediterranean Urbanism. Impact of the Ancient City, I. Oxford: Oxbow (2022), 351–370.