Mount Nebo. An Archaeological Survey of the Region. Vol. I: The Palaeolithic and the Neolithic Periods

By Peder Mortensen, Ingolf Thuesen and Inge Demant Mortensen

Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2013

During six seasons (1992-1998) an intensive survey of the Mount Nebo region was accomplished under the auspices of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute at Mount Nebo and the Danish Palestine Foundation. It was followed by a brief reconnaissance in 2008. The survey was carried out in the field by a small group of archaeologists, directed by Peder Mortensen. The group was occasionally joined by Michele Piccirillo and by Carmelo Pappalardo from the Franciscan Archaeological Institute.

Centered around Mount Nebo, the survey covered an area of approximately 35 square kilometres varying in elevation from -100 to +800 metres. Within the region 748 sites and monuments - in time ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Ottoman periods -were located.

The attention was primarily concentrated on the large number of megalithic monuments: 194 dolmens, 41 lines of stones and menhirs, and 316 circular megalithic tombs. Together with other finds from the Chalcolithic, Bronze- and Iron Ages, and from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods they will be published in two successive volumes.

This volume, however, is dedicated to the description of 79 locations and single finds, which can be attributed to the Stone Age.