HOUSE XVII-XVIII

How To

House XVII-XVIII Preservation

Conserving a major mixed-use complex.

  • House XVIII at Night

    Candles illuminate the eastern courtyard wall of House XVIII, highlighting architectural features such as the double window, cantilevered stairwell, and second-story doorways.

  • Southeastern Approach

    An early spring dawn brings out soft colors on the southeastern pathway towards the House XVII-XVIII complex, located in the southeastern corner of the Byzantine-Umayyad town.

  • Clearing the Courtyard

    Conservation technicians from Umm el-Jimal clear tons of rubble from the main courtyard in order to create a walking path and prepare for archaeological excavations.

  • The Indispensable Arabayyeh

    A staff member wheels an arabayyeh in front of mounds of rubble in the courtyard on his way out the west entryway.

  • South Gate

    Archaeologists from Yarmouk University excavate the southern doorway of House XVIII, discovering an intact water channel running into the complex.

  • Flagstone Courtyard

    Excavations also revealed that the main courtyard was paved with large flagstones in antiquity, shown here with the base of the cantilevered double stairway along the eastern wall.

  • Northwest Tower

    Professors Muwafaq Al-Bataineh and Abdulla Al-Shorman from Yarmouk University look out over the surrounding countryside while perched atop the complex's northeast tower. It's possible that the tower served a surveillance function for local security.

  • Druze Reuse

    Like many buildings at Umm el-Jimal, in the early 20th century Msa'eid bedouin and Druze families refurbished rooms for their own use. This ceiling illustrates such ad-hoc construction inside House XVII, before it was consolidated and rebuilt during the conservation project for visitor safety.

  • Stabilizing the Double Arched Windows

    Cranes are used to access the third-story double arched windows. The blocks around and on top of the windows are carefully marked, removed, and reconstructed in order to stabilize Umm el-Jimal's most famous symbol—a key concern for the project due to its ongoing deterioration.

  • Awda Msa'eid

    The lifelong knowledge and understanding of Umm el-Jimal locals such as conservation specialist Awda Msa'eid (pictured) and foreman Ali Aqil provides the expertise critical to successfully consolidating and preserving much of the House XVII-XVIII complex.

  • Clearing the Reservoir

    Technicians clear House XVIII's own dedicated reservoir, which straddled the structure's eastern foundation wall and once provided a comparatively high volume of water for the building's denizens.

  • Tea Break

    Staff take a quick break for tea, pausing after a job well done before moving on to accomplish the next task. More than 30 residents of modern Umm el-Jimal participate in the conservation project, a crucial relationship for both the community's and the site's ongoing vitality.

  • April 2012 Site Walk

    Director Bert de Vries and project archaeologists guide visitors from the U.S. embassy in Amman, the American Center of Oriental Research, and other organizations on a site walk through House XVIII's courtyard during a review of the project's initial results.

Exploring A Major Complex

Nicknamed by locals Beit Sheikh, or the Home of the Sheikh, so-called House XVII-XVIII is a major mixed-use complex in the southeast section of Byzantine-Umayyad Umm el-Jimal. Howard Crosby Butler, the Princeton archaeologist who first mapped Umm el-Jimal in 1905 and 1909, gave the structure this official name based on his belief that the complex was two distinct domestic buildings. Butler’s interpretation prevailed until 2012, when project archaeologists excavating the structure discovered a doorway connecting both buildings and other evidence demonstrating that it is in fact a single, massive complex. While final interpretation of these results is ongoing, research data suggests that House XVII-XVIII did begin its centuries-long occupation as a home, and later was expanded into an administrative center or possibly even a hotel for caravans and dignitaries traveling through the region.

Fifteen hundred years later, the building remains an impressive structure to discover and explore. The Umm el-Jimal Project’s longtime icon, a beautiful and precariously-perched double arched window, is located in the third story eastern wall. No less than six doorways provide entry into the structure, and its large central courtyard is almost 400 square meters. In antiquity a massive tower was located in the complex’s northwest corner, while cantilevered stairwells provided access to the building’s second and third stories. A large reservoir was located under the eastern wall, which provided a comparatively high volume of water for its occupants.

Conservation

Due to its representative feature set, size, complexity, and architectural diversity, the House XVII-XVIII complex is a prime focus for the project's current research and conservation efforts. This work is now complete, and was made possible by 2012 and 2014 grants from the US Department of State's Ambassador Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP). For details about the process of excavating, clearing, and consolidating the site, watch the slideshow above or check out the videos on the Site Conservation page. Academic publication of the grant project results will be completed in 2016.

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Snow dusts House XVIII

Conserving House XVII-XVIII

Find out more about the process of excavating, consolidating, and conserving House XVII-XVIII by watching brief films in Site Conservation. For more about another of Umm el-Jimal's most prominent buildings, watch the Barracks clip in Short Films.