Khirbet Ghozlan

Abstract

• The site of Khirbet Um al-Ghozlan sits on a steep knoll overlooking the Wadi Rayyan in north Jordan. Because it is only 0.4 ha in size, most surveys would classify the site as a hamlet or village. In this respect, Khirbet Ghozlan sits comfortably within our traditional understanding of the Early Bronze IV period (2600–2000 BC), during which people abandoned large, fortified, mounded sites and dispersed into small, undefended villages. However, Khirbet Ghozlan is remarkable for a monumental enclosure wall. Built partly as a double row of megalithic slabs, this enclosure controlled access to the Ghozlan knoll. Khirbet Ghozlan is one of several EB IV enclosure sites, all located on the well-drained slopes of the Jordan Rift Valley escarpment in areas well suited to horticultural production. We have proposed that enclosure sites served as specialized processing centers for upland tree crops, such as olive (Olea europaea), and were defended to protect seasonally produced stockpiles of valuable liquid commodities, such as oil (see Fraser and Cartwright 2018)