Past Watch Site

In the lower foothills of the Jordan Valley, hundreds of megalithic blocks rest silently on the arid slopes of the Damiya Dolmen Field. During the Early Bronze Age (3600-3000 B.C.), these massive slabs of Ramla sandstone and travertine were used to create burial chambers known as dolmens. The dolmens, with their lower upright stones supporting enormous, horizontal capstones, convey the sense of delicate balance that has endured on this terrain for some five millennia. Roughly 300 dolmens survive in the Damiya Dolmen Field. Along with several other rock-cut tombs and circular stone-cut features, the mortuary structures of the Damiya Dolmen Field together form a highly significant and rare landscape.

Dolmen sites throughout Jordan are being lost at an alarming rate, and the unparalleled landscape of Damiya is now threatened by developmental pressures from quarrying operations. With only a negligible barrier left to protect them, many of the fragile dolmens are now suspended on quarried pillars and left vulnerable to collapse. Despite efforts by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities to document the structures, they are unable to abate the destruction that these highly invasive quarrying processes will exact on these ancient vestiges. Watch listing aims to raise awareness about the plight of this extraordinary landscape and ensure its protection.

UPDATE

In December 2010, Jordan’s Department of Antiquities announced the creation of the Damiya Dolmen Archaeological Park, which will protect dozens of dolmens in situ. In addition, 23 others within the quarrying concession will be relocated to the park to spare them from destruction.