Jawa

Jawa, situated in the arid Harrat al-Shamah region of Eastern Jordan, is home to Jordan’s earliest proto-urban settlement dating back to the late 4th millennium BC (Early Bronze Age). This area is known for its dry climate.

Archaeological evidence shows that Jawa was protected from flash floods using dams, including a masonry gravity dam that is not only the largest but also the oldest known dam worldwide.

Located just 7 km past Qasr Deir Al Kinn,one of the driest areas of the Black Desert (Harrat al-Shamah) of Eastern Jordan. Jawa is a Bronze Age settlement with towering black basalt walls situated on a rocky ledge adjacent to the Wadi Rajil. Despite being an impressive construction feat, the origins of the people who built the town remain unknown, and they abandoned it after a mere 500 years.

The most notable feature of Jawa is its ancient dam, dating back to 3000 BC. It was an integral component of the town’s water supply system, which included several smaller dams to support the growing community.

Exploring the site, visitors can walk up the northwest ridge to a reused ancient reservoir and climb to the top of the hill. Jawa was divided into an upper and lower town, each enclosed by massive walls made of roughly coursed basalt with a rubble core, covering a total area of 10 ha. The upper fortification is the strongest, with a height of up to 6 m above the bedrock.

The lower fortification was constructed later and grew out of a temporary labour camp that accommodated the workers recruited to build the upper fortress. Jawa has an extraordinary number of gates, with at least six in the upper town and eight in the lower.

The town was densely populated with irregularly shaped houses, partly subterranean with stone foundations, mud-brick substructures, mus floors, plastered walls, and roofs made of oak beams from the Jabal Druze covered with reeds and mud.

One of Jawa’s most impressive features was its hydrology system, which harnessed the winter rains to provide water in a region where springs are scarce and access to groundwater is limited. Over 8 km of stone canals, diversions, dams, and reservoirs at Jawa and along the Wadi Rajil attest to the Jawaites’ complex and efficient water system.

Unfortunately, after just a few decades, Jawa was attacked, with walls breached and widespread destruction evident in the archaeological record. Although some people continued to occupy the site for a short time, the water system failed without proper upkeep, and Jawa was ultimately abandoned. After being reoccupied on a small scale by different communities over a millennium later, it was eventually deserted for good and has remained an enigmatic, silent ruin in the “Black Desert” for approximately 4,000 years.