Jordan Archaeological Museum

The Jordan Archaeological Museum is located in the Citadel of Amman, Jordan. Built in 1951, it presents artifacts from archaeological sites in Jordan, dating from prehistoric times up to the 15th century. The collections are arranged in chronological order and include items of everyday life such as flint, glass, metal and pottery objects, as well as more artistic items such as jewelry and statues. Highlights of the museum collections include some of the ʿAin Ghazal statues, which are among oldest statues ever made, and plastered human skulls from Jericho. The museum also includes a coin collection.

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Double-headed ʿAin Ghazal statue, one of the oldest human statues

History

The museum was established in 1951 on top of Amman's Citadel Hill, among the remains of the Citadel in the heart of the city.

The museum formerly housed some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, including the only Copper scroll, which are now on display in the more recently established Jordan Museum, along with some of the Ain Ghazal statues.

Location

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Ruins of the Roman Temple of Hercules on Citadel Hill

The museum is located in the Amman Citadel in Amman, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world. Two historic sites are nearby on top of the hill, the Roman Temple of Hercules that dates back to the 2nd century, and an Umayyad palace that dates back to the 8th century. Prior to 1967, the museum had a branch in East Jerusalem.

Time periods represented

The collections of the museum belong to the following periods:

• Paleolithic period: 1,000,000–10,000 years ago
• Neolithic period: 12,000 years ago up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age
  • Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN): 8,300–5,500 BC, the most famous artifacts that belong to this period being the Ain Ghazal statues.
  • Pottery Neolithic (PN): 5,500–4,300 BC
• Chalcolithic: 4,300–3,300 BC
• Bronze Age
  • Early Bronze Age: 3,300–1,900 BC
  • Middle Bronze Age: 1,900–1,550 BC
  • Late Bronze Age: 1,550–1,200 BC
• Iron Age: 1,200–550 BC
• Persian period: c. 550–332 BC
• Hellenistic period: c. 332–63 BC
• Nabatean period
• Roman period
• Byzantine period
• Rashidun period
• Umayyad period
• Abbasid period
• Crusader/Ayyubid period

See also

• British Museum, holding numerous findings from (Trans-)Jordan
• Cincinnati Art Museum, holding dome of the Khirbet et-Tannur reliefs
• Israel Museum (est. 1965), holding most of the Dead Sea Scrolls
• Istanbul Archaeology Museums, holding major findings from the entire Ottoman Empire
• Jordan Museum (est. 2014), now Jordan's main archeological museum
• Louvre, holding the Mesha Stele
• National Museum of Damascus (est. 1919)
• Pergamon Museum (est. 1930), holding the Mshatta facade
• Rockefeller Archeological Museum (est. 1938), formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum (until 1967)