167. Jalūl, Khirbet | خربة جلول

Mādaba Governorate

Jāmi‘

JADIS no. 2312001

MEGA no. 2692 (mosque not listed as site element)

Coordinates: 31°43'02.0"N 35°51'16.3"E

31.717222, 35.854528

Plan: The mosque is located in the abandoned village in the plain to the W of the Tell. It is almost square in plan with a door in the N wall terminating above in a semicircular frame with protruding key-stone. This centralized door faces the miḥrāb in the interior S wall; two windows in the E and W wall, each of them flanked a wall niches with rounded upper ends. Along the NE exterior ascends an external staircase to the roof top (extended to the N with concrete steps and platform in recent times).

Measurements: ca. 60 m²

Exterior: 9.00 x 9.90 m.

Interior: 7.80 x 7.70 m.

Building Materials: white to light ochre limestone quarried in the environs. Many well-dressed stones seem to be of ancient origin, especially the embossed ones used in the foundation zone of the SE corner.

Construction details: isodomic masonry of cubic blocks set up to 14 horizontal courses with modern concrete in the joints. At the SE exterior corner protrude rusticated embossed blocks of early Roman date above the foundation level. The entire interior walls have been coated recently with a thin layer of concrete. Two iron reinforced pilasters at the E and W wall and a horizontal beam carry the modern concrete slab roof.

Preservation: restored in recent times but abandoned, not in use for Muslim prayer.

Inscription(s): none known.

Date(s):19th century AD (according Ibrahim Zabn, see Shqour 2009). At the NW and S exterior façades treasure hunters dug deep holes which go under the foundations of the building. Logically, the surrounding earth debris derives from the deepest strata of the holes. In the NW debris, two joining fragments of a ribbed water jar with dark Aubergine slip at the exterior of the Umayyad period have been collected during the site visit (fig. 169.9). Despite several later restorations, the square layout of the plan and the foundations of the building possibly reflects the plan of the Umayyad period.

Traveler Reports: E. Brünnow and A. von Domaszewski (Provincia Arabia) quote reports of earlier travelers such as Seetzen, Burckhardt, Buckingham, Palmer, Tristram and others visting Jalul before them. None of them, however, made reference to a mosque at the site.

Bibliography: Provincia Arabia II, 177; Shqour 2009, 37.