The Jordan Museum is located in Ras al-Ein district of

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

, Jordan. Built in 2014, the museum is the largest museum in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and hosts some of the country's most important archaeological findings. Its two main permanent exhibitions are the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

, including the Copper Scroll, and the 9000-year-old ʿAin Ghazal statues, which are among the oldest human statues ever made. The museum presents artifacts from various

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

and antique archaeological sites in Jordan. Statues of Ain Ghazal 1

The collections are arranged in chronological order. The museum also features lecture halls, outdoor exhibitions, a library, a conservation centre and an area for children's activities. The museum was established by a committee headed by Queen Rania, and became the only museum in Jordan to implement modern artifact-preserving technologies.

Background

The Jordan Archaeological Museum was established in 1951, atop Amman's Citadel Hill, to host Jordan's most important archaeological findings. However, the old site became too small and the idea of developing a new modern museum emerged in 2005. A joint committee headed by Queen Rania was tasked with developing a new museum conforming with international standards. Construction started in 2009 and the museum was officially opened in 2014, spanning over 10,000 square meters.

Location

The museum is located in the Ras al-Ein area near downtown Amman, adjacent to the Greater Amman Municipality headquarters. It is only a street away (20-minute's walk) from major archaeological sites in Amman such as the Roman theater, Nymphaeum, Amman Citadel and Hashemite Plaza.

Major artifacts

The museum collection includes animal bones dating back 1.5 million years, the 9000-year-old ʿAin Ghazal lime plaster statues, part of the

, including the Copper Scroll, and a reproduction of the Mesha Stele. The human statues found at 'Ain Ghazal are among the world's oldest ever made. 'Ain Ghazal is a major

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

village in

that was discovered in 1981. The

Dead Sea The Dead Sea (; or ; ), also known by #Names, other names, is a landlocked salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east, the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the west and Israel to the southwest. It lies in the endorheic basin of the Jordan Rift Valle ...

Copper Scroll was found near Khirbet

Qumran Qumran (; ; ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, about south of the historic city of Jericho, and adjac ...

, and contains an inventory of hidden gold and silver, as well as some vessels, presumably taken from the Temple in Jerusalem in ''circa'' 68 CE. It is written in a Mishnaic-style

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

. The Mesha Stele is a large black basalt stone that was erected in Moab and was inscribed by Moabite king Mesha, in which he lauds himself for the building projects that he initiated in Moab (modern day Al-Karak) and commemorates his glory and victory against the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

. The stele constitutes one of the most important direct accounts of biblical history. Other major artifacts are the Balu'a Stele, with an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription, and a marble head of the Greek goddess Tyche.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan Museum, The Museums established in 2014 Archaeological museums in Jordan 2014 establishments in Jordan Museums of the ancient Near East in Jordan Museums in Amman Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Jordan)

Background

Location

Major artifacts

See also

References

External links