Khirbat al-Mudayna al Aliya: Production, Politics, and Power in an Iron Age Village

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With the support of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Routledgeand his colleagues will conduct a program of archaeological excavation andsurvey in the vicinity Khirbat al-Mudayna al-`Aliya (KMA) on the easternedge of Jordan's Karak Plateau, ca. 35 kilometers due east of the Dead Sea.KMA is an exceptionally well-preserved village occupied for a brief periodof time in the last half of the eleventh century BC (Iron Age Ib).Importantly, this occupation immediately precedes the emergence ofterritorial states in the region, including the biblical state of Moab intowhich this part of Jordan was incorporated in the ninth century BC. Thefounding, and brief occupation, of substantial villages in what is now anagriculturally marginal part of Jordan raises many questions about economicand political developments during this period of significant social change.Dr. Routledge's research aims to address these issues by elucidating thecultural form, political economy, and local ecology of Khirbat al-Mudaynaal-'Aliya and its surrounding Iron Age settlement system. In particular,evidence will be sought for past environmental change, crop husbandrypractices, herding strategies and off-site pastoral activities, householdorganization, the spatial distribution of activity areas in relation toarchitectural variation, and exchange "paths" between households. Thisevidence will not only shed light on the political economy of localagro-pastoral production strategies, it will also illumine the structuringpractices of everyday life that are the social context for thesestrategies. One key idea to be tested in this research is the suitabilityof African models of state formation that emphasize social relations overEurasian models that emphasize control of land.