William Morton's Excavations at Dhiban, Jordan: 1955, 1956, 1965

迪班是约旦最重要的考古遗址之一。19世纪，由于发现了Mesha铭文及其与《圣经》的联系，迪班城闻名于世，近100年来，人们对它进行了系统的探索。早期的考古项目主要感兴趣的是阐明铁器时代的迪班，当时它表面上是圣经中摩押王国的首都，在这一点上，他们都相当失望。威廉·莫顿（William Morton）是这些早期考古学家之一，他是圣经语言和历史教授，1950年至1953年，他作为美国东方研究学院发掘小组的一员在迪班工作。莫顿于1955年接管了这个项目，并决定将挖掘转移到土丘的顶部，希望能发现大量的铁器时代遗骸。莫顿在这里取得了不同寻常的成功，发现了大量的沉积物，可以追溯到摩押王国的鼎盛时期（公元前850-700年），其中大部分与一座他称之为“米沙宫”的非常大的建筑有关。除了对圣经感兴趣之外，莫顿还挖掘并记录了马穆鲁克时代（约公元1265-1450年）覆盖在铁器时代遗迹上的大面积房屋，在一段时间内经历了“繁荣与萧条”的扩张周期，随后是遗址的废弃。不幸的是，莫顿在挖掘迪班后患上了许多疾病，这使他无法发表他的研究结果。这个AHRC研究休假项目建议完成莫顿对迪班的挖掘的出版，使这些非常重要的结果第一次向更广泛的世界提供。我们将特别注意仔细梳理莫顿三个主要挖掘区域内的建筑和占领阶段的相对顺序，然后使用对不同类型陶器分布的正式分析将这三个区域联系在一起，并在两个关键时期（铁器时代和马穆鲁克）创建该遗址的整体画面。在铁器时代和马穆鲁克时期，迪班似乎是了解约旦历史上重要的大规模问题的关键地点；第一个例子是铁器时代国家形成和治理的本质，第二个例子是帝国范围内的经济危机对一个孤立的集镇的影响。考虑到莫顿的挖掘结果在这些问题上还没有被复制或取代，至关重要的是，这些结果最终被出版并使其更广泛地使用。

Dhiban is one of Jordan's most important archaeological sites. Made famous in the 19th century by the discovery of the Mesha Inscription and its connections to the Bible, Dhiban has been subject to systematic exploration for almost 100 years. Early archaeological projects were primarily interested in illuminating Dhiban during the Iron Age, when it was ostensibly capital of the biblical kingdom of Moab, and in this regard they were all rather disappointed. William Morton was one of these early archaeologists, a professor of biblical languages and history, he worked at Dhiban from 1950-1953 as part of the American Schools of Oriental Research excavation team. Morton took over this project in 1955 and decided to shift excavations to the summit of the mound in the hopes of discovering substantial Iron Age remains. Here Morton was unusually successful, uncovering substantial deposits dating to the peak period of the kingdom of Moab (ca. 850-700 B.C.), most of which were related to a very large building he dubbed 'Mesha's Palace'. Despite his biblical interests, Morton also excavated and recorded an extensive area of Mamluk era (ca. 1265-1450 AD) housing that overlay the Iron Age remains, during a period went through a 'boom and bust' cycle of expansion followed by site abandonment. Unfortunately, Morton suffered from a number of illnesses after excavating Dhiban which prevented him from ever publishing his results. This AHRC Research leave project proposes to complete the publication of Morton's excavation of Dhiban, making these very important results available to the wider world for the first time. Particular attention will be given in carfeully sorting out the relative succession of building and occupation phases within each of Morton's three major excavation areas, and then using a formal analysis of the distribution of different types pottery to connect these three areas together and create an overall picture of the site in two key periods (Iron Age and Mamluk). For both the Iron Age and Mamluk periods, Dhiban appears to be a key site for understanding important large-scale issues in the history of Jordan; the nature of Iron Age state-formation and governance in the first instance, and the impact of an empire wide economic crisis on an isolated market town in the second. Given that the results of Morton's excavations have yet to replicated or superseded with regards to either of these issues, it is vital that these results are finally brought to press and made more widely available.