The Ancient History of Jordan

The Jordan has been inhabited by humans since ancient times. Various civilizations have succeeded one another, and the Semitic migrations that established thriving cultural communities in its north, south, east, and west were facilitated by its varied climate and location, which connects the continents of the ancient world, making it a channel for trade and human traffic between all parts of the world.

Naming
The people of the Ammonites, who are brothers to the Canaanites, inhabited Jordan. The Canaanites took Palestine as their country and named it the Land of Canaan, while Jordan was given several names in the Old Testament itself: the general name is Trans Jordan (Transjordan), while other names for Jordan were based on the kingdoms that inhabited them, and the specific name refers to geographical regions, which are components of the countries established by these kingdoms. Each kingdom and its people were named after a region like the Edomites (after Edom), the Moabites (after Moab), the Heshbonites (after Heshbon - present-day Hejaz), the Ammonites (after Omman - present-day Amman), and the Bashanites (after Bashan - present-day Beisan). The Nabataeans kingdom was named after their name, not a place. These Arab tribes migrated from the Arabian Peninsula and settled in Jordan, each one occupying a territory separated by natural features. Their relationship with one another was peaceful, and these tribes appeared in Jordan about 2,000 years before Christ.

Stone Age
Humans lived on its land in multiple periods, including the Old Stone Age (500,000-14,000 BC), where stone tools were found, and the Middle Stone Age (14,000-8,000 BC), where hand axes made of flint and basalt were discovered. The climate was always humid, and humans lived by hunting wild animals and gathering wild plants. This continued until the Early Neolithic period (8,000-6,000 BC) and the Late Neolithic period (6,000-4,500 BC), where agriculture became more organized, including irrigation and domestication of some animals like sheep, goats, and dogs. Pottery was discovered, and ceramics were made from small limestone in the Copper Age (4,500-3,300 BC), which included discovery of houses made of clay, and manufacturing of copper tools.

Bronze Age
During the Middle Bronze Age (around 2,000 -1,500 BC) villages grew rapidly into cities with areas ranging from 5 to 10 hectares. These settlements were scattered in the southern part of the Jordan River, along the banks of Zarqa River, and on the northern and southern highlands of Jordan, where humans settled in the first villages, practiced agriculture, and developed relationships between sedentary and nomadic lifestyles. The early villagers learned how to benefit from building small dams on mountain tops with the Bedouins, and relationships were established between distant communities that exchanged their handmade products. Villages gradually developed into cities containing administrative buildings (Bla, Dier Alla, Irbid, Salt, Amman), then evolved into three kingdoms: Ammon, Moab, and Edom around 1,100 BC. The emergence of these kingdoms occurred in the Iron Age (1200-332 BC) during the period following the Middle Bronze Age, which was characterized by the appearance of a new type of pottery and the widespread use of bronze in weapon manufacturing.

Iron Age
The Kingdoms of Ammon, Moab, and Edom were established around 1,100 BC. The Kingdom of Ammon was located in the north, while the Kingdom of Moab was located in the south.