In advance of our book launch event on Monday 3rd February, Kay Prag shares her reflections on Iktanu.

“Iktanu is not the most beautiful site in Jordan, nor is it located in the most beautiful area, but the site and its area have a deep history and a dramatic landscape, backed by the hills of Ammon and Moab and within sight of the Dead Sea.

When I first visited it in 1965 as part of a larger survey, I knew little about it, just that it was known from surface sherds to have been occupied in the later third millennium BC. The excitement, when I visited it, was to find the surface was covered by wall foundations which all appeared to date from that time, and could perhaps give answers quickly and inexpensively about contemporary settlement sites, about which little was then known. I managed to organise a small excavation in early 1966 which showed this was indeed  the case.

Three later seasons, research and writing about the site have played a large part of my life ever since, with many generous colleagues helping to answer the many questions that have arisen. At Iktanu we investigated a small village of the Early Bronze I period, did much more work on the large site of the Intermediate Bronze Age, and put a small trench into the ruins of a fort on top of the north hill which I at first thought dated  to the Iron Age but rather excitingly belonged mainly to the Persian Period.

We battled flies, scorpions and snakes, wind and rain, in an area not lavishly supplied with the comforts of life, with small teams of friends and the excellent local workmen who were mainly from the Azazma tribe.”

Book your place for our special event for the digital publication of Dr Kay Prag’s monograph Excavations at Iktanu in the South Jordan Valley, Jordan.

More information and to rsvp, click here