Beit Ras Excavations: Wine production, pottery, glass making in ancient Capitolias

AMMAN — Beit Ras, located near Irbid, became of interest for the Polish team representing the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology (PCMA) of the University of Warsaw, which conducted the fieldwork in Beit Ras, ancient Capitolias, during three consecutive seasons in 2014-2016.

The project was headed by Jolanta Mlynarczyk with Mariusz Burdajewicz as a co-director.

"The area under the investigation was situated on the northern slope of the plateau on which the town of Capitolias was built, right to the west of the Roman theatre dated to the 2nd century AD," Mlynarczyk noted.

"The aim of the first season in 2014 was a geophysical survey by means of the electric resistivity method; indeed, it revealed the presence of some walls hidden under the ground, which helped us to delineate the trenches," Mlynarczyk added.

Mlynarczyk added that the archaeological exploration of the trenches which followed in 2015 and 2016 led to the identification of this part of Beit Ras as an industrial quarter of the Roman and Byzantine/Early Islamic periods.

“Obviously, the slopy terrain of the northern edge of the town was not suited to accommodate any monumental architecture, therefore this area was destined for development of various domestic installations,” Mlynarczyk continued, adding that their research resulted in findingthe evidence of wine pressing, pot making and glass production.

Two sectors were excavated on the terrace-shaped slope: the South-west Trench and the Central North Trench. In the South-west Trench, a stratigraphical sequence from the Late Roman (4th/5th century AD) till Middle Islamic period (13th century AD) was recorded. An important discovery was evidence of the remains of a Byzantine-period winery.

"It consisted not only of a deposit of characteristic wine jars of the so-called Beisan type [6th-7th centuries AD], but also of a part of a winery installation," Burdajewicz said, adding that the latter, stratigraphically dated to the 6th century AD, included shallow containers constructed with ashlars and paved with a monochrome mosaic; they were destined for storing the grapes to be squeezed into must.

One should note that Beit Ras was famous for itstrade of wine during the 6th-7th centuries AD and that trade continued in the later centuries.

"Unexpected finds in the area of the winery were parts of the liturgical equipment of a Byzantine church such as fragments of a marble colonette and a chancel screen, as well as an eucharistic spoon of bronze alloy," Burdajewicz said.

Burdajewicz added that there have been evidence of the destruction of the nearby church, built right above on the edge of the plateau from which they fell down the slope.

"We suppose that the church was destroyed during the Sassanian invasion of 614 AD. However, the town must have recovered soon, because the written sources prove that during the Umayyad period Capitolias was a flourishing town. According to Byzantine sources, it belonged to a unit called Trichora by Greek writers, meaning 'the Land of Three', and embracing Gadara, Capitolias and Abila," Mlynarczyk explained.

Except for the wine production, other kinds of artisanal production in Capitolias were pottery and glass making.

“The pot making activity was attested by finds of clay “spacers” in form of rings which were used to separate vessels in the kiln, as well as by wasters (mis-fired pots); also loose pieces of a kiln were found,” Mlynarczyk said.

Mlynarczyk added that apart from pottery vessels of the Beit Ras origin, the team found 5th-6th century lamps also of local manufacture. Finally, the glass making was evidenced by the presence not only of vessel fragments, but also of lumps of raw glass and pieces of slag; this activity has been attributed to the Byzantine and Early Islamic period.

"In the Central North Trench we discovered an East-Weststretch of a defensive city wall of Capitolias. It was 2.50 m wide, its inner face carefully constructed of limestone ashlars, the outer face made of square basalt blocks, while its core was a fill of un-dressed and semi-dressed stones," Mlynarczyk elaborated.

Mlynarczyk added that the masonry of the wall closely resembles the one depicted on the wall painting in the now-famous chamber tomb found just 150 m or so to the west from Central North Trench.

Summing up the information regarding Beit Ras/Capitolias that was provided through the excavations, Mlynarczyksaid that the examination of pottery fragments retrieved from various spots of the site confirmed the foundation date of the town of Capitolias in the 1st century AD. The exploration of the trenches yielded sound evidence of an earthquake, most probably that of 749 AD.

It seems that following the earthquake in question, during which the city wall was ultimately destroyed, the area to the west of the theatre became semi-abandoned, to be exploited mostly as a source of building material and area of grazing livestock, Mlynarczyk said.

Talking about the future plans, Burdajewicz stated that there are no plans to continue the excavations at Beit Ras anymore because of the fact that the excavated area has been a privately owned land, and the condition was not to harm any olive tree planted on the slope.

"It was extremely difficult to find enough space to open trenches in between the olive trees planted on the slope, which precluded unearthing any large section of ancient installations," Burdajewicz underlined.

Burdajewicz added that during our archaeological project in Beit Ras, they were co-operating with the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology of the Yarmouk University in Irbid, represented by the then Dean Nabil Bader, who most kindly offered us important logistic support.

"A most appreciated assistance was also provided by Amjad Batayneh, the then director of the Dar Saraya Museum in Irbid. Last but not least, we enjoyed the friendship not only of the DOA employees based at Beit Ras, but also of members of the local Hammouri family, who were wholeheartedly engaged in our archaeological activity," Mlynarczyk highlighted.