Roman baths discovered during city works in Jordanian capital
The haphazard discovery of Roman ruins in Amman sparked questions about the fate of antiquities in the city’s downtown area amid calls for expanding the excavations.
AMMAN — Jordanian authorities discovered on Dec. 12 antiquities dating back to the Roman era underneath the main street of downtown Amman, when they were excavating the area for installation of a water drainage system for flood control.
The excavation operations, led by the Greater Amman Municipality in cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, uncovered Roman baths with heated cellars and a crematorium, in addition to pottery pieces and two headless statues.
Yazid Alayyan, director of the Department of Antiquities, told Al-Monitor, “The archaeological find dates back to the Roman era during the second century AD.”
“As a department, we are considering several options to balance the needs of the city and protect antiquities, such as moving the antiquities, changing the route of the box culverts [used in the drainage system], or making the area part of the Old City of Amman and developing it. For this reason, we formed a committee in cooperation with the engineers of the Greater Amman Municipality, to reach a quick solution that would help us make a decision. The Jordanian Antiquities Law clearly tasked the Department of Antiquities with the conservation of the kingdom’s relics,” Alayyan said.
