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Battle of Hijla

1918 in the Ottoman EmpireBattles of World War I involving the Ottoman EmpireBattles of World War I involving the United KingdomBattles of the Sinai and Palestine CampaignBritish battle stubs
March 1918 eventsOttoman battle stubs
Falls sketch 24
Falls sketch 24

The Battle of Hijla (21 March 1918) was fought by the forces of the British and Ottoman Empires during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Hijla (now called Makhadet Hijla', lit. 'Partridge Ford'; cf. nearby Deir Hajla) is on the River Jordan a few miles upriver from the Dead Sea. Today the river is the boundary between Jordan and the "West Bank" area presently administered by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but in 1918 it was territory of the Ottoman Empire. The British invasion had succeeded in taking Jerusalem at the end of 1917. British General Edmund Allenby attempted a "raid" across the Jordan toward Amman in an effort to sever the railroad and resistance was met at Hijla and to the north at Ghoraniyeh, where fords provided means to cross. The river crossing was resisted by the Ottomans at both sites. The 2/19th Battalion (St. Pancras) London Regiment of the 60th Division tried to cross at Hijla, sending swimmers repeatedly across with ropes to attempt the construction of a pontoon bridge. Major Vivian Gilbert reported the events later. Many of the British soldiers were shot in the Jordan before the bridgehead could be established. Once established, the bridgeheads were maintained against the Ottomans, but the raids on Amman basically failed. This was the prelude to the Battle of Megiddo farther north in what is now Israel.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Battle of Hijla (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

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Latitude Longitude
N 31.816667 ° E 35.55 °
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مخاضة حجلة



Balqa, Jordan
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Ghassulian
Ghassulian

Ghassulian refers to a culture and an archaeological stage dating to the Middle and Late Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant (c. 4400 – c. 3500 BC). Its type-site, Teleilat Ghassul (Teleilat el-Ghassul, Tulaylat al-Ghassul), is located in the eastern Jordan Valley near the northern edge of the Dead Sea, in modern Jordan. It was excavated in 1929-1938 and in 1959–1960, by the Jesuits. Basil Hennessy dug at the site in 1967 and in 1975–1977, and Stephen Bourke in 1994–1999.The Ghassulian stage was characterized by small hamlet settlements of mixed farming peoples, who had immigrated from the north and settled in the southern Levant - today's Jordan, Israel and Palestinian territories. People of the Beersheba culture (a Ghassulian subculture) lived in underground dwellings, a unique phenomenon in the archaeological history of the region, or in trapezoidal houses of mud-brick. Those were often built partially underground (on top of collapsed underground dwellings) and were covered with remarkable polychrome wall paintings (one of the most notable examples being the 'Ghassulian Star'). Their pottery was highly elaborate, including footed bowls and horn-shaped drinking goblets, indicating the cultivation of wine. Several samples display the use of sculptural decoration or of a reserved slip (a clay and water coating partially wiped away while still wet). The Ghassulians were a Chalcolithic culture as they used stone tools but also smelted copper. Funerary customs show evidence that they buried their dead in stone dolmens and also practised secondary burial.Settlements belonging to the Ghassulian culture have been identified at numerous other sites in what is today southern Israel, especially in the region of Beersheba, where elaborate underground dwellings have been excavated. The Ghassulian culture correlates closely with the Amratian of Egypt and also seems to have affinities (e.g., the distinctive churns, or “bird vases”) with early Minoan culture in Crete.