The Italian - Spanish archeological expediction

After the main surveys carried out in the region, including the Nelson Glueck’s one in 1951 and the Hanbury-Tenison’s in the ’80, the first excavation activities have been made by a Spanish archeological mission.

The Spanish archeological expedition at Jebel al Mutawwaq began in 1989 under the leading of Juan Antonio Fernandez-Tressguerres Velasco of Universidad de Oviedo. The establishment of the Archeological Mission in 1992 allowed an increase of the team members including both Spanish students and French archeologist of Institut Francais d’Archéologie du Proche-Orient (IFAPO), a cooperation which remained active for a decade. The excavation activities alternated with the study of collected material were both followed by the systematic releasing of achieved results. Research activities of the Spanish team were interrupted in 2011 due to untimely death of director Prof. Fernandez-Tresguerres Velasco.

Since 2012 excavation activities are ongoing in Jebel al Mutawwaq’s site under the direction of an Italian-Spanish mission leaded both by Andrea Polcaro of University of Perugia, and Juan Muniz of Pontificia Facultad de San Esteban de Salamanca.

Italian-Spanish mission was made possible thanks to the Department of Antiquities of Jordan granting and both Italian and Spanish institutions’ constant support particularly ones offered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Embassy of Italy in Amman, the Spanish Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes and the Embassy of Spain in Amman.

At the beginning, the main mission aim was to thoroughly investigate site’s necropolis, to analyze architectural features and the monument’s arrangement on the territory so as to identify some differences which could point out different site’s stages of occupation or social distinction in the community and clarify the connection between funerary monuments and the village. Since 2014, beside the necropolis’ study, the mission focused on some central monuments of the excavation especially on a productive area made up of different buildings (Area C) and on domestic setting perfectly preserved.

The involvement of Italian-Spanish mission at Jebel al-Mutawwaq in researching and disclosing of collected data is proved by punctual releasing of achieved results during each excavation task, by taking part to international conference and by the organization of two different exhibitions in 2012 at Perugia University and in 2014 at Palazzo Murena.

The cooperation between the two teams, other universities and research institution, has encouraged research multidisciplinary on the site. In fact, many different figures have been involved besides archeologist: a geologists’ team from Olomouc University (Poland), which analyzed the region and the link between the site, Zarqa river and the territory around from a geological point of view. They provide helpful information to identify archeological areas thanks to geoelectrics research of the ground; an anthropologists team from Department of Cultural Heritage of University - Alma Mater Studiorum of Bologna (Laboratories of Physical Anthropology and Ancient DNA of Ravenna) which studied and analyzed osteological finds providing information about diet and habits of village residents. They also isolated and studied ancient DNA of inhabitants; a paleo botanists team from University Federico II of Napoli which recently started to analyses seeds and vegetable organic finds to rebuild the ancient environment of food production.

The Italian team of the mission thanks the interest and support showed from representatives of institutions involved, particularly the Rector Prof. Maurizio Oliviero of University of Perugia, and his predecessors Prof. Franco Moriconi e Prof. Francesco Bistoni; for the Italian Embassy in Amman Ambassador Fabio Cassese and his predecessors Ambassador Giovanni Brauzzi, Ambassador Patrizio Fondi, and his cultural workers Dr. Federico Vidic and Dr. Marco Marzeddu; for the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, director general His excellency Yazeed Alian and his predecessor S.E. Monther Jamhawi, the excavation director Akhtam Al-Oweidi and his predecessor Khalil Hamdan, the museum director Dr. Samia Khouri.

The snakes of Jebel al-Mutawwaq

The jars found in the sacred area of the village of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, dated between 3300 and 3100 BC, clearly related to activities of a religious nature, presented as decoration applied to the surface clay figurines of snakes. The ceramic forms are large containers with two slightly curved lateral handles from which the tails of the snakes start, whose figures then stretch over the shoulder of the vase, up to the rim, surmounted by the head of the snakes, which give the impression of going to drink from the contents of the jar (Fig. 1). The iconography of snakes, which can be spotted or streaked (Fig. 2), reanalyzed in a recent study, shows a clear relationship with the observation of the real species found in the Transjordan highlands (Fig. 3). Often the vases of the temple that present these ophidic decorations have stylized engraved on the shoulder ears of wheat, motifs not present on common household pottery. The cult practises of vases with depictions of snakes, found in the sanctuaries and sacred areas of the settlements, is a custom that begins throughout the Southern Levant area as early as the Chalcolithic Period during the fourth millennium BC. and continues uninterrupted throughout the third millennium BC, during the Early Bronze Age, for almost two thousand years. Its connection with a megalithic funerary context has also recently been confirmed by the discovery of rock decorations in the shape of snakes engraved on the large stone slabs of the dolmens and other types of megalithic tombs in Lebanon (in the Menjez site) and in Israel (in the Shamir site), always dated between Early Bronze Age I and Early Bronze Age IV.
The presence of the iconography of the snake in a sacred context, combined with symbologies linked on the one hand to fertility and the agricultural world and on the other to funerary ideology, testifies to the presence of an important ophidic cult in the archaic Canaanite religiosity, born between the end of prehistory and the proto-urban age, which can also include the community that lived in the settlement of Jebel al-Mutawwaq. In this regard, comparisons with other contexts of the Near East, such as ancient Mesopotamia, for which written sources exist as early as the third millennium BC, may be useful in clarifying the nature of this archaic Levantine religiosity. In Sumerian mythology, the serpent is associated with the chthonic divinity, pertinent to the world of the dead, as indicated in the lament "In the desert with untimely grass", connected mainly to Ninazu, his son Ningishzida and Dumuzi. These deities are connected to eschatological ideologies relating to the death and rebirth of the gods, are always associated with grain and the regeneration of nature, and have both a chthonic and a celestial aspect. Just a deity of this kind, represented in the macrocosm of the divine world through the regeneration of a dying god and in the microcosm of the human world through the transformation of the dead into an ancestor, could therefore have been at the center of an early Canaanite pantheon of the Bronze Age and venerated in the Jebel al-Mutawwaq Temple of the Serpents.
In relation to the possible contents of the jars of the sanctuary, the hypothesis has recently been advanced that they could contain some type of fermented drink, perhaps relating to the so-called "snake-wine" or "muš.giš.geštin" a drink with magical curative properties, attested by Sumerian sources of the third and second millennium BC, which perhaps was contained in contemporary vases found in Mesopotamia, characterized by decorations with applied snakes similar to those of the Southern Levant. Moreover, in the context of fermented drinks, capable of altering the state of conscience of the faithful during sacred ceremonies, beer could also be included. This drink, of ancient production in the East and linked to the cultivation of barley, could lead to the possible presence of ergot on the ears, a mushroom capable of intoxicating and hallucinogenic properties. The presence of the ears of wheat on the snake-decorated jars in the Jebel al-Mutawwaq sanctuary it could be a clue to that effect. This last type of drink, connected to the sacred world and the world of the dead and the afterlife, after had a long tradition in the classical world of the ancient Mediterranean, just think of the ciceone, consumed during the Great Mysteries celebrated at the sanctuary of Demeter in Eleusis, Greece.

The olive tree and oil
in Jebel al-Mutawwaq

The wild olive tree (Olea Oleaster Sylvestris) is an essential plant in the history of the ancient Mediterranean, which has been part of our diet for millennia. The first evidence of olive harvesting dates back to more than 20,000 years ago, during the Lower Paleolithic, from the shores of the Sea of Galilee, in the site of Ohalo. The Olea Europaea is widespread at the end of the last glaciation, at the beginning of the Neolithic, around 10,000 BC, in an area that embraces the whole Mediterranean basin, in particular in the Levant, in Anatolia, in Greece, in Sicily, in Sardinia, Southern Italy, the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa.
The first clear evidence of olive oil production dates back to a few thousand years later, at the beginning of the Chalcolithic Period (i.e. between 6,000 and 5,000 BC) in the Southern Levant area, and precisely in the sites of Ein Zippori in Southern Galilee and Far Samir on the Carmel Coast. In these sites, in addition to wells and equipment for olives pressing, ceramics were found which, from paleobotanical analyses, were proved to be olive oil containers. During the following Bronze Age, as early as the end of the fourth millennium BC, the whole Southern Levant region, in particular the West Bank and Transjordan along the Jordan River, became an area of intense olive oil production, probably on the request of the nascent pharaonic state in Egypt, whose unification is attributed to Pharaoh Narmer (ca. 3150 BC). Although there is no evidence in Jebel al-Mutawwaq of direct commercial contacts with Egypt or with the coastal Levant area, the presence of numerous olive seeds found in the archaeological excavations in the settlement suggests an intense cultivation of olive trees also along the heights of the Middle Valley of the Zarqa river, where indeed they are still today an important characteristic of the territory (Fig. 1). In particular, the presence of a heap of olive seeds, some broken perhaps due to their grinding (Fig. 2), in a building adjacent to the Temple of the Serpents, Building 75, may suggest some form of centralized control on the oil production by the priests of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, which was probably one of the main production activities along with sheep herding. The production of oil is also highlighted by the presence of some rocky features similar to others identified in Transjordan at the beginning of the Bronze Age and allegedly used to press olives. These are circular cupmarks carved into the rock, with a smaller container next to it, also carved into the rock, connected by a small drainage channel (Fig. 3). According to some reconstructions, an olive paste layered with baskets or reeds was placed in the container, with a weight, probably a boulder, on the top. The leaking liquid flowed through the short channel into the cupmark, where the oil was collected (Fig. 4).
The production activities in Jebel al-Mutawwaq involved the entire community and not only few families or clans, and they were managed by a central institution, in this case linked to the sacred area of the Temple of the Serpents. This organization belongs to the historical framework relevant to the beginning of the urbanization process, which will be completed only in the subsequent Early Bronze II period (ca. 2900 BC) with the rise of the city-states in Southern Levant. In Jebel al-Mutawwaq, these typical early urban developments never came to completion; however, during its occupation, the village realized a real proto-urban system, with a planned settlement, a boundary wall, public production facilities and a temple area that shows the signs of a first hierarchical organization of society. In any case, the temple, as well as the village, was systematically abandoned at the end of the Early Bronze Age I, just before the rise of the fortified cities along the valleys of Transjordan and along the Jordan River in the early 3rd millennium BC.

The Dolmen 535 and Cave C. 1012

The Dolmen 535 has been identified along the southern slope of Jebel al-Mutawwaq (Fig. 1), in Area C South, a few meters away from the Gran Cercado, from the Building 131 and from Dolmen 534, but further down along the jagged side of the mountain. The dolmen lies overhanging on the valley of the Zarqa river, in a position that offers a wide and wonderful view of the river (Fig. 2). The large megalithic tomb was investigated for two excavation campaigns by the team of the University of Perugia, in April 2016 and in September 2018. Of all the dolmens excavated in the megalithic necropolis of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, 535 is certainly one of the most monumental: its capstone was 2.73m long and 2.09m wide. The monumentality of the structure is accentuated by its covering mound which, as in the dolmens of the second phase of the necropolis, is rectangular in shape and made up of large squared stone blocks. As in all the dolmens excavated in Jebel al-Mutawwaq, its entrance consists of a small dromos with two high steps, which lead to its large burial chamber. The latter, which internally is 2.27 m high, 2.33 m long and 0.80 m wide, shows two parallel, horizontal grooves along the two lateral megalithic slabs, which indicates a vertical division of the interior space for burials,probably obtained through a horizontal slab of perishable material (i.e. wood); therefore, it is assumed that the primary depositions inside the dolmen took place by arranging the bodies of the deceased in a horizontal position in the two chambers. Indeed, during the excavations of the burial chamber, fragments of human bones and some teeth were found, which are remains from the exhumation of the dead for their secondary and final deposition in the cave C.1012 (Fig. 3). The dolmen and the hypogeal chamber were connected through a vertical entrance shaft (Fig. 4), placed in front of the opening of the megalithic burial chamber. The bedrock was carefully carved to obtain steps on one side of the shaft, about 2.5 m high. Despite the state of conservation of Dolmen 535, which was found to have been partly violated in ancient times, the entrance shaft of the cave C.1012 was found intact and carefully sealed. In this phase a ritual was probably performed, perhaps a libation: a small bowl was found in a recess of the closing wall of the underground chamber and it is displayed in the exhibition.
Cave C. 1012 was excavated through the softer geological layers of the mountain limestone, where the circular hypogeum was obtained. A channel that ran along the walls and an entrance hole have been identified in the chamber: the latter presents traces of passage of water, suggesting the cave was first used as a cistern. Before its funerary use as an underground chamber connected to Dolmen 535, the cave was then used in an intermediate phase for activities not yet been clarified, as suggested by the remains of a fireplace, another whole bowl and some olive seeds.
The discovery of the connection between an underground burial chamber and a megalithic tomb in the necropolis of Jebel al-Mutawwaq is of great scientific relevance, because it definitively proves the presence of a burial site under the ground with a megalithic tomb above the ground at the same time, and the proximity between primary and secondary burials in the same place, in a civilization that was definitely not only settling down, but transforming into a complex urban culture inextricably linked with its own territory.

The Dolmen 317 and the enigma of burial B25

Dolmen 317 was excavated in the summer of 2013 in Area B, not far from the southeastern limit of the Early Bronze I settlement. Its excellent state of conservation was immediately evident, having been found partly buried by the upper run-off layers of the mountain. The most important architectural feature of Dolmen 317 is the presence of the mound above the megalithic chamber found intact and sealed (Fig. 1). The chamber itself was closed by a front stone slab, carefully wedged at the entrance to the dromos – the entrance corridor with three steps - using ground and other small stones. The pottery found in the covering layers of the dolmen and inside the dromos proved the contemporaneity between Dolmen 317 and the settlement of the Early Bronze Age I. However, the most relevant discovery concerns the findings inside the burial chamber. In addition to the remains of small bones and scattered teeth from at least a dozen primary burials evidently removed from the dolmen before its final closure, a complete single burial called B 25 was found, carefully hidden by a flat stone on the bottom of the burial chamber. The presence of almost all the bones of a body suggested that the primary burial was originally located in situ, in the mortuary chamber of the dolmen, and in a second moment, after the decomposition, its purpose was changed and the long bones were arranged in a pile in front of the chamber entrance and the skull, separated, immediately behind (Fig. 2). This disposition of the bones, typical of other contemporary necropolises in Transjordan, was also found in the funerary cave C.1012, related to the second phase of the necropolis of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, and suggests a particular care and attention for the bones of a member of the community, in relation to its transformation into an "ancestor". With burial B 25 no pottery was found as grave goods apart from two flint tools: one is an example of the so-called "fan-shaped scraper", typical of the Bronze Age in the Southern Levant and Egypt; the other, another scraper, is longer with a slightly curved profile (Fig. 3). This pair of tools, which has been attributed to activities related to sheepshearing, is commonly found in the domestic structures of the Early Bronze I village; however, they are generally smaller and of lower quality. Instead, tools similar in shape and quality were found in the Temple of the Serpent. From the analysis of the bones, both anthropological and paleopathological, and of the ancient DNA taken from the petrous bone of the skull from burial B 25, it was deduced that it was a woman, about forty years old - a venerable age for the end of the IV millennium BC - which showed no marks on the teeth apart from chewing or muscle stress on the bones of the legs and arms, thus indicating a person who did not work hard during his life. Therefore, unlike most of the people found in the other tombs in this area of the necropolis, she did not perform daily household activities while alive. These data could suggest that the buried in Dolmen 317 had a cultural role in the society, perhaps connected to the sacred area of the Temple of the Serpents; however, in the absence of further data to confirm it, this remains only a suggestive interpretative hypothesis. Another mistery about the role of the deceased buried in Dolmen 317 in the Early Bronze Age I village is the discovery of a triangular hole in the back of the skull, which has been classified as a possible cause of death. The wound, perfectly triangular in shape, extends through the inner part of the skull, seems to have occurred in life and does not show any signs of bone regrowth. The type of wound suggests some form of ritual killing, with the target prone, or rather stunned given the discovery of a second wound on the upper part of the skull, caused by a blunt object and less deep (Fig. 4). All this suggests that the woman in Dolmen 317 was killed at the end of her life and, unlike the other bodies in the same megalithic tomb, her bones were not taken away and presumably buried, with the other bones of the ancestors of that same family, in a secondary position somewhere else. In the absence of further data from this area of the Jebel al-Mutawwaq necropolis, these questions are bound to remain unsolved.

Primary and secondary burial

In the Early Bronze Age I period in Jordan the custom of the double burial continues from the earliest periods: a primary burial in a first location and a secondary one in a final sepulchral place after the decomposition of the bodies. This custom was often associated in the past with human groups mobility on the territory, but at the beginning of the Bronze Age it seems to be present both in semi-nomadic, pastoral populations and in agro-pastoral, mainly sedentary populations. The main feature of secondary burials is the rearrangement of the ritual bones which are considered most important - skulls and long bones of the body - after the decomposition of the tissues, usually obtained through the first underground burial and, if the body had not yet fully decomposed, a subsequent quick cremation.
In Jordan, in the Early Bronze Age I, the most famous cemetery, where thousands of secondary burials were found, is Bab edh-Dhra: it was excavated from the early 1980s by an American mission and located on the edge of the Gör desert, along the eastern banks of the Dead Sea. Here, in underground chambers dug into the soft silt at the edge of the saline area, usually accessible through a vertical well, the already decomposed human remains of several people, all belonging to the same family, were placed with skulls against the walls and the long bones arranged together in a central pile (Fig. 1). This same arrangement of the bones of the deceased in secondary position was found in Jebel al-Mutawwaq during the mission led by the University of Perugia in Cave C.1012, connected to the great Dolmen 535. The cave, as for Bab eh-Dhra, is accessible through a vertical shaft (Fig. 2). However, unlike the site excavated by American archaeologists in the Gör desert, where the primary burial site – for the decomposition of the bodies - has not been found and is thought to be far from the final cemetery, in Jebel al-Mutawwaq it is highly probable that the deceased were first placed in the funeral chamber of Dolmen 535, before being moved and rearranged at a later time in the underground chamber C.1012 (Fig. 3). In Bab edh-Dhra, no permanent settlement related to the necropolis with well tombs and secondary burials was found and it was therefore assumed that they were belonging to a semi-nomadic population. On the contrary, in Jebel al-Mutawwaq the presence of a permanent settlement of over 18 hectares suggests a permanent society, which based its economy on pastoralism with vertical transhumance limited in the territory and sedentary agriculture or arboriculture, i.e. cultivation of olive trees on the mountain slopes and probably cereals and other crops along the valley of the Zarqa River.
The discoveries of the Italian-Spanish mission in Jebel al-Mutawwaq have therefore proved that the custom of the double burial is not much linked to a sedentary lifestyle or seasonal mobility in the territory, as to a common religious system of the populations of the southern Levant, aimed at the transformation of the single deceased in ancestor, no longer single dead of a family but part of a community of superior beings, which the future Ugaritic and then biblical literature will call Rapi'uma, the ancestors. The primary burial and the following secondary burial thus accompany, through the length of the rite, the journey of the deceased, from his first death to his second rebirth among the celestial Rapi'uma.
In the religious architecture of the Levantine tradition already present in Jebel al-Mutawwaq and also reconstructed from the later textual sources of the late Bronze Age and the Iron Age, the standing monolithic slab represents the deceased ancestor and is the subject of a dedicated ritual (Fig. 4).

Jebel al-Mutawwaq and the valley of the Zarqa River

The archaeological site of Jebel al-Mutawwaq is located in the middle valley of the Zarqa River, the second largest tributary of the Jordan River that flow for 96 km towards the Eastern desert. The important role of the site, one of the largest during the Early Bronze I period (second half of the 4th millennium BC) in Eastern Jordan, depends mainly on its role as a crossroads between archaeological areas and different socio-economic systems. During the first centuries of this historical period, Jordan and the whole South Levant sees the completion of a long and gradual process of transformation of the natural and anthropogenic landscape, primarily due to the climate and therefore environmental change.
Thanks to the analysis of the distribution of settlements, it can be possible to observe that during this transitional phase, human communities living in different ecological zones interacted with each other to integrate their subsistence systems. In this respect, the valley of the Zarqa River is characterized by an independent cultural evolution. Being one of the greater tributaries of the Jordan River, the Zarqa was an important route for community of herders moving from the desert to the fertile valley of the Jordan River and the west coast. Many Early Bronze Age sites have been identified both through archaeological surveys and stratigraphic excavations and a clearer regional sequence is now available. About 30 sites dating back to the 4th millennium BC have been identified within the region, but they are mainly small settlements (2-4 hectares) close to the water sources and poorly preserved. They were probably temporary sites related to grazing and transhumance activities in the region. Jebel al-Mutawwaq stands out from these sites for its characteristics (it is in fact located on a hill and has a considerable extension) and constituted a permanent and complex settlement. Thanks to its location on a hill facing the valley and close to two springs, Jebel al-Mutawwaq was probably placed in a system of routes that connected the site to the north-eastern bank of the Jordan River. The main occupation phase of the site is dated to the second half of the 4th millennium BC, when the site becomes one of the largest settlements of the period with its 18 hectares of extension. The historical importance of Jebel al-Mutawwaq is due to the fact that the site has been occupied in a crucial moment in the evolution of southern Levant societies. The Early Bronze Age I period, in fact, is considered a proto-urban phase during which new elements appear that will give impetus to the urbanization that will take place at the beginning of the third millennium BC during Early Bronze Age Ⅱ. The extension of Jebel al-Mutawwaq and the good state of conservation of the different areas of the site allow to investigate different aspects of the society in the second half of the 4th millennium and to better understand the development of the phenomena that will lead to the establishment of the city.
The site consists of a village surrounded by a wall, which is an uncommon element in the sites of the same period, within around 200 domestic units with double apse. All the structures on the site were built using stone blocks made with the limestone that characterizes the hill. The bedrock itself is used as floor both inside and outside the buildings. An important element concerning buildings is that it was possible to observe within the settlement a kind of internal division into three different areas (Eastern, Central and Western) that could represent a functional differentiation in the use of space, proof of the socio-economic complexity reached by the people who lived in this large village.
In the central area of the village the sacred area of the settlement has been identified and investigated between 2003 and 2005. The sanctuary, to which the second section of this exhibition was dedicated, has been called the "Temple of the Serpents" because of the discovery, inside the temple, of some jars with snake-shaped decorations applied.
In addition to the Temple of the Serpents, other areas dedicated to public activities for the community has been identified. The most important has been identified in the eastern sector and has been under investigation since 2014. This area, called Area C, consists of a complex characterized by the presence of several buildings, such as Building 131, within which have been identified two large circular installations (about 2 m in diameter) used for food production; an external court (L. 51) to the building where there were installations for the preservation of food products; and a large semi-circular enclosure, about 60 meters in diameter, called Great Enclosure.
This huge structure, still under investigation, made of stones like all the other buildings on the site, is characterized by the presence of a standing stone in the central part of the enclosure. The interpretation of this structure can be clearly defined only at the end of the excavations but there is no doubt that, due to its size, it was an area dedicated to activities that involved the entire community.
During the last excavation, in 2019, in connection with fence wall, storage areas consisting of spaces carved into the bedrock where several preservation jars with food remains (sheep bones and olive seeds) have been found. These remains of cooked food could refer to ritual depositions within the Great Enclosure, considered a sacred space, located close to the great central megalithic stele. Further investigations are planned in the area to confirm this interpretation, in particular to identify other areas of pottery depositions with food to understand whether the large circular structure could also have a function of storing food distributed to the population on cultic occasions. The shape of the Great Enclosure is in fact suitable for the grouping of a number of people on particular occasions. Finally, outside the fence wall of the village, an extensive megalithic necropolis spreads over the entire surface of the mountain. The necropolis, to which the third section of this exhibition is dedicated, is characterized by the presence of numerous dolmens, mostly trilithon, and is dated to the same period of occupation of the village. As the great familiar tombs often used for more than a generation, the megalithic necropolis was to be used by a large number of people, perhaps even superior to the inhabitants of the adjacent village, thus including both the sedentary community living in the site, and the communities of transhuman shepherds that crossed the Zarqa valley cyclically close to Jebel al-Mutawwaq.
Around 3000 BC, the village and a large part of the necropolis were systematically abandoned, the doors of many houses were in fact sealed through stones and in various domestics’ areas much of the pottery and furniture was present, as if the inhabitants were leaving the settlement to return. Many dolmens of the oldest phase of the necropolis in Area B had the same type of sealing as the houses, but the bones of the deceased had been removed. The fate of more than a thousand inhabitants of the Early Bronze Age I village is unknown, Jebel al-Mutawwaq would no longer be re-used and its stone structures permanently abandoned, except sporadic re-uses in late ages. The absence of evidences of violent destruction of the town suggests an economic or demographic crisis, perhaps due to climate change that led to frequent periods of drought, or, alternatively, to a catastrophic event, such as a strong earthquake, not uncommon in Transjordan, a geographical area that extends along the great Eurasian fault at high seismic risk.

The Temple of the Serpents

The sacred area of Jebel al-Mutawwaq is located inside the village between the western and central sector. It has been named the “Temple of the Serpents” because of some jars with decoration shaped like snakes. The complex develops inside a courtyard enclosing different buildings: Building 76 (main cultic room), Building 75 and a multi-cellular structure (Room 1-5).

Building 76 has an oval plan as the other village houses. It has been built with huge stone blocks and measure 12,67 m length for 3,30 m width. The external walls are averagely preserved and have 1 m foundation. The northern wall has been realized cutting the bedrock for 50 cm in depth and laying limestone rock over the cut. It is assumed that the goal of this operation was to create a platform inside the building for ritual purpose. In fact, three stone slabs, covered with smaller stones, have been found above the platform. This discovery allowed to interpret the whole installation as the main altar, located along the wall and on the dwell’s edge, placed itself inside the building. The pit alongside the altar has been discovered full of soil together with pottery fragments, a piece of a mace head and flint tools. Another peculiarity of this building is the presence of two different entrances on both long sides. Each entrance leans out on a courtyard, one of them shared with building 77, unexplored. Entrances’ width (1,90 and 1,25 m) is bigger than the houses‘ doors even if the construction technique is the same.

If the main part of the cult took place in the northern part of the building, then the main entrance wasn’t axial but angled, not a common feature in temples of this period which usually have frontal entrance to the aisle.

Building 75 has a loosely rectangular plan unlike other building of the village probably due to the north-west wall, which is a courtyard’s extension. The building is divided into two rooms by a small dividing wall. Northern room show traces of fire, while the southern area has inside a large stone lab for production activities.

Inside the courtyard is also located a multicellular building with many rooms among which Room 1 the wider one. The entrance to Room 1 is a one-meter-wide dromos (a long corridor with four steps) located at north-est. The eastern-western wall is in common with building 75. Materials collected inside the sacred area, especially ones of Building 75 and Rooms 1-5, prove how productive and storage activities had been held here linked to rituals.

The most interesting aspect of Jebel al-Mutawwaq is the presence of characteristic elements from different periods: Buildings’ double apse from Early Bronze I and the complex space organization from Late Chalcolithic (beginning of the IV millennium).

The most indicative Late Chalcolithic sacred areas are those of En Gedi and Teleilat Ghassul. En Gedi site is a sort of open sanctuary located on a hill and disconnected from other sites while the sacred area of Teleilat Ghassul is inside the village. Despite this difference, the two sacred areas shares some similarities: both are characterized by a temenos, a sacred wall that contains different buildings. The main building is also the biggest and properly reserved for the rituals. Beside this structure, a smaller building was also located here and may perhaps be used as warehouse or productive area.

In both sacred areas there was also a circular installation, located in the center of the courtyard, for rituals. Even material findings are similar in the two sanctuaries. In fact, they show vase ritual shapes typical of the IV millennium.

At the beginning of the Bronze Age, the socio-cultural transformations of local communities are reflected also in the expression of worship and it is possible to recognize different elements of discontinuity. In Palestine, for example, in Shephelah, the Hartuv site, characterized by the presence of a sacred area, was investigated, without a temple-connected settlement being attested. The complex, found in The Area A Stratum II, features a central courtyard in the northern portion of the area, from two large perpendicular spaces and two smaller elongated rooms. Inside the tample, a

row of standing stones located on the inner facade of the southern wall has been found. The megaliths were probably part of an older outdoor sacred area, later incorporated inside the sanctuary.

The planimetry of the buildings is the same as the temples of En Gedi and Ghassul and those of the following period, the Early Bronze Age II. The Hartuv complex was probably abandoned at the end of the Early Bronze I, like many other sites in its region. Although Hartuv constituted an isolated sacred area, in the Early Bronze Age I there are also cases of sacred areas within settlements, in addition to Jebel al-Mutawwaq, such as in Palestine at the sites of Jericho and Megiddo. The site of Megiddo, in Galilee located on a high ground 20 km from Haifa, has been the subject of numerous archaeological missions for its extent and for the exceptional level of conservation. The first phase (Stratum XIXB/J-2) consisted of an open air space dating back to the transition period between Late Calttutic and Early Bronze Age I due to the presence of some ceramic forms typical of this period. During the following phase (Stratum XIX) the enclosure and the temple itself were built, the ritual function of which is testified by the presence of some graffiti on the floor of the structure. In the following phase the building was obliterated by a new structure with sacred function (4050), in front of which a large quadrangular stone platform was placed and used for activities, such as animal sacrifices in front of the celestial divinities. Inside the temenos was also built another smaller building, probably related to the worship. The plan of this Early Bronze Age I temple is very similar to that of the sacred area of En Gedi.

The Temple of the Serpents, therefore, shows an internal organization of the spaces very similar to the sacred areas of Late Calcolithic but the plan of the buildings respects the tendency of the Early Bronze Age I period to build structures with curved plan. However, it is interesting to notice that Jebel al-Mutawwaq is the only one of the sacred areas of Early Bronze Age I to have a plan of this type. It seems clear that the Late Calcolithic temples are the model from which the temples of the Early Bronze Age I originated but which were made differently on a regional scale. The persistence of areas of worship and sacred architectural traditions is a typical characteristic of the whole of the ancient Near East where the place of prayer, the transformation and sharing of food are intertwined in the same space that is at the same time the home of the god and expression of the social organization.

The necropolis

The site of Jebel al-Mutawwaq is surrounded by an extensive megalithic necropolis with hundreds of dolmens. Dolmen is a Breton language term consisting of two words that indicate a "table of

stone"; This term, in archaeological literature, is traditionally referred to a megalithic funeral monument consisting of three large standing stone, two side slabs and one rear, and a large capstone, to create a room of varying size and shape. In a cultural environment constantly changing, in parallel with the development of the use of stone in architecture, between the 4th and 1st millennium BC, these tombs become, with different architectural forms and places of origin, spread throughout the Mediterranean basin, such as in Puglia, Malta, Sardinia, Corsica, the North African Coast, Spain and France, as well as in Great Britain, Ireland and along the entire Atlantic coast of Europe, especially in Portugal, where they also reached gigantic dimensions.

The dolmens were around the Early Bronze Age I village, out of the boundary wall, and are dated to the Early Bronze Age I period, which is the same stage of occupation of the village. All dolmens were investigated, recorded and placed on a topographical map of the site by the Spanish team in the early 2000s. As a result of this operation, it was possible to recognize clusters of these monuments: areas where groups of similar dolmens were concentrated. In the eastern portion of the site, out of the boundary wall of the village, there were several dolmens, some of which were investigated between 2012 and 2013 by the Italian-Spanish expedition. These small dolmens were directly connected to the village through a street identified in 2013 that connected the group of burial monuments to the eastern gate of the village. This data testifies how the village and these dolmens were contemporary and how the funeral monuments were used by the community that occupied the site stably. If, therefore, it has long been hypothesized that the dolmen were the funerary monuments typical of the Levantine seminomadic communities, archaeological excavations at Jebel al- Mutawwaq showed that they were also used in sedentary villages. From the architectural point of view, the dolmens of the first phase are characterized by a small funerary chamber with a front corridor consisting of 3 steps, a circular wall around the chamber and a partially preserved tumulus consisting of small and medium stones that originally covered the entire structure, including the capstone. The area where this type of dolmens was identified has been named Area B and among the investigated monuments there is also Dolmen 317, where, during the 2013 campaign, burial B.25 was found, the first intact secondary burial found in the site (and described in the dedicated panel). Archaeological surveys have therefore shown like these dolmens were used when the village was entirely inhabited, during its first phase of occupation, in the Final Early Bronze IA (ca. 3200 BC). In addition to this first group of dolmens, a second cluster consisting of larger funeral monuments with different architectural features than those observed in Area B was identified. These dolmens are located mainly on the southern cliff of the site toward the valley of the Zarqa River, some of them are located outside the boundary wall of the village, such as Dolmen 535 and Dolmen 11, others are located intra moenia (within the walls), such as Dolmen 534. Architecturally, the dolmens of the second phase are characterized by a larger burial chamber than the Area B dolmens, built using very regular and carefully sculpted stone slabs. The entrance corridor to the room has access steps as the first group of dolmens, but in one case has angular access. The burial chamber of these dolmen frequently has two parallel engraved grooves on the side slabs, probably used to support a shelf made of perishable material that divided interior space vertically into two rooms. This feature, present in other dolmens of the end of the Early Bronze Age I period in Jordan, served to accommodate more primary burials.

Lastly, the mound covering the megalithic structure is made using large stone blocks, differently from the small and medium-sized stones that formed the mound of the dolmen of the first group. The architectural complexity of these monuments, the materials found inside them and the results of radiometric dating to Carbon-14 recently collected, testify that their use goes back to a more recent phase than those of Area B, dated to Early Bronze IB (ca. 3100 - 3000 BC), a results that justifies the difference in construction technique between the two groups of dolmen and the presence of some dolmen within the wall of the village, suggesting that during the second phase of occupation the size of the settlement had been reduced. The most interesting dolmen of the second phase is the Dolmen 535, which is characterized by a large burial chamber, about 2 meters high. The most interesting aspect of this structure is the presence of a cave carved into the bedrock and located in front of the entrance of the dolmen and carefully sealed at the end of its use. Dolmen 535, investigated between 2016 and 2018, is described in detail in the dedicated panel. Another example of the connection between dolmens and hypogeum chambers is Dolmen 11, investigated during the 2019 campaign. In this case the hypogeum chamber was not in front of the entrance of the dolmen as in the Dolmen 535 and the cave C.1012, but lower than the dolmen. Unfortunately, it has been breached and partially emptied, so the data obtained are only partial, during the next excavation campaign in Jebel al-Mutawwaq the excavation of the cave will be completed and it will be possible to collect all available data. An interesting characteristic of the Dolmen 11 is the presence, next to the structure, of a stele in front of which has been identified a stone bench carved in the bedrock rock and numerous millstones that testify productive activities in relation with the dolmen. Moreover, Dolmen 11 is located just south of the boundary wall, not far from the southern gate; this suggests a connection between settlement and necropolis, that is a direct relationship between the living and the dead, as testified by the street connecting the dolmens of Area B to the eastern gate of the village.

Dolmen 534 is located inside the boundary walls and part of its structure leans and uses the building 131 of Area C, indicating its use at a more recent stage than the construction of Building 131 and the occupation of that sector of the site. The main feature of this dolmen is the presence of an access corridor with an angular structure compared to the entrance of the dolmen. Inside the dolmen were found, in addition to the human remains, two jugs dated to Early Bronze Age IB and two metal spear heads (the reproductions are available in the exhibition).

The state of preservation of Jebel al-Mutawwaq necropolis
allows analysis and studies on human remains found in several dolmens. In particular, the discovery of an intact burial in Dolmen 317 allowed genetic studies about the community who inhabited the site. By comparison with other human remains found in the most recent Dolmen 534 and Dolmen 535, researchers are trying to draw up a genetic map of the two periods of occupation of the site and the kinship between the different communities that lived on Jebel al-Mutawwaq mountain and surrounding areas.

3D Printing and Archaeology: the process of replicating archaeological artifacts.

THE CONCEPT OF DUPLICATING AND 3D IN ARCHAEOLOGY

The concept of “duplicating” in archaeology has always been a tricky subject, widely criticized by the global scientific community, partly for the risk of an uncontrolled and insufficiently regulation, partially for its contrast with the concept of “authenticity”, which adds intrinsic value to the artifact and ancient architectures. However, the steady increase in vandalism and destruction suffered by the tangible cultural heritage all around the globe, particularly in areas of political instability in the Middle East, has revived the debate about the need of properly recreate and enhance artifacts and ancient architectures irretrievably damaged or whose accessibility to the general public is sadly limited.

In recent years, the use of digital technologies to three-dimensionally replicate archaeological contexts has given more space back to the general public’s dissemination of archaeological contexts at risk. It boasts illustrious Italian precedents, such as the exhibition “Rinascere dalle distruzioni. Ebla, Nimrud, Palmira”, conceived by Professor Paolo Matthiae and displayed in the Colosseum, in Rome.

The exhibition “La vita all’origine dell’urbanizzazione: i risultati della missione archeologica a Jebel al-Mutawwaq, Giordania” precisely fits this field of research, known as Virtual Archaeology.

The purpose of the exhibition is to lead the public to experience the archaeological context of Jebel al-Mutawwaq through the active use of faithful replicas of the original artifacts and monuments.

It aims to communicate the cultural heritage on the ancient East in an effective, swift and repeatable way, overcoming the lack of original artifacts and the inability to personally access the site, also allowing a progressively wider attendance at the exhibition.

In the virtual reconstruction of an archaeological context or artifact, the first step is scanning the object to be replicated, creating a digital copy that is metrically correct and aesthetically faithful to the original. It is possible because of a technique known has photogrammetry, already integral part of the methodological and analytical approach to archaeological investigation and in the entire field of Cultural Heritage Studies. Directly on location, metric (shape and form) and colometric information of an object are recorded through capturing with a camera multiple frames of the object itself. In the case of objects relevant to collections with limited access, it enables to carry out reconstruction operations without moving the artifacts from their location.

3D MODEL PROCESSING

Once the photos that portray the object from each angle have been selected, the next step is the computer processing of the pictures. Using specific software, the points detected through photogrammetry are recorded and used to create a dense cloud of points, a “primordial” shape of the artifact, in its transformation from simple image to three-dimensional replication. The reconstruction is completed by merging all the points detected, creating a mesh (the three-dimensional shape) to which the texture (the original colometric information) will be combined later. The last step in the digital processing is to reduce the scale model, which is required when the photogrammetric process has been applied to large constructions.

The final step for 3D reconstruction is printing. The constant evolution on 3D printers has made it possible for the replicas to be materialized to a better definition every day.

3D printing is a simple yet precise process for replicating the original shapes of the scanned object, and the replica is unsusceptible to dimensional of geometrical loss, thanks to the complex processing of metric data. Therefore, the result is more faithful to the original, compared to a handcrafted reproduction, for example.

The display of 3D copies of archaeological artifacts allows easier access of artifacts, especially in the case of objects located in foreign museums, whose sometimes are hard to visit or closed for lack of security. It is the case of the Baghdad Archaeological Museum, Iraq. The object reproduced three-dimensionally also allows a great versatility, especially with teaching purposes. It ensures a tactile experience on the artifacts displayed in an exhibition, without risk of damage to the original archaeological object; it also allows to expand the possibility of learning its characteristics, both for the student of archaeology and for interested visitors. In the same context, it also guarantees a full knowledge of the object to visually impaired people, who in addition to the captions made in Braille language, can also appreciate the surface and shape of the artifacts.

Concerning Cultural Heritage Studies, the operation of printing or the creation of scanned tactile copies has now established itself as a useful tool for cataloguing, restoration, preservation, teaching, research and dissemination of archaeological data, and a fundamental means for the preparation of paths within museums that ensure a direct and safe experience for visually impaired or blind people. However, most of these exhibitions do not involve reproduction of pigments and decorations of artifacts, but only the raw product printed in 3D. In this sense, a wide variety of materials and techniques provided for by post-production complement the effectiveness of 3D printing to offer a realistic, authentic and attractive experience for both specialists and the public.

All the objects in the exhibition are replicas of originals from the excavations of the University of Perugia in Jebel al-Mutawwaq and kept in the warehouses of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan in the regional headquarters of Zarqa. They were initially processed, using photogrammetric shots taken on site or in prepared areas, by members of the archaeological excavation team, and later graphically modeled, printed and finished by Alessandro Marozzini (ChtonianFactory©), in collaboration with the Cultural Association C.E.S.A.R. in Rome.

C'è sempre qualcosa in programma qui al/alla Jebel al-Muttawaq dolmen field and the early Bronze Age site: nuove mostre, eventi stagionali, tour. Insomma, se hai un po' di tempo, vale sicuramente la pena passarlo tra i tesori nascosti di questo/a incredibile Sito archeologico. Acquista subito il tuo biglietto d'ingresso e non perdere l'occasione di una visita da noi.

Captions

Caption of the satellite image:

Satellite image of Jebel al-Mutawwaq. The name of Jebel al-Mutawwaq can be translated as “the round mountain” or as “the surrounded mountain”; observing the site both his round shape, the watercourses and their springs can be noticed. The favorable location of the site for the water supply facilitated the rise of the settlement on the southern slope of the mountain by the second half of the IV millennium B.C.

Captions of the first group of cases:

The study of pottery fragments. After the collection and the selection of the diagnostic pottery sherds, they are drawn by the archaeologists. The diameter of the original vessel is established through the use of the concentric circumferences (1) and then, using the caliber to measure the thickness of the fragment (2) and the profilograph to draw the outline of the fragment, it is possible to make a technical reconstructive drawing of the typology of the vessel and to understand which was the original vessel of each fragment.
Dolmen 228 during the Summer 2012 campaign. The excavation of a dolmen begins with the removal of the sedimentary layers made of soil and small stones which compose the covering tumulus of the dolmen and the highlighting of the layers covering the funerary chamber. In this case, after their removal, the floor slab was identified; the absence of an inhumated body testified the looting activities performed in ancient times in the megalithic structure.
Picture of a domestic building of the Jebel al-Mutawwaq village. The dwellings, usually made of a single room, were circular or curvilinear in shape, the floor was made by the levelled bedrock and the door was constituted by two side slabs and a stone lintel, showing a similar structure to the dolmens in the necropolis. The domestic buildings used to have one or two fireplaces located in one of the corners of the structure.

Picture of the Spanish team at the beginning of the archaeological excavation at Jebel al-Mutawwaq, at the end of the 80’s (1); drawing depicting the view of the site from the Zarqa river (drawing by Ruggero Marcucci) (2); drawing showing some dolmens on the surface of the Jebel al-Mutawwaq mountain (drawing by Alessandro Marozzini) (3).
Topographic map of the Jebel al-Mutawwaq site, created by the Spanish team. The dolmens on the slopes of the mountain are marked in red, in particular on the eastern and southern sides, while to the south west, along the southern slope of the mountain, the stone structures are marked, remains of the Early Bronze Age I village surrounded by megalithic walls.
The street (L. 21) from West. The presence of streets in the necropolis is quite uncommon, at Jebel al-Mutawwaq it is the evidence of a clear path linking the village to the dolmens.
The working tools of an archaeologist in the field.

The trowel (1) allows you to carefully remove the layers of soil, recognizing their consistency and therefore the difference from each other. The correct use of this tool also allows us to understand the relationships between the various archaeological layers, thus determining the reconstruction of the chronology of human activities. The other tools (2) allow the human remains and artifacts that the archaeologist finds during excavation operations to be brought to light without damaging them and with great precision.

Jebel al-Mutawwaq 2012. The Spanish team during the excavation of Dolmen 318. Some archaeologists are removing the soil layers, while one of the member of the expedition is drawing the land survey of the investigated dolmen.
Aerial photograph of the Eastern sector of the Jebel al-Mutawwaq site.

In the picture it is possible to see a stone fence connected to the structures. The shape of the complex is similar to that of the Gran Cercado although smaller in size, this element suggests that there were similar structures in form and function in the different sectors of the village. The economic activities of the large circles are the same as those of the enclosures connected to the houses but have a common cultic aspect, both as regards the storage of foodstuffs aimed at their redistribution on the occasion of religious event, and for sacrifices and depositions of food as an offer to gods.

Caption of the model of the Temple of the Serpents:

Reconstructive model of the Temple of the Serpents of Jebel al-Mutawwaq (ca. 3200 BC). In addition to the long hall dedicated to worship (House 76), in the courtyard there is a building consisting of 5 rooms (rooms 1-5) dedicated to productive activities and storage (created by A. Marozzini).

Captions of the second group of cases:

3D replica of a jug, dated to Early Bronze Age I, found in Room 3 of the sacred area of the Temple of the Serpents. The vase has decorations applied on the wide neck similar to small snakes or worms, while in the lower part there is a red painting decoration depicting an irregular net pattern, an anticipation of the future "net painting" decoration widespread at the end of the same period in the sites of the Jordan River valley and the West Bank (created by A. Marozzini).
An example of the handmade bases from Jebel al-Mutawwaq before the potter’s wheel began to be used in Transjordan. In the picture, about a large preservation jar found in the courtyard (L. 51) of Area C West, close to the Building 131 and the Great Enclosure, it is possible to recognize the traces of the impressions of the wicker used as the working base by the potter. The same traces are visible also on the base of the replica of the Temple of the Serpents jug exhibited in the upper portion of the case.
3D replicas of pottery fragments dated to Early Bronze Age I, pertaining to large preservation jars found inside the Temple of the Serpents (Building 76), decorated with clay serpents applied on the surface of the vessel. Three of them show spotted serpents (1-3), one of them shows a striped serpent (4) (3D model by Stefano Foschi, printing and postproduction by A. Marozzini).
Flock of sheep on Jebel al-Mutawwaq.

Pastoralism is still, together with the cultivation of the olive tree, the main economic activity of the communities that inhabit the Middle Valley of the Zarqa river and in particular of Quneye, the small modern village that rises at the base of the mountain.

The Temple of the Serpents. Northern view of House 76, the main structure of the sacred area where community rites were performed. As you can see, the sanctuary of the village was positioned on the slope of the hill facing the valley of the Zarqa river, indicating the connection between water and the cult that was professed, an element attested in other IV millennium B.C. sanctuaries in the Southern Levant, such as, for example, in Megiddo, west of the Jordan River.
Olives in Jordan: remains of charred olive seeds, some fragmentary, found in the site of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, in settlement contexts dated to 3300-3200 BC. ca. (1); a characteristic seed of Olea Europea found intact in cave C.1012 (2), in comparison with a modern olive seed (3), which has the same morphological characteristics; the Transjordan landscape is still marked by the presence of olive groves on the terraced slopes along the valleys of the seasonal rivers that plow the plateaus from east to west (4).

Captions of the third group of cases:

Burials from the Cave C.1012. Human bones dated by C14 to 3150 a.C. found in a secondary deposition (1); 3D replica of a bowl located in the closing wall of the cave, remain of the sealing ritual ceremony of the tomb (2); 3D replicas of the miniaturistic vessels which constituted the grave goods of the burials found in the cave, probably used to contain unguents and oils (3). (made by A. Marozzini).
3D model of Dolmen 535 in Jebel al-Mutawwaq, obtained by photogrammetric scanning at the end of the 2018 excavation campaign. In front of the dolmen, the pit entrance to cave C.1012 is visible (created by A. Marozzini).
General view from the south-west of the EE excavation area investigated in the 2019 campaign.

Dolmen 11 can be seen and, in the foreground, the standing stone (S. 1200) connected to it. In front of the imposing stele (1.62 m high and 0.80 m wide) a platform carved in the bedrock was also identified, which testifies the carrying out of productive activities in connection with the dolmen.

Jebel al-Mutawwaq trilithon dolmen.

Example of a megalithic tomb on the site's high ground. The structure consists of three large standing stone slabs, two side and one rear, and a large roof slab. Around the chamber there was a platform made up of medium-sized stones that completely covered the funerary monument.

3D replicas of the objects found during the excavation of the burial chamber of Dolmen 534 at Jebel al-Mutawwaq, a jug with overlapping handle and red slip (1) (the only vase, together with a second jug in the same context, until now found in the site which had been produced on the potter’s wheel) and two copper arrowheads, a smaller one in copper (2), rhomboid in shape, found together with the jugs and dated as the associated pottery between 3100 and 2900 BC, and a larger one (3) in bronze with a foliate shape, found outside the dolmen and dated between 1800 and 1400 BC, attesting a late reuse of the megalithic structure (replicas created by A. Marozzini).
3D replica of the Pilgrim's Flask, found during the excavation at Khirbet Mudayna / Wadi Thamad in 2012, dated to the Iron Age (1200 - 300 BC), currently located in the Archaeological Museum of Madaba (created by A. Marozzini).

Caption of the reconstruction of Dolmen 317:

Reconstructive model of the interior of the megalithic burial chamber of Dolmen 317 of Jebel al-Mutawwaq, dated to Early Bronze Age I (end of the fourth millennium BC). Inside there were the skull (1) with the long bones of the deceased (2) and two flint scrapers, one "fan-shaped" (3), probably used for shearing sheep, and anelongated one (4), typically found together both in domestic contexts and in sacred contexts (Temple of the Serpents) (replicas and model created by A. Marozzini, 3D modeling of the two flints by I. Pizzimenti).

Captions of the 3D section:

3D replicas during the first phase of their production, after the printing activity. Moulds used to realize the metal objects displayed in their case (1); a part of a skull of the Dolmen 317 burial (2); a printing test of the jug found as a grave good inside Dolmen 534, together with the metal objects (3) (made by A. Marozzini).
3D replicas during the second phase of their production, the postproduction phase, when the objects are worked to make the printed objects perfectly identical to the original ones. An example of a Smilodon partially worked (1); two tests carried out for the realization of the Julia Domna head (2). (made by A. Marozzini).

3D replicas at the end of their production. Replica of the Julia Domna head (1) found at Jerash (Jordan) by T.M. Weber-Karyotakis (German Jordanian University); 3D scale model of the Hellenistic sculpture realized for the celebration of the Eurimedonte conflict, known as the Samotracia Nike (2) (made by A. Marozzini).