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Jawa, a unique Chalcolithic fortress town over 5000
years old. Massive black basalt walls loom ahead on a
steep, rocky ledge alongside the wadi. Jawa is an
enigmatic site- its construction was an enormous
undertaking. Yet the people who built it, their origins
unknown, abandoned their town after less than 50 years.
Perhaps the greatest skill of the Jawaites was
Hydrology. In such a bleak environment where springs are
rare and access to ground water virtually impossible it
is crucial to harness the winter rains. Over 8km of
stone canals, diversions, dams and reservoirs at Jawa
and along the Wadi Rajil attest to the complex and
efficient water system devised by the Jawaites.
Rainwater was deflected into canals at three points,
which brought the water to circular reservoirs, several
of, which are clearly visible to the west and south of
the town.
A few decades at most, after the fortress and water
system were built, Jawa was attacked. The excavator
suggests that this complex was a Middle Bronze Age
caravanserai, a stopping place on the route between
Syria/Mesopotamia and Arabia and Palestine.
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