Biblical Zoara is located in the Ghor as-Safi, precisely at the lowest place on earth. Its environmental and cultural history is therefore unique. During two decades, an archaeological project was conducted which discovered many significant finds of human occupations spanning some 12,000 years. These have been meticulously studied and the results are now presented here in Volume I. Volume II will follow and will complete and complement Volume I.
Part I Introduction; 1. Location, topography and climate Konstantinos D. Politis; 2. Geology, geomorphology and landscape history R. Neil Munro; 3. Historical background Konstantinos D. Politis; 4. History of research Konstantinos D. Politis; 5. Surveys and excavation strategies Konstantinos D. Politis; Part II The Pre-PotteryNeolithic periods; 6. Introduction and discoveries Konstantinos D. Politis; 7. Wadi Sharara excavations, 2011 Adamantios Sampson; 8. Wadi Hamrash excavations, 2009–2011 Adamantios Sampson; Part III The Bronze Age periods; 9. The Early and Middle Bronze Ages Konstantinos D. Politis; 10. Observations on the Early Bronze Age cemetery at An-Naq‘ Eliot Braun; Part IV The Iron Age II period; 11. The discovery of Tuleilat Qasr Mousa Hamid Konstantinos D. Politis; 12. Excavations at Tuleilat Qasr Mousa Hamid, 2000 Konstantinos D. Politis and Georgios A. Papaioannou; 13. Excavations at Tuleilat Qasr Mousa Hamid, 2015 Josephine A. Verduci; Part V; The Late Hellenistic and Nabataean period; 14. Introduction and regional survey Konstantinos D. Politis; 15. Umm Tawabin excavations, 2017 and 2018 Alexandra Ariotti; Part VI The Early Byzantine period; 16. Archaeology and architecture Konstantinos D. Politis; 17. The Wadi al-Hasa hermitage Konstantinos D. Politis and Georgios A. Papaioannou; Part VII The Abbasid and Ayyubid-Mamluk periods; 18. Archaeology and architecture Konstantinos D. Politis; Part VIII The Ottoman period to modern times; 19. The Ottoman Ghor as-Safi Konstantinos D. Politis; 20. Ghor as-Safi and the Arab Revolt Penny Edwell; 21. From the British Mandate to the Hashemite Kingdom Konstantinos D. Politis; Part IX Conclusion; 22. Conservation, heritage management and tourism development Konstantinos D. Politis
Konstantinos D. Politis is an archaeologist educated in Greece, the United States, Britain and Belgium. He is well-versed on the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean region from prehistory through to the medieval periods and focuses on Late Antiquity.