The Citadel
The Amman Citadel or the Jabal al-Qal'a is the
national historic site located in the heart of downtown Amman,
Jordan, and called Jabal al-Qal'a in Arabic, the L shaped hill
is one of the seven jabals that would originally make up Amman,
with excellent evidence of occupation since the pottery
Neolithic period, that has been discovered and making it the
oldest continuously inhabited places on the earth. The citadel's
history represents important civilizations that had stretched
across the continents and prospered for centuries as one empire
gave rise to another, and the birthplace of three enormous
monolithic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The
earliest settlement began here over 7000 years ago, and the site
itself represents a passage of time in an open-air museum that
offers you the opportunity to explore a great aspect of the
history of mankind. This site has Biblical references, has been
besieged by wars, crushed by earthquakes, been associated with
iconic deities and home to profoundly different cultures. The
citadel is also the site of the first national archaeological
museum that is now home to many extraordinary relics in its
collections along with other historic Jordanian sites. There is
a large area that is still undiscovered and unexcavated,
containing outstanding opportunities for future discoveries, and
with the many advances in modern exploration, these areas may
well be excavated very soon.
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