Although Umm el-Jimal lay silent for a thousand years after being abandoned by its ancient population, modern archaeological research into the site began in the early 1900s with Howard C. Butler’s Princeton University Expedition to Southern Syria. Since then international researchers have conducted a variety of inquiries into the ancient town, an adjacent and older village, and the surrounding region. These pages summarize some of the major lines of research from the perspective of excavations and surveys conducted in the field by the Umm el-Jimal Project since its inception in 1972.

Main image: A researcher examines basalt stonework inside an excavation trench exposing a building foundation.