The Stoning of Cabbage

The stoning of cabbage is one of the oldest historical monuments in the Jordanian capital, Amman, which was built by the Ammonites , and it is a tower built in the Iron Age in about the thirteenth century BC, and it is like the rest of the towers that surrounded the Ammonites , intended to defend and protect the city and monitor the movements of the enemies.

Such towers were constructed with huge blocks of lightly trimmed stones, and took different shapes, ranging from square, rectangular, and circular, most of which were blind flint stones. The cabbage stoning was constructed in a circular shape with a height of four meters, and it was called the cabbage for its circular shape. Excavations showed that the tower consisted of two or three layers, and had a main entrance and had four rooms without a roof.

The stoning of cabbage is located west of the Fourth Circle in Jabal Amman in an area overlooking Wadi Saqra , next to the registration and research center of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities in Jabal Amman

Stoning was the first thing scientists observed in the century 19th, through surveys interpreted Glueck (Glueck) as a border center Aamounian in the first Iron Age. Based on new data, it indicates that these buildings had more than one function (i.e. forts, settlements, agricultural facilities). Basically, the history of stoning goes back to the Assyrian era (ca. 730-630 / 20 BC), the external borders border the Ammonite state. If this is true, the western expansion of the Ammonites did not begin until later.

It is one of a series of 30 castles dotting the Kingdom of Jordan, dating back to an unknown period.  diameter of the tower is 22 meters stone. Archaeologists and historians disagree over its function and origin. Many of the forts, built on hilltops, are now either in agricultural areas or in the midst of modern Oman.

The initial excavations of stoning, which took place at different times in the last two centuries, dated the tower to the early Roman occupation of the region. However, construction prowess was considered less for Roman roads and for building standards and materials, which were not identical to the monuments and structures found in ancient Gerasa (Jerash), Gedar (Umm Qais), or other Roman sites found throughout the country.

Later, discoveries of pottery vessels and other similar findings of porcelain, dated the tower to an earlier period, in the Iron Age, around the first half of the first millennium BC — although this is still under discussion.

The original use of the megalithic structures, can be found throughout Amman, Madaba and Irbid, and this also continues to be a source of controversy.

It is believed that some of these towers were originally military installations, due to their position overlooking valleys and agricultural lands and to prevent potential raids.

Other experts believed that these towers and buildings were designed to protect fertile farmland and harvest from hordes of nomads and thieves, as well as to store grain.

There is a third school of thought that believes that watchtowers have evolved over time, which were originally built for defensive purposes and at a later time, were transformed into agricultural skylights in peacetime.

Little is known about the so-called period of the Ammonites in Jordan. The incomplete archaeological excavations helped make their way of life unknown, despite the presence of large specimens such as stoning cabbage, which remains a long-lost echo.

Three stories five and a half meters high, stone stairs dilapidated and the surrounding facility in ruins. The secrets of the Ammonites are gone, and the tower is still there that overlooks the development of modern Oman — which takes its name from that ancient civilization