NEW ARABIC INSCRIPTIONS, DATED TO MAMLUKE PERIOD FROM WADI AL-ĠUṢAIN IN THE EASTERN JORDANIAN DESERT

Abstract

: This study is concerned with three new Islamic inscriptions which were discovered in one of the stones cairn in wadi al-Ġuṣyian, which is famous for water wells- dug in along the course of the valley - known as Biār al-Ġuṣyian (wells of al-Ġuṣyian). These inscriptions that are carved on smooth basalt stone are composed of thin letters, making it difficult to read these inscriptions at first. However, I was able to analyze and read the inscriptions correctly. The importance of the inscriptions is that they were engraved by three different persons in the cursive writing on the surface of the stone; the stone’s surface measures 30 cm×33 cm, two inscriptions are dated but the third one is undated. One of the inscriptions contains the name of the person as “Al-Ġuṣyian” and so the site was named after this name that is the wells of “Al-Ġuṣyian”. Another inscription that mentions a geographical site in neighboring Syria, called “cUrmān” from the Mamluke period includes in the first inscription some ascetic poetic verses which were in vogue back then.