Jordan - Pella (Modern Tabaqat Fahil)

The large site of Pella nestles in the warm, fertile foothills of the north Jordan Valley, about 90 kilometres or an 80-minutes drive from from the capital Amman. It is directly adjacent to the modern village of Tabaqat Fahil, about four kilometres east of the Jordan River, and just over a kilometre east of the village of Mashare, on the main Jordan Valley road. The drive to Pella takes you through some of Jordan’s loveliest forest and mountain terrain in the regions of Salt, Zai, Ajlun and Kufranja . The site comprises the 400-metre- long main mound , the steep Tell Husn to the south and the perennial Wadi Jirm between them; Jabal Abu el- Khas which rises to the east directly behind Wadi Jirm; and the lower reaches of Jabal Sartaba, directly east of Tell Husn. Pella has idyllic warm and dry weather for nine months of the year; June, July and August are hot , with daytime temperatures of over 35 degrees Centigrade. Impressive as they may be , the architectural remains visible on the site today only represent a few of the ancient Periods during which Pella was inhabited. Most of the visible structures date from the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods (2nd – to- 14th Centuries AD) though Pella was permanently inhabited, or used as a seasonal hunting, camping, flint- knapping or herding site , during almost every preceding historical and pre- historical period- including the Hellenistic, Persian, Iron, Bronze, Chalcolithic, Neolithic, and paleolithic periods.