One of the aims of the 2016 campaign in as-Sila was to conduct a survey in order to identify cisterns, channels and structures related to water use at the top of the settlement, using the 2015 survey map of the site as a base. The investigations have revealed a complex and sophisticated hydrological network with a great diversity of water structures (carved in the sandstone and designed for the collection, storage, transport and distribution of rainwater). All the structures have been identified and described using a total station, their location associated with the general topography of the site, and the contexts photographed. This study presents the results of recent analyses of lime-based mortars from rock-cut hydraulic structures collected during the 2016 archaeological campaign at the site of as-Sila/Sela, in the governorate of Tafilah in southern Jordan. Mineralogical and petrographic analyses were performed on 16 samples of mortars by means of x ray diffraction (XRD) and thin-section petrography (OM), and 12 AMS radiocarbon dates were taken from them. In spite of the difficulties in dating lime-based mortars and the problems inherent in the interpretation of the data, here we present the most complete analysis currently available of mortars from an archaeological site in southern Transjordan.

The Sela Archaeological Project, led by R. Da Riva of the University of Barcelona (UB) in collaboration with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (DoAJ), has been funded by the ICREA Academia Research Award, the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture, the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, AGAUR, of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia, and the PALARQ Foundation. The project also has the support of the Spanish Embassy in Amman. Except where otherwise noted, all photographs and materials published here are ©Sela Archaeological Project. The authors would especially like to thank Bob Bewley and Matthew Dalton of The Aerial Archaeology in Jordan Project for allowing us to use the aerial images taken in Sela in October 2018 (©APAAME). We would also like to thank María Soto and Josep Vallverdú who made the petrographic and mineralogical analyses at the IPHES and who most kindly put this information at our disposal. These analyses, as well as the 14C analysis at the CNA were financed by research grants of the PALARQ Foundation to which the authors express their most sincere gratitude.