THE JORDAN MUSEUM

Opened in 2005 to promote Jordan's architectural and historical heritage, the Jordan Museum traces the country's history back to ancient times thanks to the many discoveries made by archaeologists since the late 19th century. The museum consists of three main galleries (History and Archaeology, Traditional Lifestyles, and Jordan Today), displaying some 2,000 artifacts presented both historically and thematically. The collection is quite rich and gives a broad idea of the evolution of this region inhabited for at least 500,000 years. It contains some priceless treasures, such as the two-headed statue of Ain Ghazal, a 10,000-year-old anthropomorphic statue, or fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Two-headed statue of Ain Ghazal. This statue is part of a series of 15 statuettes found at the site of Ain Ghazal, now part of the suburb of Amman. It is made of baked plaster on a reed structure. This technique demonstrates the advancement of this Neolithic civilization, as a temperature of at least 900 °C was required to bake the statues.

The Dead Sea Scrolls. Part of the manuscripts discovered at Qumran (Palestine) between 1947 and 1956 are stored here. The very ancient texts, written mostly on parchment or papyrus, refer to the Old Testament. The Jordan Museum has the only manuscript written on copper leaf