Pella

(Taqabat Fahl)

Pella, (known in Arabic as Taqabat Fahl), is magnificently set in a fold of the hills that rise from the Jordan valley.

It is one of the oldest sites in Jordan and perfectly located, for there is a spring here that issues into a small river and never runs dry.

The area seems to have been continuously occupied since Neolithic times for some flints from this period have been found there.

Indeed, some recent finds 2km north of the area date to Paleolithic times (around 100,000 years ago).

Besides the excavated ruins from the Hellenistic-Roman period, including an Odeon (theatre) built in a curve of the hillside; Pella offers visitors the opportunity to see several artifacts of a Chalcolithic settlement from the 4th millennium BC. 

The remains of Bronze and Iron Ages walled cities; Byzantine churches and houses; an Early Islamic residential quarter, and a small medieval mosque.