Huwwarah

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Aerial picture

1 Geography
2 History
3 Link to Huwwarah on Wikimapia
4 People
5 Dress
6 Huwwarah Architecture

[edit] Geography

Huwwarah (also spelled Huwwara and Huwarrah) is a village in north Jordan. It is situated in the Governorate of Irbid. It is one of many agricultural villages in the fertile mud plains of Houran (also spelled Hawran). The mud plains of Houran bridge the gap between the Golan Heights in the west and the Sham desert to the east. The southern part of Houran is in North Jordan. Huwwarah if flanked by the ancient sites of Gilead (Ramtha, Jordan) to the east and Arabella (Irbid) to the west. North, it is bordered by Sal and Bishra, and south and southeast it is bordered by Sareeh.

[edit] History

It is unknown when Huwwarah was permanently settled. Some of the older stone buildings in the village suggest the mid 1800s. However, mud houses must have existed long before that, based on the number of generations the elderly reported through oral tradition. It is expected that there lived at least 12 generations so far in Huwwarah, making the estimated date of settlement between 1700 and 1750 CE (AD). The village also contains numerous sites were some coins from Hellenistic or Roman periods were found. Furthermore, there is an agricultural section of east of Huwwarah called Dhahr El Muqhur (roofs of the caves) which is apprently a necropolis to a nearby settlement that may have been the village itself. This makes perfect sense in view of the fact that Huwwarah is in the heart of the area that contained the Decapolis union of ten famous trade town the most famous of which is Jerash and Gedara (Um Qais).