Female Stone Heads From Ammon’s Royal Past
Renewed excavations of the Amman Citadel in Jordan, which began in spring 2024, have uncovered three stone female heads at the lower terrace, paralleling similar finds from the 1960s by Fawzi Zayadine of the Jordan Department of Antiquities.
The 2024–2025 excavations were led by Dr. Katharina Schmidt, professor for biblical archaeology/archaeology of the Levant at the University of Münster, and Dr. Zeidan Khafafi (dean emeritus of Yarmouk University) in cooperation with Dr. Brita Jansen (gpia Amman).
The double-faced female stone heads were found in a water channel and are 30 centimeters tall (12 inches). Their hair and ears in particular were carved in great detail, along with inlaid eyes and necklaces. The following link has a picture of the newly discovered head.
https://x.com/ASOResearch/status/2029603038361514362
All three heads date to the Iron Age and are believed to have come from a monumental building on the Amman Citadel. The building was discovered in excavations by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan and the École Biblique et Archaéologique Française of Jerusalem, by archaeologists Fawzi Zayadine and his colleagues between 1987 and 1991. The Amman Citadel (or Jabal al-Qal’a) is one of the centerpieces of Amman, the modern capital of Jordan, containing archaeological remains from the Bronze Age through the Umayyad Period.
The monumental building at the citadel was dated to the seventh century b.c.e. and due to its size and finds it was likely a residential building, supposedly of a royal nature. Part of the reason for the 2024–2025 excavations was to learn more about the exact function of the building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR6_vYJZWGo&t=1879s
With the discovery of these heads, it seems that the excavators might be coming closer to an answer. In her March 2026 The Ancient Near East Today article on the excavations, “Excavating the Royal Capital of Ammon: A New Research Project on the Amman Citadel,” Schmidt wrote:
It is very likely that these heads once decorated a stone balustrade, possibly within the Ammonite palace itself. The double-faced figures, looking both inward and outward of the former building, may have symbolized supernatural protective beings, embodying prosperity and divine favor at the very heart of royal authority. Such exceptional finds illustrate the splendor and symbolic power of this monumental complex.
In the 2023 winter issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (bar), Schmidt pointed to similar Ammonite heads from the Iron Age discovered at the site in the late 1960s by Zayadine (click here to see an image of one of the heads discovered in 1968). “Interestingly,” she wrote, “the double-faced heads from Ammon have peg holes on the top and bottom to attach them to decorative window balustrades, similar to those found at the Judahite palace at Ramat Rahel south of Jerusalem” (“Hard Power: The Stone Statues of Ammon”). They also show signs of other foreign influences.
The possible connection to the fort at Ramat Rahel near Jerusalem adds an interesting dimension. Between 1954 and 1962, Israeli archaeologist Yohanan Aharoni discovered stone-carved window balustrades dating to the seventh century b.c.e. belonging to the royal palace at Ramat Rahel. As the stone Ammonite heads were also found not far from the monumental structure on the citadel in Amman, it gives reason to believe they were part of a royal building, just like the one at Ramat Rahel.
Ammon was one of the three main kingdoms east of the Jordan that interacted, and at times conflicted, with the kingdom of Israel during the Iron Age. Its people descended from Abraham’s nephew Lot, according to the origin story in Genesis 19. The capital of the Ammonites was Rabbah-Amman, lying along the Jabbok River—one of the tributaries of the Jordan. The Bible mentions several Ammonite kings and their interaction with Israel, like Nahash and his son Hanun. In 2 Chronicles 17:25, we read of King Jotham of Judah who enforces a heavy tribute on the Ammonites (possibly under King Shanip, known from the Yerah’azar Inscription), testifying of the great wealth available to them.
After Israel was carried into Assyrian captivity (721–718 b.c.e.) and the Levant came under Assyrian control, the tributary kingdoms left behind—like Ammon—benefited from the wealth and stability of the newly established Pax Assyriaca. The monumental nature of Ammonite architecture, as well as the large corpus of statues found so far, fits with the picture of a wealthy and prosperous kingdom.
“The Ammonite kingdom in particular flourished, as evident not only by the capital’s monumental palace and temple, but also by a significant increase in the number of towns and villages that were settled during this period,” wrote Schmidt. “The statues were an expression of the kingdom’s wealth and connections.”
The renewed excavations at the Amman Citadel have provided valuable insight into the artistic, cultural and political significance of Ammon in the Iron Age. The discovery of the intricately carved double-faced female heads not only parallels earlier findings but also strengthens the interpretation of a monumental, likely royal, structure at the site. Their detailed craftsmanship and symbolic design reflect the power and prosperity of the Ammonite elite at the time.