The mosaic

The 1999-2003 excavation campaigns of the Finnish Jabal Harun Project uncovered the mosaic floor of the so-called “narthex” of the church pertaining to the monastic complex. The floor features in heraldic position animals, hunting scenes, geometrical decoration in perfect accordance with traditional pavement decorations in other monuments of Byzantine Jordan. The figurative decoration, though not common in the narthex area in Transjordan, features uncommon arrangements of themes that may be considered of symbolic and protective value (such as two lions facing a medallion or Solomon knot motif). The authors, through comparing parallels of dated pavements, suggest that the pavement was laid between 530 and 574-589 and more likely in the second half of the 6th century.