Climate Monitoring and Damage Assessment Model: A Case Study from the Praetorium at Umm El-Jimal Archaeological Site, Jordan

Umm el-Jimal is a Byzantine- Nabetean archeological site located on the edge of the southern Hawran plain. The site is notable among Jordan’s premier archaeological sites for its wealth of Late Antique ruins. The architectural forms are illustrated in the ruins of the site by ground plans, the construction of the super structures of the buildings, their ornament, the girder arch, the corbel courses, and roofing slabs. There are principal details and constructive principles developed in the purely lithic architecture in basalt at Umm el-Jimal and these are not common in the architecture of Hawran. The objective of this study is to carry out a detailed microclimate monitoring program in order to provide reliable information on the measurement and characteristics of the stone decay problem at Umm el-Jimal. Relative humidity, temperature, and the level of pollution (CO2) will be measured for a limited period of time. This study is focused on the Praetorium – one of the structures at Umm el-Jimal which enables us to determine elements that accelerate destruction. The Praetorium gives a glance at the damage to the stone in Umm el-Jimal, which is affected by microclimate. Climate changes such as the rise in the percentage of relative humidity during winter and humidity decline during summer, and vice versa with temperature all result in damages to the site. Both relative humidity and temperature appear in different types of mechanical, alteration, and solution decay forms at the site. In addition, it is notable that Umm el-Jimal suffers from high levels of CO2, which contributes to the increasing growth of micro-organisms on stone surface, which accelerates many types of damage to the stone. Therefore, it is necessary to have a comprehensive conservation plan for the preservation of the site from loss and destruction in addition to the need for removing the damaged or deteriorated crust by using non-destructive methods as much as possible.