Northern ’Ajlûn, 'within the Decapolis'

Gottlieb Schumacher (1857–1925) was an American-born German civil engineer, architect and archaeologist who was influential in the early archaeological explorations of Palestine. His parents were members of the Temple Association, a Protestant group who emigrated to Haifa in 1869. After studying engineering in Stuttgart between 1876 and 1881, Schumacher returned to Haifa and soon assumed a leading role in surveying and construction in the region. First published in 1890 for the Palestine Exploration Fund, this volume contains the results of Schumacher's survey of Northern 'Aljûn in present-day Jordan. This region contains the cities of the ancient Decapolis, a group of Hellenistic cities which were centres of Greek and Roman culture. In this volume Schumacher describes the contemporary villages and ancient ruins in this area, and includes the results of the first surveys of the ancient Decapolis cities of Gadara, Arbela and the disputed site of Capitolias.