Iraqi Geological Journal Al Sekhaneh and El-Hasan 2021, 54 (1B), 12-23 Iraqi Geological Journal Journal homepage: https://www.igj-iraq.org DOI: 10.46717/igj.54.1B.2Ms-2021-02-20 12 Characterization of Basalt for Conservation Use from Cultural Heritage Site of Umm El-Jimāl in Jordan Wassef Al Sekhaneh 1,* and Tayel El-Hasan 2 1 Department of Conservation and Management of Cultural Resources, Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Yarmouk, Irbid, Jordan 2 Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Mutah, Al-Karak, Jordan * Correspondence: sekhaneh@yu.edu.jo Received: 28 September 2020; Accepted: 9 December 2020; Published: 28 February 2021 Abstract The present study is a multi-analytical approach to the characterization of several basalt stone samples, from Umm el-Jimāl Cultural Heritage site, northern Jordan, which represents ancient trade routes between Arabian Peninsula and Syria. In particular, Micro-X-ray Fluorescence Mapping as new in the mineralogy, X-ray Diffraction, Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy are used for the determination of the petrological, geochemical, and mineralogical characteristics of the basalt used in this archeological site for conservation purposes. The results reveal that it belongs to the alkaline trachy-basalt to basanite-tephrite type. With predominant quartz, olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase (albite) as major elements, the vesicular texture is occupied with secondary minerals such as biotite, gypsum, and calcite. Keywords: Umm el-Jimāl, Cultural Heritage, Basalt, X-Ray Diffraction, Micro-X-ray Fluorescence 1. Introduction Umm el-Jimāl is a cultural heritage site, situated northeast of Jordan, 70 km to the north of the Amman city and just at the southern border of the Syrian Hauran plain (Fig. 1). Nowadays, the Umm el-Jimāl is divided into two areas: the archaeological site, the village of Umm el-Jimāl. The oldest archaeological evidence goes back to the first century. Throughout ancient times, the place was never emptied and it was inhabited from the first to the eighth century AD (De Vries, 1990b). Umm el-Jimāl was considered the gateway to the desert and the major link to the neighboring cities, the possibility that the first inhabitants of it are the Nabateans, who commuted with their caravans between the south of Jordan, from Petra to Syria via Wadi Sirhan toward Damascus in the first century BC (Bowersock, 1973; De Vries, 1981; De Vries et al., 1998). When the Romans invaded the region in the second century AD, the town eventually became a part of the Roman Limes Arabius, this limes represented the desert borders of the Empire, and it was located in the Arab province of Petra or a system of fortification and roads, or line of protection and fortification that the Roman system of frontier district protected the Roman province of Arabia, now Jordan and southeastern Syria. Nevertheless, in Umm el-Jimāl, it can be supposed that the inhabitants, to some extent, were existed in relative independence, in the 6th and 5th centuries, reached the height of its prosperity as a rich Byzantine city of perhaps 5,000 inhabitants. In