Jump to content

Hala-'l Badr

Coordinates: 27°15′N 37°14′E / 27.250°N 37.233°E / 27.250; 37.233
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hala-'l Badr

Ḥalā-'l Badr (or Hala-'l Bedr / Hallat al Badr, in Arabic: حلا البدر, meaning "crater of the full moon") is a volcano in northwestern Saudi Arabia at 27.25° N, 37.235° E. The volcano has traditionally been classified as a cinder cone (or scoria-cone) type, and is located on the northeast corner of the Thadra table mountain in the al-Jaww (الجاوّ) basin, an erosional divide between Harrat ar-Rahah (حرة الراحة ḥarratu ’r-raḥah) and Harrat al-'Uwayrid (حرة العويد ḥarratu ’r-‘ūwayrid). Badr's eruption history is currently unknown, but geological studies suggest that the volcano erupted some time during the Holocene period, and the most recent lava flows were in the al Jaww basin.[1] Badr has a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of at least 2, so it is capable of producing an eruption column at least 3 miles (4.8 km) high.[2]

Hallat al Badr is situated along a major 1st millennium BCE caravan trade route, known as the Darb al-Bakrah.[3][4] Multiple Dedanite and Thamudic inscriptions are attested in the surrounding area,[5] but there is also evidence for seasonal or ephemeral Neolithic and Bronze Age pastoral nomad encampments.[6] Despite showing strong evidence of ancient domestic and ritual activities, Jabal Thadra, the volcanic plateau upon which Hallat al Badr sits, currently remains un-excavated. Archaeological features near Hallat al-Badr include standing stone circles and burial cairns, rock carvings of cattle, a linear stone-structure that may have functioned as a desert kite for trapping animals, and multiple inscriptions.

At the volcano's southwestern base there is a 1.8 km long erosional depression in the basalt capping of the paleozoic sandstones of Jabal Thadra, which has been described by Jacob Dunn as a paleolake or sabkha.[7] Dunn argues that this high-altitude paleolake in the middle of this remote volcanic desert may have contributed to the mountain's sacred nature for nomadic desert tribes, particularly those engaged in caravan trade such as the biblical Midianites.

Hallat al Badr is located in the biblical land of Midian––the Hejaz region of northwest Saudi Arabia– the geographical designation generally agreed upon by numerous biblical scholars and historians as the homeland of the biblical Midianites.[8] Midianite pottery (also known as 'Qurayyah Painted Ware') dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age was found not too distant from Hallat al Badr, at Tayma and Qurayyah in NW Arabia.[9] More recent excavations have unearthed sherds of Midianite pottery at al-Bad'[10] and further south at Dedan near Al-Ula, confirming that the Midianites were in the right place at the right time.

Bedouin legend holds that Hallat al-Badr vomited fire and stones, killing many herdsmen and their flocks, some time around 640 CE.[11] However, it is unknown whether this legend originated with an eruption of Hallat al-Badr or a volcano further south in Harrat Rahat, near Medina.[12] Writers including Charles Beke,[13] Sigmund Freud,[14] Immanuel Velikovsky, Colin Humphreys[15]Eduard Meyer,[16] Martin Noth,[17] and Hermann Gunkel[18] have proposed that the biblical description of devouring fire on Mount Sinai refers to an erupting volcano in the land of biblical Midian. Gunkel writes, "The characteristic Israelite narratives of Yahweh's appearance in the burning thorn bush (Exod. 3:2), in the burning and smoking Sinai (Exod. 19:9, 20:18; Deut. 4:11), and especially in the pillars of smoke and fire (Exod. 13:21)... can be explained originally from the fact that, in Israel's earliest belief, Yahweh was the god of the Sinai volcano."[19] This possibility would exclude all the peaks on the Sinai Peninsula and Mount Seir, but would match a number of places in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Following Musil, Colin Humphreys has argued that the itinerary stations given in Numbers 33 lead directly to Hallat al Badr. He also reports that a volcano in the harrat region of NW Arabia erupted in 640 AD, but it is not known exactly which volcano this was. Conversely, James K. Hoffmeier argues that the route suggested by Humphreys would have put the supposed volcano behind the Israelites at times, not in front of the people. He also notes that the words for "cloud" and "pillar of cloud" appear frequently in Numbers - it covers the mountain, the temple built on top of the mountain, "it occupies the holy of holies in Solomon's temple" (I Kings 8:10) and "Numbers 12:5 specifically refers to God coming down in a pillar of cloud to denounce Miriam's charges against Moses after departing the mountain of God." Thus "fire and cloud are understood to be vessels of theophany."[20] Nissim Amzallag argues for a simpler solution to Yahweh's theophany, arguing that "in antiquity, metallurgy was the only activity that could cause stone to melt. For this reason, volcanism was approached as the specific marker of the presence and/or activity of the god who patronized the metallurgical act."[21]

According to Jacob Dunn, the original theophany of Yahweh may derive from ancient eyewitness accounts of volcanic eruptions along the ancient trade routes passing through the lava fields in proximity to Hallat al Badr.[22] Dunn notes that nearly all of the features of the theophany at Sinai or Horeb (also called the "mountain of God") may derive from volcanic phenomena, such as volcanic lightning and eruption columns. Since Moses leads his Midianite father-in-law's sheep to the mountain described in Exodus 3, Dunn suggests al-Jaww was an ideal grazing region for Midianite nomads and their herds, due to an abundance of groundwater and vegetation. Dunn provides satellite imagery of a mile long (1500m) depression immediately adjacent to Hallat al Badr's southwest slope that could have stored a vast amount of drinking water for desert nomads like the Midianites or Amalekites and their flocks during ritual pilgrimages or seasonal migrations.

Citations and notes

[edit]
  1. ^ G. F. Brown, D. L. Schmidt, A. C. Huffman Jr., “Geology of the Arabian Peninsula: Shield Area of Western Saudi Arabia,” U.S. Geological Survey 560-‐A [Part 1] (1989): pp. 152-‐154.
  2. ^ T. Simkin, and L. Siebert, Volcanoes of the World (Tucson: Geoscience Press, in association with the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, 2nd edn, 1994), p. 368
  3. ^ Al-Ghabban, Ali b. Ibrahim (2007). "Le Darb al-Bakra. Découverte d'une nouvelle branche sur la route commerciale antique, entre al-Higr (Arabie saoudite) et Pétra (Jordanie)". Comptes-rendus des séances de l année - Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres. 151 (1): 9–24. doi:10.3406/crai.2007.87600. ISSN 0065-0536.
  4. ^ "The Darb al-Bakrah : a caravan route in North-West Arabia discovered by Ali I. al-Ghabban : catalogue of the inscriptions | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  5. ^ Pirenne, Jacqueline (1975). "Le Site Préislamique De Al-Jaw, La Bible, Le Coran Et Le Midrash". Revue Biblique (1946-). 82 (1): 34–69. ISSN 0035-0907.
  6. ^ Dunn, Jacob E. (2023). "Revisiting Al-Jaww: Exploring the Sacred Landscape of a Volcanic Cult Site In Northwestern Saudi Arabia". Antiguo Oriente. 21: 41–77. ISSN 2796-8472.
  7. ^ Dunn, Jacob E. (2023). "Revisiting Al-Jaww: Exploring the Sacred Landscape of a Volcanic Cult Site In Northwestern Saudi Arabia". Antiguo Oriente. 21: 41–77. ISSN 2796-8472.
  8. ^ Lawrence E. Stager, “Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel,” The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. M. D. Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 142–148.
  9. ^ Aviram, Joseph; Ben-Tor, Amnon; Stern, Ephraim; Yannai, Eli; Gitin, Seymour (eds.). The ancient pottery of Israel and its neighbors : from the Iron Age through the Hellenistic period. ISBN 978-965-221-102-6. OCLC 931613417.
  10. ^ Charloux, Guillaume; Ahmed Sahlah, Samer; Badaiwi, Waleed Ali (January 2021). "Madian revealed? Assessing the history and archaeology of the oasis of al-Badʿ in northwestern Arabia". Semitica et Classica. 14: 97–141. doi:10.1484/j.sec.5.129522. ISSN 2031-5937.
  11. ^ "Global Volcanism Program | Harrat ar Rahah-'Uwayrid". Smithsonian Institution | Global Volcanism Program. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  12. ^ Nemeth, Karoly; Moufti, Mohammed Rashad; Mahmoud, Ashor; Sowaigh, Abdulrahman G.; Hablil, Turki Y.; Abdulhafez, Khalid H. (2023-05-29). "The Vanishing Volcanic Geoheritage of a Key Scoria Cone and its Significance in Volcanic Hazard Resilience of the Active Monogenetic Volcanic Field near Al Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia". Geoconservation Research. 6 (1). doi:10.30486/gcr.2023.1982893.1135. ISSN 2588-7343.
  13. ^ Charles Beke, Mount Sinai, a Volcano (1873)
  14. ^ Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism (1939)
  15. ^ Colin Humphreys, The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories (2003)
  16. ^ Eduard Meyer, Die Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstämme (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1906), p. 69.
  17. ^ Martin Noth, Exodus: A Commentary (OTL; trans. J.S. Bowden; London: SCM Press, 1962), pp. 32-33
  18. ^ Hermann Gunkel and J. Begrich, Introduction to Psalms: The Genres of the Religious Lyric of Israel (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1998), pp. 69, 77, 80.
  19. ^ Hermann Gunkel, Genesis (trans. M.E. Biddle; Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1997), p. 181.
  20. ^ Hoffmeier, James K (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Wilderness Tradition. Oxford University Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0195155464.
  21. ^ Amzallag, Nissim (2021-03-30). "A Metallurgical Perspective on the Birth of Ancient Israel". Entangled Religions. 12 (2). doi:10.46586/er.12.2021.8742. ISSN 2363-6696.
  22. ^ Dunn, Jacob E. (2014-05-28). "A God of Volcanoes: Did Yahwism Take Root in Volcanic Ashes?". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 38 (4): 387–424. doi:10.1177/0309089214536484. ISSN 0309-0892.
[edit]

27°15′N 37°14′E / 27.250°N 37.233°E / 27.250; 37.233

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hala-%27l_Badr&oldid=1258843277"