The oldest known evidence of hominid habitation in Jordan dates back at least 200,000 years.[18] Jordan is a rich source of Paleolithic human remains (up to 20,000 years old) due to its location within the Levant, where various migrations out of Africa converged,[19] and its more humid climate during the Late Pleistocene, which resulted in the formation of numerous remains-preserving wetlands in the region.[20] Past lakeshore environments attracted different groups of hominids, and several remains of tools dating from the Late Pleistocene have been found there.[19] Scientists have found the world's oldest known evidence of bread-making at a 14,500-year-old Natufian site in Jordan's northeastern desert.[21] During the Neolithic period (10,000–4,500 BC), there was a transition there from a hunter-gatherer culture to a culture with established populous agricultural villages.[22] 'Ain Ghazal, one such village located at a site in the eastern part of present-day Amman, is one of the largest known prehistoric settlements in the Near East.[23] Dozens of plaster statues of the human form, dating to 7250 BC or earlier, have been uncovered there; they are one of the oldest large-scale representations of humans ever found.[24] During the Chalcolithic period (4500–3600 BC), several villages emerged in Transjordan including Tulaylet Ghassul in the Jordan Valley;[25] a series of circular stone enclosures in the eastern basalt desert from the same period have long baffled archaeologists.[26] The Mesha Stele (c. 840 BC) records the glory of Mesha, King of Moab, displayed at the Louvre Museum. Fortified towns and urban centres first emerged in the southern Levant early in the Bronze Age (3600–1200 BC).[27] Wadi Feynan became a regional centre for copper extraction: the metal was exploited on a large scale to produce bronze.[28] Trade and movement of people in the Middle East peaked, causing cultural innovations and whole civilisations to spread.[29] Villages in Transjordan expanded rapidly in areas with reliable water-resources and arable land.[29] Ancient Egyptian populations expanded towards the Levant and came to control both banks of the Jordan River.[30] During the Iron Age (1200–332 BC), after the withdrawal of the Egyptians, Transjordan was home to the kingdoms of Ammon, Edom and Moab.[31] These peoples spoke Semitic languages of the Canaanite group; archaeologists have concluded that their polities were tribal kingdoms rather than states.[31] Ammon was located in the Amman plateau; Moab in the highlands east of the Dead Sea; and Edom in the area around Wadi Araba in the south.[31] The northwestern region of the Transjordan, known then as Gilead, was settled by the Israelites.[32] The three kingdoms continually clashed with the neighbouring Hebrew kingdoms of Israel and Judah, centred west of the Jordan River.[33] One record of this is the Mesha Stele, erected by the Moabite king Mesha in 840 BC; in an inscription on it, he lauds himself for the building projects that he initiated in Moab and commemorates his glory and his victory against the Israelites.[34] The stele constitutes one of the most important archeological parallels to accounts recorded in the Bible.[35] At the same time, Israel and the Kingdom of Aram-Damascus competed for control of the Gilead.[36][37] Around 740–720 BC, Israel and Aram-Damascus were conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The kingdoms of Ammon, Edom and Moab were subjugated but were allowed to maintain some degree of independence.[38] Then in 627 BC, following after the disintegration of the Assyrians' empire, Babylonians took control of the area.[38] Although the kingdoms supported the Babylonians against Judah in the 597 BC sack of Jerusalem, they rebelled against Babylon a decade later.[38] The kingdoms were reduced to vassals, a status they retained under the Persian and Hellenic empires.[38] By the beginning of Roman rule around 63 BC, the kingdoms of Ammon, Edom and Moab had lost their distinct identities and were assimilated into the Roman culture.[31] Some Edomites survived longer – driven by the Nabataeans, they had migrated to southern Judea, which became known as Idumaea; they were later converted to Judaism by the Hasmoneans.[39] Classical period Petra, one of the New 7 Wonders of the World, contains Al-Khazneh, believed to be the mausoleum of the Nabataean King Aretas IV, 1st century AD Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire in 332 BC introduced Hellenistic culture to the Middle East.[40] After Alexander's death in 323 BC, the empire split among his generals, and in the end much of Transjordan was disputed between the Ptolemies based in Egypt and the Seleucids based in Syria.[40] The Nabataeans, nomadic Arabs based south of Edom, managed to establish an independent kingdom in 169 BC by exploiting the struggle between the two Greek powers.[40] The Nabataean Kingdom controlled much of the trade routes of the region, and it stretched south along the Red Sea coast into the Hejaz desert, up to as far north as Damascus, which it controlled for a short period (85–71 BC).[41] The Nabataeans massed a fortune from their control of the trade routes, often drawing the envy of their neighbours.[42] Petra, Nabataea's capital, flourished in the 1st century AD, driven by its extensive water irrigation systems and agriculture.[43] The Nabataeans were talented stone carvers, building their most elaborate structure, Al-Khazneh, in the first century AD.[44] It is believed to be the mausoleum of the Arab Nabataean King Aretas IV.[44] Roman legions under Pompey conquered much of the Levant in 63 BC, inaugurating a period of Roman rule that lasted four centuries.[45] In 106 AD, Emperor Trajan annexed Nabataea unopposed and rebuilt the King's Highway which became known as the Via Traiana Nova road.[45] The Romans gave the Greek cities of Transjordan—Philadelphia (Amman), Gerasa (Jerash), Gedara (Umm Quays), Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) and Arbila (Irbid)—and other Hellenistic cities in Palestine and southern Syria, a level of autonomy by forming the Decapolis, a ten-city league.[46] Jerash is one of the best preserved Roman cities in the East; it was even visited by Emperor Hadrian during his journey to Palestine.[47] The Oval Forum of Jerash (c. 1st century AD), then member of the ten-city Greco-Roman league, the Decapolis, seven of