The discovery of the ruins of old Roman baths during the construction of a major drainage system in the heart of Jordan's capital has posed a dilemma: how to preserve the country's ancient past while providing for its modern future?

A government committee set up two weeks ago is expected to decide soon on whether to expand excavations at the site or go ahead with an underground canal that would divert flood water that descends on Amman from the surrounding hills.

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Remnants of furnaces are a sign of an elaborate heating system which archaeologists believe is the first such discovery among the remains of the ancient city of Philadelphia on which Amman was built.

"We will balance the needs of the city – to protect it from flooding – to preserving antiquities under the streets," said Yazid Elayan, head of Jordan's Department of Antiquities.

"Amman was one of the biggest Roman cities and it has one of the largest baths ... Wherever one excavates in Amman, antiquities can be found," he told Reuters.

The work on the drainage system has been suspended while the decision is made.

Amman is an old city where many symbols of Roman civilization are still visible, from the amphitheater that seated 6,000 spectators to the Nymphaeum fountains and the Hercules temple on one of Amman's highest hills.

Worsening infrastructure and haphazard urban planning have plagued the sprawling city of four million people built on layers of ancient civilizations spanning the Ammonites, Moabites, Romans, Greeks and the Islamic period.

Municipality officials have already expressed concern that delaying the drainage project could raise water levels in central Amman and again flood it during the winter.

Amman has seen rapid growth in the last few decades as a result of an influx of refugees from regional turmoil that transformed it from a sleepy city to one of the Middle East's largest urban centers.

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The city, which dates back to the Early Bronze Age (the end of the fourth millennium BCE), was surrounded by walls and included residential and public areas, streets and alleyways. It had an area of 650 dunams (0.25 square miles) and was home to an estimated 6,000 residents.

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The Bronze Age metropolis was constructed on the remains of an even earlier city that dates back 7,000 years to the Chalcolithic Period. Two natural springs located nearby apparently served as the impetus to build planned communities on the site.

Some 5,000 teens and volunteers took part in the excavation under the auspices of an IAA project designed to instill an emotional connection to Israel's ancient heritage and a sense of belonging in the younger generations, as well as awareness of the importance of archaeological preservation.

IAA archaeologists Itai Elad, Dr. Yitzhak Paz, and Dr. Dina Shalem, who directed the dig, said there was "no doubt" that the findings would dramatically change what researchers knew about the Early Bronze Age and the beginnings of urbanization in Canaan.

"This was an exciting time in the history of the land, which was then Canaan, and whose populations underwent changes that changed the face of [the land] entirely. The rural population gave way to a complex society, most of whom lived in urban settings," the archaeologists said.

Video: Israel Antiquities Authority

"These were the first steps the Canaanite culture took in the land of Israel, which took on its own character in the urban sites it founded. … A city like this could not have arisen without someone to plan it and an administrative mechanism that was responsible for its construction. The impressive planning and the fact that tools imported to [Canaan] from Egypt and seals have been discovered at the site are testimony of that.

'There was an enormous city here – a megalopolis in Early Bronze Age terms, where thousands of people lived, making a living from agriculture and who traded with other regions and even other cultures and kingdoms in the area."

Discoveries at the ancient city include an unusually large temple that features a giant stone basin used in religious rites and an altar on which burned animal bones were unearthed, proof of animal sacrifices. The dig also turned up rare idols, including one of a human head.

The surprising discoveries allow researchers to characterize the culture of the peoples who lived in the area in earlier times. The nearby springs and open spaces facilitated agriculture. The remains of the homes and public structures indicate an organized society with a clear hierarchy.

Like so many archaeological discoveries, the city was unearthed as part of the preliminary infrastructure work – in this case, preparations to construct a new highway interchange providing an exit to the newly-developed city Harish, funded by the Israel National Roads Company Ltd.

Confronted with an unexpected ancient "New York," Israel National Roads has changed its plans for the highway and will build an overpass over the site to allow the city to be preserved in situ so researchers can continue to delve into its secrets.

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