Ruins
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Umm el-Jimal (The Black Gem of the Desert)
Known as 'The Black Gem of the Desert', Umm el-Jimal is an ancient rural town in northern Jordan constructed almost entirely of dark basalt stone. Originating as a Nabataean village in the first century AD, it grew into a thriving Byzantine and early Islamic city before being abruptly destroyed and abandoned following a devastating earthquake in 749 AD. The silent, pitch-black stone houses, churches, and courtyard mansions evoke an otherworldly ghost town atmosphere, long feared in local Bedouin lore as a realm of desert spirits and disembodied voices.