One of the oldest historical monuments in the Jordanian capital Amman, which was built by the Ammonites. It is a tower built in the Iron Age around the thirteenth century BC. Like the rest of the towers that surrounded the Ammonites, it was intended to defend and protect the city and to monitor the movements of the enemies [1].

Such towers were built with huge blocks of stone trimmed in a simple way, and they took different shapes, varying between square, rectangular and circular, and most of them were made of solid flint stones. The stoning of cabbage was built in a circular shape with a height of four meters. It was called cabbage for its circular shape. The excavations showed that the tower consisted of two or three layers, and it had a main entrance and four rooms without a roof.

The stoning of cabbage is located west of the Fourth Circle in Jabal Amman, in an area overlooking Wadi Saqra, next to the Registration and Research Center of the Jordanian Department of Antiquities in Jabal Amman. Stoning was first noticed by scholars in the 19th century, through surveys that Glueck interpreted as a frontier center for the Ammonites in the Iron Age I. Based on new data, it is indicated that these buildings had more than one function (ie, forts, settlements, agricultural facilities). Basically the history of the stoning goes back to the Assyrian period (ca. 730-630/20 BC). The outer borders are adjacent to the borders of the Ammonite state. If this is true, the western expansion of the Ammonites did not begin until much later.[2]

It is one of a series of 30 castles that dot the Kingdom of Jordan, dating back to an unknown period.[3] The diameter of the tower is 22 meters stone, archaeologists and historians disagree on its function and origin. Many of the forts, built on hilltops, are now either in agricultural areas or among the buildings of modern Oman.

Preliminary excavations of the stoning, which were carried out at different times in the last two centuries, date the tower to the early Roman occupation of the area. However, its constructive prowess was considered inferior to Roman roads and building standards and materials, which were not comparable to the monuments and structures found at ancient Gerasa (Jerash) or at Jadara (Umm Qais) or other Roman sites found throughout the country.

Later discoveries of pottery vessels and other findings of similar ceramics, dated the tower to an earlier period, in the Iron Age, around the first half of the first millennium BC—although this is still debated.

The original use of rock structures, can be found across Amman, Madaba and Irbid, and also this is still a source of controversy.

Some of these towers are believed to be originally military installations, given their position overlooking valleys and farmland and to prevent potential raids.

Other experts held that these towers and buildings were designed to protect fertile farmland and harvest from hordes of nomads and thieves, as well as to store grain.

A third school of thought believes that watchtowers evolved over time, originally created for defensive purposes and later, converted into agricultural watchmen in peacetime.