Gilead is an oval dome roughly split in two by the Jabbok River. Half of the tribe of Manasseh settled in northern Gilead, which was covered with brush and oak trees. The more mountainous southern region of Gilead was the territory of the tribe of Reuben.

Several judges of Israel were natives of Gilead. One was Jair from Camon, The judge Jephthah was the son of Gilead. Since his mother was a prostitute, his brother refused him a share of the inheritance, a significant blow in those times. Jephthah fled to the land of Tob, where he formed a band of raiders. Later his brother recalled his prowess as a warrior, and promised him the leadership of Gilead if he would lead their army against the Ammonites. Jephthah's forces attacked and defeated the Ammonites, Judges 11:32. These were the days before Zimri-Lim.

Another famous son from Gilead was the prophet Elijah (1.Kings 17:1).

The Edomites descended from Esau, son of Jacob. The biblical Edomites lived in the desert regions of Ezion Geber and what is today the Negev and Jordanian desert. A pottery sherd found at Ezion Geber had the south Arabic letters for `alif and sad' and possibly could have spelled the name `Eser' known from Gen. 36:21-30. That doesn't have to mean that the sherd derives from patriarchal times but probably that the name was in common use. [100]

[010] George M. Landes, `The Material Civilization of the Ammonites' in BA, Sep 1961, p. 66-86. The article features images of: a map showing the (a) locations of Mafraq, Wadi Zerqa (Jabbok), El Mumani, R. el Hawi, Khirbet Morbat (Bedran), Tell Safut, Q. er-Ronaq, K. el Kursi, El-Malfuf, Wadi es-Sir, Sweifiyeh, Amman, Q es-Sar, El Beqah, Q. et-Tabaqe, Abhara, Marqaba, El Hemraniyeh, Megabelein, Rujm Naur, Naur, Shadsharat, Sahab, Bilcas, Wadi Hesban, Dead Sea.; (b) the large round tower of El-Malfuf; (c) a map showing the location of towers and their visibility toward each other; (d) head piece of an anthropoid coffin from Sahab; (e) a pottery coffin from the Adoni-nur tomb; (f) horse & rider pottery figure; (g) the splendid seal of the winged Adoni-pillet with paleo-Hebrew looking characters; (h) the finely carved seal of Adoni-nur; (i) the seals of Shub'el and Menahem.
[030] N. Avigad, `Two Ammonite Seals' in BASOR, Feb 1977, p. 63-65. See ref. 200.
[100] Nelson Glueck, The First Campaign at Tell el-Kheleifeh in BASOR, Oct 1938, p. 3-18. For the image of an Edomit idol see front page of BAR, Jul/Aug 1996.
[200] Two impressions of `Ammonite' seals are shown in BASOR, Feb 1977, p. 64. They are thought to represent `Astarte'. Their engraving reads: a) `Belonging to Menahem son of Samak servant of the king'; and b) `Belonging to Bod'el son of Nadab'el'. They are dated to the Assyrian period of Sennacherib or a little later.