The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate , and has a population of 50, as of It is located The earliest evidence of settlement in Jerash is in a Neolithic site known as Tal Abu Sowan, where rare human remains dating to around BC were uncovered.
However, in the year , Zahir ad-Din Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus ordered a garrison of forty men to build up a fort in an unknown site of the ruins of the ancient city, likely the highest spot of the city walls in the north-eastern hills. Jerash was then deserted until it reappeared in the historical record at the beginning of Ottoman rule in the area during the early 16th century. In the census of , it had a population of 12 Muslim households.
Jerash today is home to one of the best preserved Greco-Roman cities, which earned it the nickname " Pompeii of the Middle East". Archaeologists have found ruins of settlements dating back to the Neolithic Age. Moreover, in August , an archaeological excavation team from the University of Jordan unearthed two human skulls that date back to the Neolithic period โ BC at a site in Jerash. This forms solid evidence of inhabitance of Jordan in that period, especially in connection with the existence of 'Ain Ghazal Neolithic settlement in Amman.
The importance of the discovery lies in the rarity of the skulls, as archaeologists estimate that a maximum of 12 sites across the world contain similar human remains.
Evidence of settlements dating to the Bronze Age โ BC have been found in the region. Jerash is the site of the ruins of the Greek city of Gerasa , also referred to as Antioch on the Golden River. However, other sources, namely the city's former name of "Antioch on the Chrysorrhoas," point to a founding by Seleucid King Antioch IV , while still others attribute the founding to Ptolemy II of Egypt.
