In 1261, the Mamluk sultan Baibars granted Dhiban as an iqta to the son of an Ayyubid prince. Dhiban prospered throughout the 1200s and 1300s. It lay on the region's main trade route and supplied meat to nearby towns. The town had a diverse agricultural economy, with einkorn wheat and barley supplemented with grapes, figs, lentils, and chickpeas. Agriculture in Dhiban heavily depended upon the use of cisterns providing water for irrigation, since the semi-arid climate made rainfall uncertain. People practiced multi-cropping and raised pigs, sheep, goats, and cattle; they also caught fish, shellfish, and crab.