Director: Dr Lucy Wadeson

 

Background:

 

The ancient city of Petra, located approximately 80 km south of the Dead Sea in modern Jordan, is situated in a mountain basin of the Wadi Arabah. To its north are the highlands of this wadi and the northern mountains of Jordan, and to its south are desert areas. By the end of the 1st century BC, Petra was the administrative, political, religious and cultural centre of the Nabataean kingdom, which at its widest extent reached north to Damascus and south to Mada’in Salih (ancient Egra) in north-west Arabia, and included the Negev and Sinai deserts to the west and parts of the Jordanian desert to the east.

 

 

View north, towards the city centre of Petra (from Jebel NuMeir)

 

Petra’s most prosperous period appears to have been under the reign of Aretas IV (9 BC – AD 40) when several notable monuments were built, such as the Theatre, the Qasr el-Bint and the Khasneh. At this time, the city not only acquired an urban character like other major centres of the Greco-Roman Near East, but also developed a distinctive architectural and sculptural style. Although adapted to local taste, regional trends in art and architecture are discernible in this style as a result of the Nabataeans’ variety of external contacts through commerce and politics.

 

 

 

The Khasneh (left) and the Theatre (right), Petra

 

It is traditionally assumed that Petra’s importance declined after the Roman annexation of the Nabataean kingdom into Provincia Arabia in AD 106. However, there is now evidence for a revival under the Romans in the 2nd century AD, with construction around the area of the Qasr el-Bint. Furthermore, according to the papyri discovered in the Petra Church, the city was still thriving in the 6th century AD.

 

Previous Research:

 

One of the most characteristic features of Petra surviving today are the hundreds of façade tombs carved by the Nabataeans in the sandstone rock-faces of the mountainous terrain surrounding the city centre. Their craftsmanship, distinctive designs and monumentality are testament to the wealth, prosperity and cultural contacts of the Nabataeans. In modern times, many of these tombs were inhabited by the local B’dool tribe until the late 1980s when the new village of Umm Sayhoon was created. This, and the fact they have been looted since antiquity, has hindered our knowledge of Nabataean funerary customs. The director’s previous research has attempted to remedy this by the first comprehensive documentation and study of the interior plans of the non-classical tombs in relation to their façades (The Façade Tombs of Petra: from Exterior to Interior, Oxford D.Phil. thesis, 2010). This work shed light on the burial practices associated with the tombs, the chronology of the different façade types and Nabataean funerary architecture, adding to J. McKenzie’s work on the classical tombs in her volume The Architecture of Petra (1990).

 

 

Façade tombs in the ‘Street of Façades,’ Petra  

 

Current Research:

 

The director’s current research as a Wainwright Post-Doctoral Fellow examines the topographical setting of the façade tombs at Petra, including the relationship between façade typology and location, the effect of the natural environment on the form and plan of the tombs, and the nature of the area and structures immediately outside many of the façades that form funerary complexes (The Funerary Topography of Petra Project). The main aims of the study are to further enhance knowledge of the chronology of the tombs, the development of the cemeteries at Petra and the sorts of activities taking place outside the tombs. The results will be integrated with the author’s D.Phil. thesis and published as a monograph, The Façade Tombs of Petra.

 

In relation to this larger project, the International Khubtha Tombs Project was created as a case study, focusing on the clearance and excavation of Brünnow and von Domaszewski Tombs 779 and 781 on the western flank of el-Khubtha at Petra. This part of el-Khubtha is well-known for its high concentration of some of the largest and most elaborate of the façade tombs, including the Urn Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb, the Palace Tomb, the Tomb of Unaishu and a large number of Hegr and Double Pylon tombs, which are the most complex types among the non-classical façade tombs. This necropolis lines the Wadi Musa as one exits the Siq and proceeds north, and has excellent visibility from the city centre and the Theatre area. Most of the Khubtha tombs lie on an east-west alignment  and their façades face west.

 

 

View towards façade tombs (the ‘Royal Tombs’) at the base of el-Khubtha, Petra  

 

Tombs 779 and 781 are located on a terrace to the south of the Urn Tomb and almost opposite the Theatre. They appear to form a complex with Tomb 780, which lies between them, yet this tomb is unfinished and therefore was not the focus of any detailed work in the first season of this project. Tombs 779 and 781 were chosen for clearance and excavation since they both have interior chambers notable for their size, tooling, arcosolia burials and decorative elements, and large platforms in front of their façades with traces of accompanying structures. Furthermore, Tomb 779 has a façade of the Double Pylon type, while Tomb 781 is a Hegr tomb meaning that any datable material excavated from the tombs could throw interesting light on the relative chronology of the different façade types at Petra.

 

 

Tombs 779 (Second from left) and 781(upper central) on the west flank of el-Khubtha, Petra

 

 

Interior of Tomb 781 – view towards back left corner

 

The clearance and excavation of Tombs 779 and 781 have the following objectives:

 

• To shed light on the form of burials and funerary structures carved into the bedrock (since many of the tombs at Petra have uncleared floors and exterior platforms)
• To seek material that could date the burials and use of the tombs
• To establish the relationship between the interior and exterior parts of the tombs
• To determine the sorts of structures that are typically found outside the tombs (forming funerary complexes)
• To enhance knowledge of Nabataean rock-cut architecture
• To enrich the visitor’s experience of Petra’s rock-cut monuments (seeing as these two tombs have some of the finest carved and decorated burial chambers at Petra)

 

IKTP Season 1 (September 2010):

 

In the first season, we cleared and excavated the arcosolia burials of Tombs 779 and 781, opened two trenches on the western edge of the courtyard of Tomb 781, cleared the south-western, north-western and north-eastern sections of the courtyard of Tomb 779 and opened a trench across the threshold of that tomb.

 

Tombs 779 and 781 clearly belonged to prominent members of Nabataean society in the 1st century AD given their elaborate façades and interiors, prominent positions, and the accompanying structures found outside the tombs. The first season of their excavation has indicated their importance as tomb complexes, revealing remains of a portico in front of Tomb 779 and an external doorway outside Tomb 781. Although the two arcosolia burials were partly disturbed, the material excavated is valuable for reconstructing the little known Nabataean funerary customs, especially the elaborate sealing systems employed for the burials.

 

The preliminary report of the first season of the IKTP can be viewed here.

 

 

Platform of Tomb 779 after excavation (tomb façade on the left)

 

Arcosolium grave in Tomb 781 – remains of built wall blocking side niche (top)

 

Future Work:

 

We aim to have a second season of excavation in Spring 2011, focusing on the burial chambers of Tombs 779 and 781 and the courtyard of Tomb 781.

 

Publications:

 

Wadeson, L. 2011. “Nabataean façade tombs: a new chronology.” Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan 11: forthcoming.

 

Wadeson, L. 2011. “The International Khubtha Tombs Project (IKTP): Preliminary Report on the 2010 Season.” Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan: forthcoming.

 

Wadeson, L. 2010. “The International Khubtha Tombs Project (IKTP).” Munjazat 11: forthcoming.

 

Wadeson, L. 2010. “The chronology of the façade tombs at Petra: a structural and metrical analysis.” Levant 42.1: 48-69.

 

Schmid, S.G., Amour, A., Barmasse, A., Duchesne, S., Huguenot, C. and Wadeson, L. 2009. “New Insights into Nabataean Funerary Practices.” In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, (Madrid) 5, edited by J.M. Córdoba et al., 135-160.

 

Funding and Support:

 

The 2010 season of the project was kindly funded by the German-French research project “Early Petra”, directed by Prof Michel Mouton (Paris) and Prof Stephan G. Schmid (Berlin) and sponsored by the German Research Association (DFG), the Excellence Cluster TOPOI at the Humboldt University, Berlin and the Association for the Understanding of Ancient Cultures (AUAC). IKTP was also affiliated to the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) and the British Institute in Amman kindly provided field equipment and support. This project is related to the director’s post-doctoral project, ‘The Funerary Topography of Petra,’ which is funded by the G.A. Wainwright Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

 

Weblog of Autumn Season 2010:

 

The weblog from the first season of the IKTP can be viewed here: http://www.auac.ch/blog/petra_2010_autumn/index.html

 

Contact Details:

 

Dr Lucy Wadeson

Oriental Institute

Pusey Lane

Oxford

UK

mobile: +44 (0)7837695937

lucy.wadeson@orinst.ox.ac.uk

 

or,

Council for British Research in the Levant

PO Box 519

Jubaiha 11941

Amman

JORDAN

mobile: +962 (0)797958267

l.wadeson@cbrl.org.uk