Wednesday, 16 October, 2024
At the heart of the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, carved into pink sandstone cliffs, lies an elaborate monument known as the Khaznah, or the Treasury.
And buried beneath that edifice, archaeologists recently discovered, is a tomb with at least 12 human skeletons and artifacts that are estimated to be at least 2,000 years old.
Archaeologists led by Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research, unearthed the ancient tomb. The expedition was studying the Treasury after years of speculation that two tombs found below the left side of the monument in 2003 weren’t the only secret underground chambers. But that theory had not been confirmed — until now.
Creasman and his team performed ground-penetrating radar — a remote sensing technique that uses radar pulses to detect underground objects — earlier this year to see whether the physical features on the left, where the original tombs were found, matched those on the right. The detections revealed strong similarities between the two sides, and it was the proof they needed to receive permission from the Jordanian government to dig beneath the Treasury.
At this point, Creasman contacted Josh Gates, host of Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown.” “I think we’ve got something,” Creasman said he told the explorer over the phone.
With a film crew, the team excavated the newly uncovered tomb in August. But the real surprise was what lay within the tomb. While many tombs uncovered within Petra are found empty or disturbed, the chamber was filled with complete skeletal remains and grave goods made from bronze, iron and ceramic. The intact burial found beneath the Treasury provides rare insight into the lives of the Nabataeans, ancient Arabian nomads whose desert kingdom thrived from the fourth century BC to AD 106, Creasman said.
“This is a hugely rare discovery — in the two centuries that Petra has been investigated by archaeologists, nothing like this has been found before,” Gates said. “Even in front of one of the most famous buildings in the world … there are still huge discoveries to be made.”
The significant finding may be the largest collection of human remains found in one place within Petra, according to researchers, and it was featured Wednesday on the season premiere of “Expedition Unknown.”
Petra was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in the 2000s for its unique architecture and the many mysteries that still surround the city. While experts have debated the Treasury’s purpose for centuries, the most popular theory is that the monument serves as a mausoleum, although no skeletal remains have been found within the building itself, Gates said.
The Treasury receives hundreds of thousands of tourists a year, and it has also been featured in several movies, most prominently as the site of the Holy Grail in the 1989 film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
Among the artifacts were several vessels, with one skeleton found clutching a ceramic chalice that resembled the shape of the Holy Grail. “It really was this awesome moment of history imitating art,” Gates said.
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At the heart of the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, carved into pink sandstone cliffs, lies an elaborate monument known as the Khaznah, or the Treasury.
And buried beneath that edifice, archaeologists recently discovered, is a tomb with at least 12 human skeletons and artifacts that are estimated to be at least 2,000 years old.
Archaeologists led by Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research, unearthed the ancient tomb. The expedition was studying the Treasury after years of speculation that two tombs found below the left side of the monument in 2003 weren’t the only secret underground chambers. But that theory had not been confirmed — until now.
Creasman and his team performed ground-penetrating radar — a remote sensing technique that uses radar pulses to detect underground objects — earlier this year to see whether the physical features on the left, where the original tombs were found, matched those on the right. The detections revealed strong similarities between the two sides, and it was the proof they needed to receive permission from the Jordanian government to dig beneath the Treasury.
At this point, Creasman contacted Josh Gates, host of Discovery Channel’s “Expedition Unknown.” “I think we’ve got something,” Creasman said he told the explorer over the phone.
With a film crew, the team excavated the newly uncovered tomb in August. But the real surprise was what lay within the tomb. While many tombs uncovered within Petra are found empty or disturbed, the chamber was filled with complete skeletal remains and grave goods made from bronze, iron and ceramic. The intact burial found beneath the Treasury provides rare insight into the lives of the Nabataeans, ancient Arabian nomads whose desert kingdom thrived from the fourth century BC to AD 106, Creasman said.
“This is a hugely rare discovery — in the two centuries that Petra has been investigated by archaeologists, nothing like this has been found before,” Gates said. “Even in front of one of the most famous buildings in the world … there are still huge discoveries to be made.”
The significant finding may be the largest collection of human remains found in one place within Petra, according to researchers, and it was featured Wednesday on the season premiere of “Expedition Unknown.”
Petra was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in the 2000s for its unique architecture and the many mysteries that still surround the city. While experts have debated the Treasury’s purpose for centuries, the most popular theory is that the monument serves as a mausoleum, although no skeletal remains have been found within the building itself, Gates said.
The Treasury receives hundreds of thousands of tourists a year, and it has also been featured in several movies, most prominently as the site of the Holy Grail in the 1989 film “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”
Among the artifacts were several vessels, with one skeleton found clutching a ceramic chalice that resembled the shape of the Holy Grail. “It really was this awesome moment of history imitating art,” Gates said.
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