BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

New Tomb Found at Petra

Discovery yields fresh insights but also draws criticism

Petra’s famous Khazneh where the new tomb was discovered. Courtesy Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

Petra, the dazzling, 2,000-year-old Nabatean city in southern Jordan, has not given up all her secrets quite yet, it seems. Recent excavations revealed a previously unknown tomb beneath the facade of the city’s most famous monument, the Khazneh. Led by archaeologists from the American Center of Research, a team using ground-penetrating radar identified the tomb, which they claim is unlike anything previously discovered at Petra. Other archaeologists, however, are more reserved in their praise for the discovery.

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Excavating Petra’s New Tomb

The newly discovered tomb is the second to have been found in front of the Khazneh (or “Treasury”), an elaborate rock-cut monument typically thought to be a mausoleum or grand tomb for one of the great Nabatean kings, Aretas IV (r. 9 BCE–40 CE). Archaeologists had guessed there might be other hidden tombs in the area after the first was discovered during excavations in 2003. Following the plausible identification of the second tomb through ground-penetrating radar, the team partnered with Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown to document their ongoing work.

With film crew in tow, the team began excavating to find out more about the tomb that the radar had detected. More unexpected, however, was what was found inside the tomb. Although almost all of Petra’s tombs were robbed out ages ago, the newly discovered Khazneh tomb had remained untouched and contained the complete remains of 12 individuals as well as the various grave goods they were buried with. But while the archaeologists believe this is an incredible discovery that will shed more light on the Nabateans, key questions remain, including how the three tombs relate to the Khazneh. Were they an earlier phase of the mortuary complex, or was the Khazneh built as a feasting hall to remember the dead buried in the tombs below?

“This is a hugely rare discovery,” said Josh Gates, host of Expedition Unknown, in an interview with CNN. “In the two centuries that Petra has been investigated by archaeologists, nothing like this has been found before. Even in front of one of the most famous buildings in the world … there are still huge discoveries to be made.”

Not everyone was as impressed by the discovery, however. “I am perplexed why this find generated the media hype that it did,” said Megan Perry, Professor of Biological Anthropology at East Carolina University, who has excavated at Petra for more than 20 years. “It is by no means the only monumental tomb that has been excavated that still contains human remains and other excavated tombs at the site have found many more than 12 individuals.” She noted, for example, that one of the adjacent tombs contained as many as 11 people.

Perry also has concerns about the way the excavation was carried out. “I am disappointed that this excavation did not follow best practices in the discipline of bioarchaeology. Excavation and study of archaeological human individuals should be approached with care and respect, not treated as a spectacle. In addition, no one with the expertise to conduct the excavation and study of the skeletons was actually in the field with the rest of the team.”

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

OnSite: Petra

New Petra Monument Spotted Through Satellites

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library:

The Petra Scrolls

When People Lived at Petra

A Plea for the Bedoul Bedouin of Petra

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