Reconstructing Petra

Smithsonian ^ | 2007 | Andrew Lawler

[SunkenCiv]

Someplace else. Petra’s dates are short by more than 1000 years.

[Red_Devil 232]

I think it is because of the location of Petra along the Kings Highway. Try this link about half way down the page there is a discussion of Petra.

Reference to Petra as Jewish Refuge

[ken21]

ooooh goood one!

thanks.

[Fred Nerks]

The Nabataeans greatest accomplishment was probably their system of water management. They developed a system to collect rainwater using water channels, pipes, and underground cisterns. Added to this, they developed very strong, waterproof cement, some of which is still in existence to this day.

Cement mortar and plaster played an important role in Nabataean life. They used this essential technology from their very earliest years in the desert. Without their special knowledge of cement, the Nabataeans would never have conquered the desert, and would never have risen to the status of a civilization.

The Nabataeans were experts at collecting water and storing it in underground cisterns. All along their caravan routes, secret water collection systems collected water and stored it for later use. The ancient historian Diodorus noted:

"For in the waterless region, as it is called, they have dug wells at convenient intervals and have kept the knowledge of them from people of all other nations, and so they retreat in a body into this region out of danger. For since they themselves know about the places of hidden water and open them up, they have for their use drinking water in abundance." (II.48.2)

LINK

LINK

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.nabataea.net/cement.html

Timeline of the Development of Cement

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Petra was actually in Phuket and not Banda Aceh. Her story of survival was quite remarkable.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/more/12/28/nemcova.tsunami/

[blam]

Thanks. I never knew about these water systems. I wonder how many are lost and forgotten underground?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for these pics. A couple of years ago we had a special exhibit from Petra at Calvin College. Lots of zodiacal stuff from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, monumental sculpture, all very cool. As you said, they were good at water management. I would think that they must have been at least as good at waste disposal (getting rid of sewage, basically), if indeed 30,000 people were living there. Sounds like a parallel can be drawn with Los Angeles — an artificial oasis (of sorts) in the desert, made possible through importation of water from a wide area surrounding the town.

[ken21]

those get the rocks moving.

[Ann Archy]

jUST VISITED THOSE THREE PLACES IN 2 DAYS.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I’d love to see it all. Petra, Jerash, Mt. Nebo, Bethany, the Dead Sea, and on and on. We read that Amman just opened its first Children’s Museum and its first American-styled boarding school. Petra is the main sight, though.

[Ann Archy]

OMG!! I’m so tired, I answered myself!

[Ann Archy]

Petra is THE main sight to BEHOLD.

[Fred Nerks]

Interesting website - University of Pennsylvania excavations:

http://petragarden.homestead.com/poolcomplex.html

This satellite image of the area:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y258/FredNerks/petra.jpg

...appears to show a very wide, ancient watercourse, and faint traces of agricultural terraces.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

they developed very strong, waterproof cement

I thought the Romans did this, about the same time, or did the Romans use the Nabataeans invention? Whichever, almost all the famous Roman monuments depended on this waterproof concrete.

[SunkenCiv]

Different formulas were developed in different places and times. :’) The Romans had access to that marble, starts with “p”... anyway, that was their special ingredient.

[blam]

"The Romans had access to that marble, starts with “p”... "

Bianco Perlino marble?

[SunkenCiv]

Great, now I have to go look it up...

Oops, not marble, ash... way off... bedtime for me...

http://www.romanconcrete.com/docs/spillway/spillway.htm

...Solving the riddle of ancient concrete consisted of two studies: one was understanding the chemistry, and the other was determining the placement of ancient concrete. To understand its chemical composition, we must go back in time much before Moses. People of the Middle East made walls for their fortifications and homes by pounding moist clay between forms, often called pise work. To protect the surfaces of the clay from erosion, the ancients discovered that a moist coating of thin, white, burnt limestone would chemically combine with the gases in the air to give a hard protecting shied. We can only guess that the event of discovering pseudo concrete occurred some 200 years before Christ when a lime coating was applied to a wall made of volcanic, pozzolanic ash near the town of Pozzuoli in Italy.

A chemical reaction took place between the chemicals in the wall of volcanic ash (silica and small amounts of alumina and iron oxide) and the layer of lime (calcium hydroxide) applied to the wall. Later they found that mixing a little volcanic ash in a fine powder with the moist lime made a thicker coat, but it also produced a durable product that could be submerged in water- something that the plaster product of wet lime and plain sand could not match...

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.nabataea.net/cement.html

Early History and Development of Cement

The Romans are generally credited as being the first concrete engineers, but archaeological evidence says otherwise. Archaeologists have found a type of concrete dating to 6500 B.C ...

[Esther Ruth]

The link given in 42 looks very good, explains it
http://www.ldolphin.org/kingdom/ch11.html
Then at the bottom of that page under Bibliography to that page - lists lots of good books
http://www.ldolphin.org/kingdom/biblio.html

He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations. Psalm 105:8

Blessed be the Lord, that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according to all that He promised; there hath not failed one word of all His good promise. 1Kings 8:56

Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. Ps 119:89-90

For the mountains shall depart, the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. Isaiah 54:10