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Archaeologists have identified three undiscovered Roman fortified camps across northern Arabia.The University of Oxford school of archaeology made the discovery in a remote sensing survey, using satellite imagery.It said it could be evidence of an "undocumented military campaign" across south east Jordan into Saudi Arabia.Dr Michael Fradley, who led the research, said: "We are almost certain they were built by the Roman army.In the report, published in the journal Antiquity, he explained his conclusion was based on the "typical playing card shape of the enclosures with opposing entrances along each side".Dr Fradley added that the westernmost camp was significantly larger...

An ancient Nabataean temple with marble altars has been found in the gulf of Pozzuoli outside Naples in the Italian region of Campania. A statement from the Italian ministry of culture says: "The two marble altars of the Roman period, datable to the first half of the first century AD, are inserted inside the great Temple of the Nabataeans, now submerged." It is unclear when or if the ancient ruins will be removed from the seabed.The Nabataean population was based in the desert areas of the Arabian Peninsula. Around 2,000 years ago they established a settlement at Pozzuoli, building up...

The first inscription was discovered in 2003 at ancient Hegra in Hedjaz, an oasis city on the Incense Road. Today it is known as Al-Hijr (Mada'in Salih)...Hegra was the major center in the south of the Nabataean kingdom that in the 1st century CE also controlled other oasis towns, such as nearby Taima or Dumatha. The kingdom was one of Rome's client states along its eastern border. When the last Nabataean king died in 106 CE, Trajan had already prepared the orders for imperial troops in neighboring provinces to swiftly move in and occupy his territory before any resistance could...

Come along with an international team of researchers as they unlock an ancient paradox in the desert oasis of Alula.Follow their journey – from legendary heritage sites such as Alula Old Town to mysterious mustatils – in the Discovery Channel Documentary Architects of Ancient Arabia.

Last week, Saudi Twitter pages began to promote the message that ‘the direction of Jewish prayers do not matter to me”. The campaign, designed to emphasize the importance of Mecca and Medina as the holy places of Islam, and to eliminate the importance of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, has caused considerable controversy online. Among the most prominent messages in the campaign were those who wrote that "the direction of the prayers of the Jews is not important to us, what is important to us is only our homeland," referring to Saudi Arabia. This tweet was written by a well-known...

Right now, most of the pitched battles between Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem concerns Jews trying to pray in the vicinity of the spurious Al-Aqsa. I say spurious since any competent historian, with only the must rudimentary knowledge, could dismiss Muslim claims in five minutes or less. The Muslims assert that Mohammed rode al-Buraq -- a mule with the face of a woman -- to Al Aqsa (the Furthest Mosque), in Jerusalem, where from thence, he ascended to heaven. The ascent to heaven is called: al-Miraj, from where we get the word: mirage. A more ridiculous and fantabulous story could...

Islamic Places in Petra Dan Gibson 43.9K subscribers Dan Gibson introduces a new on-line tool that takes visitors on a tour through the Islamic places in Petra. Gibson explains that the original place names in Petra have been lost over the centuries, and that most of the place names are from the last several hundred years. Then using the descriptions of the earliest Islamic places, this tool takes the viewers through the Islamic places in Petra, including AlAqsa in Jiranah, Zamzam, the Ka'ba, the Cave of Hira, Arafat mountain, the Plains of Arafat, Muzdalifah , Mina, Jumrat, and the temple...

In the 7th century BC, the Assyrian king Sennacherib constructed an 80-kilometre-long, 20-metre-wide stone-lined canal to bring fresh water to his capital Nineveh. Compared to 20th century standards, one is surprised to learn that the project, which included a 330-metre-long aqueduct, was completed in only one year and three months time.

About 15 km to the east of the ancient city of Petra, archaeologists from the University of Leiden have discovered an impressive network of ancient water conservation measures and irrigated field systems... In Antiquity, an ingenious system of underground canals, hacked out of the limestone bedrock, in addition to specially built aqueducts and reservoirs with capacities of millions of litres of water, transformed this marginal region into a complex man-made landscape. This is a fantastic example of ancient water-management technology, constructed to irrigate the surrounding terraced field systems... It is possible that parts of this agricultural system -- which was...

Experts from London's Courtauld Institute of Art recently completed the conservation of a rare and exquisite Nabataean wall painting at the World Heritage site of Petra in Jordan, for the Petra National Trust. Conservators Stephen Rickerby and Lisa Shekede from the Courtauld's Conservation of Wall Painting Department worked on the project for three years. The remarkable painting, that can now be clearly seen for the first time in many years, was unveiled on Wednesday 18 August 2010 in a ceremony marking the conclusion of the fifth and final phase of conservation work... Dating from around the 1st century AD, the...

No city ever made a more dramatic entrance. Petra, the capital of the ancient Nabataeans, in present-day Jordan, is accessible only by a chasm called the Siq, nearly a mile long. Its sandstone walls, gorgeously marbled in every vivid and delicate shade of red, pink and rose, occasionally veined in cobalt blue, rise more than 600 feet high. All monumental architecture, from the pyramids of Giza to the Empire State Building, acquires some of its power to inspire awe by making the visitor feel small; walking through the Siq leaves one feeling antlike. The chasm abruptly terminates in a small...

Petra, "the rose-red city half as old as time" in southern Jordan, is best known for its spectacular Nabataean rock-cut temples and the narrow entry through the gorge of the Siq, featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But the site has a much longer history, with an early neolithic village on the hill of Beidha near by, and it was a regional centre in the Roman and early Byzantine eras. During this latter period, a number of churches were built: one known as the Petra Church was probably built in the late 5th century and destroyed by fire...

[A]archaeologists are discovering that ancient Petra was a sprawling city of lush gardens and pleasant fountains, enormous temples and luxurious Roman-style villas. An ingenious water supply system allowed Petrans not just to drink and bathe, but to grow wheat, cultivate fruit, make wine and stroll in the shade of tall trees... And scholars now know that Petra thrived for nearly 1,000 years... Constructed during the first century B.C. and the first century A.D., it included a 600-seat theater, a triple colonnade, an enormous paved courtyard and vaulted rooms underneath. Artifacts found at the site -- from tiny Nabatean coins to...

"Petra: Lost City of Stone" will be displayed from April 4 to Aug. 15. It will be the third American stop following its opening in New York and current stop in Cincinnati. To prepare for the exhibit, Calvin administrators plan to renovate the 2-year-old Prince Conference Center to include a museum-quality heating and cooling system, improved security and viewing spaces with special lighting... Bierling, an archaeologist, teacher and photographer, approached Calvin about sponsoring the multimillion-dollar exhibit that was turned down by other West Michigan venues, including the Van Andel Museum Center.

French archeologists find Marcus Aurelius 'head' AMMAN, April 22 (AFP) - French archeologists have unearthed a perfectly preserved head of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the ancient Nabatean city of Petra south of Jordan, the head of the mission told AFP Thursday. "A monumental white marble head, in excellent condition, belonging to a statue the emperor Marcus Aurelius was found in Petra by French archeologists," Christian Auge said. The head of the 2nd century AD Roman leader who was also known as the "good emperor" or the "philosopher-king" was found in the Qasr al-Bint area of Petra, a Nabatean...

A city carved in stoneWONDERS OF THE WORLD--THE SEVEN WONDERS OF MAN Petra Location: Southwestern Jordan, between the Red Sea on the south and the Dead Sea on the north. Size: About 40 square miles, but main sights are in a compact area. Population: Petra is no longer officially populated. A separate town has been built for natives who used to occupy the surrounding caves. Geography: Sandstone hills and broad desert plateaus, cleft by valleys. Ancient name for Nabateans: Arabians. By Robert Cross Chicago Tribune staff reporter Originally published January 11, 2004 WADI MUSA, Jordan -- First, one should understand...

The writing on the rocks The ancient Nabataeans are chiefly remembered for their breathtaking rock-carved capital of Petra in southern Jordan. Jane Taylor traces their fascinating story, from absurd theory to identification and decipherment of their inscriptions in Sinai In their heyday some 2000 years ago the Nabataeans were known throughout the Middle East and in parts of Europe -- in other words, wherever they travelled to trade. At Alexandria and Rhodes, at Puteoli near Naples and other places along the sea routes to Greece and Italy, Nabataean merchants established trading settlements and built temples in which to worship...

"The Sacred City presents compelling evidence that suggests the holy city of Mecca is in the wrong location and that the worlds 1.6 billion Muslims are praying in the direction of the wrong city. Compiling evidence from both historic sources and new technologies point to the correct location in this seismic, revelatory new film.

An overhead image of the monument photographed from a drone, and a detail overlay of the surface features in which the image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Photograph by I. LaBianca (Left) and Photograph by I. LaBianca; graphics by J. Blanzy (Right) ============================================================================================== Satellites and drones helped reveal huge ceremonial platform near the ancient city’s center. An enormous monument has been hiding in plain sight at the World Heritage site of Petra, according to a study recently published in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Archaeologists Sarah Parcak, a National Geographic fellow, and Christopher Tuttle, executive director...

The newly revealed structure consists of a 184-by-161-foot (about 56-by-49-meter) platform that encloses a slightly smaller platform originally paved with flagstones. The east side of the interior platform had been lined with a row of columns that once crowned a monumental staircase. A small 28-by-28-foot (8.5-by-8.5-meter) building was centered north-south atop the interior platform and opened to the east, facing the staircase. This enormous open platform, topped with a relatively small building and approached by a monumental facade, has no known parallels to any other structure in Petra. It most likely had a public, ceremonial function, which may make it...