Jordan - From Petra to Wadi Ramm

Research Topic

The “From Petra to Wadi Ramm” mission combines a number of different field operations (prospecting and digs) on two major sites in South Jordan, focused on the Nabateans as one of the Arab peoples in Antiquity. The 2007 programme includes the following operations: “Around Qasr al-Bint” (headed by Christian Augé and François Renel), “The Chapel of Obodas” (headed by Laurent Tholbecq), “Study of Funeral Areas in Petra” (headed by Isabelle Sachet), “the International Wadi Farasa project” (headed by Stephan G. Schmid) and the "Franco-Jordanian Mission in Wadi-Ramm” (headed by Saba Farès and Fawzi Zayadine).

The period of primary study in all of the operations is that of the height of the Nabatean Kingdom (1st c. BC to 1st c. AC) and the time of the Roman province of Arabia (2nd to 3rd c.). Also under study are: in Petra, the late Roman-Byzantine (4th to 5th c.) and medieval (especially 11th to 13th c.) periods, and in Wadi-Ramm, the pre-historic and 3rd millennium structures, as well as the frequenting and occupation of sites by a variety of groups, most “Bedouin”, at all times.

History

Several of the aforementioned projects had been launched separately, in the late 1990s, by researchers at IFAPO (Wadi Ramm, region surrounding Petra and Qasr al-Bint). The creation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MAE) mission, in 2001, made it possible to continue or resume the projects, while bringing in new operations: the “Chapel of Obodas” as early as 2001 and the “Study of Funeral Areas in Petra” in 2006. We are pleased that the “International Wadi Farasa Project” was able to be combined with the former starting from this year (2007), while on other operations, the first phase of field work is just coming to an end.

Topic

The programme consists primarily of a comparative study of cultural areas located in the centre of Petra (Qasr al-Bint), the surrounding highlands (Obodas), and in a village (Ramm); funeral areas (the necropolises in Petra and Wadi Farasa); and their integration into the urban area and natural environment, in particular as regards water management (Qasr al-Bint, Farasa, Ramm).

We apply a variety of methods: epigraphical (Obodas, Ramm), archaeological and cartographic prospecting, and digs. In addition to the digs and probes in rock and architectural monuments (studies on monument architecture in Petra: Qasr al-Bint, Farasa, Obodas and funeral areas), using all of the “traditional” disciplines, we call upon geophysical prospecting (funeral areas, Qasr al-Bint) and, more and more frequently, as the publication phase progresses, anthropological and paleo-environmental analyses and studies.

Scientific importance

The programme brings together specialists from different backgrounds in a consistent effort to better understand, through archaeology, shifting and difficult-to-grasp populations, in a key area where some of the groups established themselves over the long term, under the rule of Nabatean kings, near the paths and roads that connected the Arabic Peninsula to the Levant, the Mediterranean and Egypt.

Scientific Partnership

Aside from the Department of Antiquities in Jordan, the Mission cooperates with the Departments of Archaeology and Anthropology of several Jordanian universities, institutes or foreign research centres established in Amman, Jordanian associations, and foundations in charge of protecting heritage and local researchers. It receives support (in funds, services or donations) from several sponsors, sensitive to the impact of its research on the country’s development. Their contributions, like those of several French partners - institutional or private - in particular, the CNRS and the Universities of Paris 1, Lyon 2, Montpellier 3, Bordeaux 1 and 3, supplement the MAE’s subsidy, and we wish to thank them wholeheartedly for this, as well as the French Embassy in Jordan, SCAC and IFPO.