jan 1, 1812 - petra rediscovered by the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt

Description:

Petra (Baṭrā in Arabic, originally know to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō) is an ancient city which was the center of an Arab kingdom in Hellenistic and Roman times, the ruins of which are in Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.
The modern town of Wadi Mūsā (the Valley of Moses) - one of the places where, according to tradition, Moses struck a rock and water gushed forth - is situated adjacent to Petra. The Greek name Petra means “rock”, probably replacing the city’s biblical name Sela. Remains of Paleolithic and Neolithic periods have been discovered there, and Endomites have occupied the area in 1200 BCE. Centuries later the Nabateans, an Arabic tribe, made it the capital of their kingdom, and under their rule it prospered as a center of spice trade. The Nabateans living and trading in Petra soon accumulated a significant amount of wealth, and an envious Greek Empire attacked the city in 312 B.C, The Nabateans successfully fought back the Greek invaders. The Nabateans were defeated by the Romans in 106 AD and Petra became a part of the Roman province of Arabia and continued to flourish until changes in trade routes caused commercial decline. Significant habitation ceased after an earthquake in 551 damaged the city. After the Crusades the city was unknown to the Western world until it was rediscovered by the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812. Ludwig originally wanted to discover the source of the river Niger, but heard about a colleague who got murdered and decided to change his course. Starting in 1929, British archaeologists Agnes Conway and George Horsfield, as well as scholars Tawfiq Canaan and Ditlef Nielsen, launched a formal project to excavate and survey Petra. Excavations were made in 1958 by the British School of Archeology in Jerusalem. Numerous findings have been made in the decades since, including the 1993 discovery of Greek scrolls dating to the Byzantine period as well as the more recent documentation via satellite imaging of a previously unknown monumental structure buried beneath the sands of the area.In the early 2000s, the site was named one of the “Seven New Wonders of the World,” leading to a spike in tourism. Since then, efforts have been made to protect the ruins of Petra from heavy tourism, as well as damage from floods, rain and other environmental factors. To support the ancient city’s large population, its inhabitants maintained an extensive hydrological system. The site is considered significant by historians and archeologists alike because of its beautiful rock-cut architecture and innovative water management system, the latter of which made the region inhabitable, given that it is surrounded by desert and rugged, mountainous terrain. Petra has also been referred to as the “Rose City” because of the color of the stones used in its buildings. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. Petra has been noted by historians and archeologists for its unique architecture. Given the rugged, mountainous terrain that surrounds it, Petra wouldn’t seem like a logical place to build a city. However, the Nabateans took advantage of this geography as they erected its key structures.
Using an early form of the technique known as rock-cut architecture, the Nabateans carved several of the city’s buildings out of the surrounding stone surfaces. As the Nabatean culture evolved, and as the Romans and the Byzantines later sought to leave their own marks on the city, the architecture of Petra began to take on a mix of the different cultures that occupied it.
As desert dwellers, the Nabateans had struggled during seasons in which rainfall in the region was limited. When the tribe built Petra, though, they developed a unique system of conduits, dams and cisterns to harvest, store and distribute rainwater for year-round use.
At certain times of year, the area around the city was prone to flooding. However, the Nabateans were able to effectively control these floods using dams and, therefore, the city’s water supply.
After the eighth century, when Petra was largely abandoned as a trading center, its stone structures were used for shelter by nomadic shepherds for several centuries.

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