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Tomb full of skeletons found under the treasury in Petra


Tomb full of skeletons found under the treasury in Petra

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In the heart of the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, carved into pink sandstone cliffs, lies an ornate monument known as the Khaznah, or Treasury.

And buried beneath that building, archaeologists recently discovered, is a tomb containing at least 12 human skeletons and artifacts estimated to be at least 2,000 years old.

Archaeologists led by Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research, excavated the ancient tomb. The expedition investigated the Treasury Department after years of speculation that two tombs found beneath the left side of the monument in 2003 were not the only secret underground chambers. But this theory has not yet been confirmed.

Creasman and his team conducted ground-penetrating radar — a remote sensing technique that uses radar pulses to detect underground objects — earlier this year to see if the physical features on the left, where the original graves were found, were consistent with those on the right side match. The finds revealed strong similarities between the two sides, and it was proof that they needed permission from the Jordanian government to dig beneath the Ministry of Finance.

That's when Creasman contacted Josh Gates, host of the Discovery Channel show “Expedition Unknown.” “I think we have something,” Creasman told the researcher over the phone.

The team excavated the newly uncovered grave with a film crew in August. But the real surprise was what was in the tomb. While many tombs uncovered in Petra are found empty or destroyed, the chamber was filled with complete skeletal remains and grave goods made of bronze, iron and ceramics. The intact tomb found beneath the treasury offers rare insight into the lives of the Nabataeans, ancient Arab nomads whose desert empire dates from the 4th century B.C. B.C. to A.D. 106, Creasman said.

“This is an extremely rare discovery – nothing like it has ever been found in the two centuries that Petra has been studied by archaeologists,” Gates said. “Even in front of one of the most famous buildings in the world… there are still great discoveries to be made.”

The significant find may be the largest collection of human remains found at one site in Petra, researchers say, and was featured on the season premiere of “Expedition Unknown” on Wednesday. (Discovery Channel is owned by CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.)

In the tomb beneath the treasury, archaeologists found a ceramic vessel that resembled the Holy Grail.

Petra was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in the 2000s due to its unique architecture and the many mysteries that still surround the city. While experts have debated the purpose of the Treasury Department for centuries, the most popular theory is that the monument serves as a mausoleum, although no skeletal remains have been found in the building itself, Gates said.

The Treasury Department welcomes hundreds of thousands of tourists each year and has also been featured in several films, most notably as the site of the Holy Grail in the 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Among the artifacts were several vessels, with a skeleton clutching a ceramic chalice that resembled the shape of the Holy Grail. “It really was this great moment in history where art was imitated,” Gates said.

The artifacts are extremely well preserved, Creasman said. However, although the human remains are intact, they are in a more delicate condition than expected. Their condition could be due to the humidity and seasonal flooding in Petra, as well as the porous sandstone around the tomb that traps moisture, he said. Mold was found on some skeletons.

Only a handful of graves uncovered in Petra in recent decades have had untouched burials found, Creasman said. Serious unrest was most likely due to travelers seeking shade and shelter in the desert, he added.

The two tombs uncovered under the left side of the Treasury two decades ago by archaeologists from the Jordan Department of Antiquities contained partial skeletal remains. However, the data has not been made public, so it is unclear how many people were found, Creasman said.

“We were hoping to find something that could tell us more about the ancient people and the place – human remains can be a really valuable tool in that regard,” Creasman said. “The burials in this grave are articulated, so the bones have not been rummaged around and moved, so this is extremely rare.”

Dr. Fares Braizat (from left), Fadi Balawi, Josh Gates and Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman look into the newly discovered tomb in Petra.

One mystery that still surrounds the Nabataeans is their burial practices. In literature, Nabataean society is often described as more egalitarian, with the king more integrated into the lower classes than leaders of other civilizations, Creasman said. So far, there does not appear to be much difference between royal and regular burials in the Nabataean tombs found, so it is difficult to say whether the recently discovered tombs under the treasury were intended for kings.

Researchers also suspect that many of the textiles and jewelry typically found in Nabataean burials, such as cloth wrappings and necklaces and other beads that adorn the bodies, were lost to moisture and floodwaters entering the tomb, Gates said.

As researchers continue to study the skeletons, Creasman said they are hopeful more details will emerge about who the people were in life. Researchers want to date the skeletons and artifacts and use extracted DNA to determine whether the dozen skeletons are related. Other analyzes could potentially help assess their diet and determine whether they were physically active, Creasman said.

“They must be extremely important people because there is prime real estate where they are buried; It’s really the main entrance to the city,” Gates said. “I think finding out who they are will really help uncover some of the history of the Treasury Department.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the four experts shown in the group photo. The story has been updated with the correct identifications.

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