Area of study: Petra Region

Status of Project and date of conduction: Completed (2011-2013).

Partners: Jordan Scientific Research Fund

Brief about the Project:

There are many 19th and early 20th centuries villages found all over the region of Petra in the southern part of Jordan. These villages were inhabited till mid 20th century. As a subsequence of modern and urban life the villages had been abandoned and its inhabitants have either moved to other Jordanian's towns and cities or built new cement houses nearby, and that was because they get involved in new modes of productions other than agriculture. Now most of these villages remain in isolation and still very well preserved. Nevertheless, they are threatened by the expansion of modern buildings and modern activities; and because of increased population growth. On the other hand, there is no any attempt to preserve these villages or at least to document them before they are demolished for modern constructions. This project aimed at documenting a selection of the abandoned villages of the 19th-early 20th centuries in Petra Region. The documentation process includes mapping of the villages, top plan drawing, domestic units drawing, full description of building techniques; building materials; walling; roofing systems; coating materials and other architectural elements. Recent history and tangible and intangible heritage of these villages had also been collected and fully documented. Documentation method and tools include drawing; photography and video documentation as well as full written description.

Aims of the project

1) The socio-cultural aims:

A) having these villages fully documented

B) Developing public awareness on the importance of these villages and the need for preserving them

C) Define the factors threaten these villages

D) Encourage local communities to rehabilitate these villages into productive projects

E) protection of our cultural heritage

2) Academic aims:

A) having sufficient information on these villages traditional architecture in terms of its architectural techniques construction material etc

B) Define reasons of settlement abandonment and changes in mode of production and type of land use during the past two centuries.

C) Having good data for ethno-archaeological studies which helps in interpreting some historical and archaeological phenomena such as settlement abandonment settlement growth changes in mode of production carrying capacity archaeo-demography and many other archaeological issues

3) Economic aims

A) Developing new tourism products in the vicinity of Petra

b) contributing to the local economy and sustainable development of poor communities in the vicinity of Petra

Significant Finds:

Five villages in Petra region were fully documented, mapped, top-planned. A full detailed archive of photography, description and plans is now deposited in Petra college and the Jordanian Scientific research fund and is open and available to any scholar to study them. Summary of these villages are presented in the following table:

Local community engagement (employment and public awareness):

Local communities contributed to this project by sharing their knowledge of sites and areas (names of sites) with the researchers. In return, the researchers always discussed the goals and the results of the project with them in order to increase the public awareness in our cultural heritage. Workers from the local community were employed in the excavation and paid off from the budget of the project.

Publications related to the project:

Twaissi, S. Abuhalaleh, B. Abudanah, F. & Al-Salameen, A. (2016). The new project on the traditional villages in Petra region with some ethno-archaeological notes. Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan, vol. Xii, 739-746.

Twaissi,S, l Abuhalaleh,B. Abudanah,F. Al-Salameen.A. (2016). The Architectural Aspects of the Traditional Villages in Petra Region with Some Anthropological Notes. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, vol.7.N4:336-352.