Preliminary Report on the 1996 Swiss-Liechtenstein excavations at ez Zantur
by Bernhard Kolb (with contributions by Daniel Keller and Regine Fellmann Brogli)
I. Introduction
The seventh season of excavations by Basel University in colaboration with the Swiss Liechtenstein Foundation for Archaeological Research Abroad (SLFA) in the area of ez Zantur in Petra took place from August 18 through October 19, 1996 under the direction of Bernhard Kolb. Participants of the seventh campaign were as archaeologists: André Barmasse, Maxime Boillat, Marie-Claire Crelier, Yvonne Gerber, Rolf Frank, Daniel Keller, Stephan Schmid, Christoph Schneider and Jane Wolff; as archeo-osteologist Jacqueline Studer; as restorers Christine Pugin (small finds), Ulrich and Titus Bellwald (consolidation and restoration of structures and wall paintings) and as draughtswoman Irma Haussener.
We would like to thank the following institutions and private sponsors for their financial support: SLFA, Max Geldner Stiftung (Basel), Novartis (Basel), Mrs. Dr. B. Begelsbacher and Prof. Dr. P. Böckli.
Our special thanks go to Dr. Ghazi Bisheh, Director General of the Department of Antiquities and Suleiman Farajat the local representative of the Department for their assistance and help.
Fig. 1: General view of the sites EZ I, EZ III and EZ IV north and south of az-Zantur (photo: R. Frank)
We resumed the excavations on the two terraces north of ez Zantur (upper terrace: EZ I, lower terrace: EZ III) and started to investigate our new site – the terrace immediatly south of ez Zantur (EZ IV). In order to give an introduction to the important finds on terrace EZ IV at some length, the report on the results of EZ I and EZ III will be shorter this time.
