The International Khubta Tombs Project

• Welcome to the International Khubta Tombs Project
• Outline of the International Khubta Tombs Project
• Selected bibliography of the International Khubta Tombs Project
• Preliminary Report on the 2010 Season
• I. Acknowledgments
• II. Introduction
• III. Fieldwork Strategy
• IV.a. Preliminary Results: Tomb 779 – Exterior (Sector A)
• IV.b. Preliminary Results: Tomb 779 – Interior (Sector D)
• V.a. Preliminary Results: Tomb 781 – Exterior (Sector B)
• V.b. Preliminary Results: Tomb 781 – Interior (Sector C)
• VI. Concluding Remarks and Future Work

Preliminary Report on the 2010 Season

by Lucy Wadeson

IV.a. Preliminary Results: Tomb 779 – Exterior (Sector A)

Tomb 779 has a 7.57 m wide façade of the Double Pylon type, with two rows of crowsteps (Fig. 4). Above the doorway is a carved groove for an inset pediment and on either side is a window, which facilitated the carving of the interior chamber. Either side of the façade are high rock walls, enclosing a platform area in front (l. 11.30 m x w. 8.40 m). Part of the southern rock wall is in fact the northern side of Tomb 780. A small chamber is carved in the northern rock wall, and above its entrance is a carved betyl in a niche (Fig. 6). It is unclear whether this betyl relates to the chamber or the quarrying of the rock above, since such votives were commonly carved by stonemasons during the removal of the rock, supposedly as an act of contrition to the gods [8] Shaer– Aslan 2000: 105–106, Fig. 37; Shaer 2004: 403. .

To the west of the small chamber is a recessed area, enclosed on its west side by a high rock wall. Access to the tomb complex appears to have been from the southern side, leading from Tomb 780 (Fig. 5). The western edge is bound by a low rock wall and below is a sheer drop to the wadi below. Before excavation commenced, the only section of bedrock exposed was at the base of the southern wall, on the western edge (Fig. 7). In this area a rectangular shaped cutting was visible (Structure/ST 10), immediately at the base of the southern wall.

The clearance of the platform area was undertaken systematically with the opening of Trenches 1, 7 and 10, each of which roughly corresponded to a quarter of the platform (Fig. 5). Due to time constraints, the south-eastern corner was not excavated. The fill covering the bedrock was approximately 0.42 m thick in the eastern end of Trench 1 and 0.03 m thick in the western end of Trench 7, since the bedrock sloped down gradually from east to west. The material largely consisted of a reddish-brown sand with some ashy grey patches, indicating the remains of recent Bedouin fires, and inclusions of small to medium-sized stones. A large amount of pottery was recovered from these trenches, consisting of both Nabataean coarseware and fineware, with painted sherds predominantly dating to Phase 3B (AD 75–100) [9] Schmid 2000. . However, modern material was found throughout, to the level of the bedrock, indicating that it was a disturbed layer. Medieval material, such as pottery and ballista balls demonstrate that the area outside this tomb was re-used from antiquity to modern times. A recent taboun (ST 1; diam.: 0.80 m; depth in centre: 0.25 m) was discovered in Trench 1, approximately 0.18 m beneath the surface.

The bedrock exposed beneath Trenches 1, 7 and 10 revealed some interesting structures and features. Firstly, the entire surface is not level and has the appearance of being unfinished, with lumps and dips in the rock. In the north-eastern quarter numerous random scratchings from tools are found, particularly concentrated around a small trapezoidal receptacle (0.20 x 0.40 m; c. 0.04 m deep) (Figs. 8–9). This may have once held water necessary for the sharpening of the tools used in the carving of the tomb, and would indicate that this part of the platform was a working surface that was never completed. A similar working surface for the sharpening of tools was observed in Tomb 62E beneath the Khasneh [10] Farajat – Nawafleh 2005: 378. .

Nevertheless, as was observed in the author’s study of Nabataean funerary architecture, tombs were still used even when surfaces and features remained unfinished [11] Wadeson 2010b: Chapter 4. . In the case of Tomb 779, several regular structures cut in the rock, one of which was discovered with a column base in situ (ST 8; BL 8), suggest that a portico was originally constructed in front of the tomb, roughly on a north-south axis, running between the southern entrance to the tomb complex and the entrance to the small chamber carved in the northern wall (Figs. 5, 10). The west side of this supposed portico is the most obvious with two almost identically sized square cuttings (ST 8–9; c. 0.80 x 0.80 m) regularly placed on the same alignment in the west side of the platform, and a third of a more rectangular shape (ST 11) situated on the same alignment, but to the north, and immediately to the west of the doorway of the small chamber.

Structure 8, in the middle, contains the base drum of a Nabataean column (BL 8; h. 0.30 m, diam. 0.55 m) (Fig. 11). The fill of this structure contained almost solely Nabataean fineware of Phases 3b and 3c (late 1st century AD-early 2nd century AD), but no modern material, suggesting it is an undisturbed part of the courtyard. Remarkably, although the depth of this cutting and that of those to the south (ST 9) and north (ST 11) are noticeably different due to the slope of the bedrock, their bases are in fact almost exactly the same height above sea level (906.62–906.67 m), which indicates they belong to the same phase and plan as foundations for the portico. The northern-most structure (ST 11) is half the length of the others and abutting the northern rock-wall, therefore it may reasonably have held a pilaster.

The east side of the portico is somewhat harder to reconstruct: the oval-shaped cutting in the north end (ST 3; 0.84 x 0.50 m), east of the entrance to the small chamber, is aligned with Structure 10 (0.58 x 0.45 m) on the southern side (see above) in the unexcavated quarter, but they present different shapes (Figs. 5, 12). Notably though, they are both situated beneath walls which could have supported inset structures. Porticoes seem to have been a common element of tomb complexes at Petra, and well-known examples are found accompanying the Soldier Tomb, the Urn Tomb, Tomb 4 (‚el-Khan‘) and the Tomb of Unaishu [12] Wadeson 2013b: 5–6. . Not only did they give architectural order to the funerary space in front of the façades, but also possibly provided a sheltered place for gathering and feasting. Schmid has also noted similarities between these colonnaded tomb complexes and late Hellenistic and early Roman luxury architecture [13] Schmid 2009b: 160–61. .

The small side chamber in the exterior northern wall of Tomb 779, to which the portico leads, did not take long to clean, since it was only covered by a 1.5 cm layer of sand and modern rubbish. The rock floor is uneven but contains five curious holes (c. 0.10 m diam.) carved in the southern half, the function of which remains undetermined (Fig. 13). The walls of this small chamber are not straight and roughly carved (w. 3.20 m, l. 3.70 m) presenting an unfinished appearance, although there is a small rounded niche in each of the lateral walls located c. 1.11–1.14 m above the rock floor (Fig. 14), suggesting that the chamber was in use. Small chambers lacking burial installations are common elements of tomb complexes at Petra, such as those accompanying Tomb 253 in Wadi Farasa West, Tomb 192 in Wadi Farasa and also the Turkmaniyah Tomb, according to its inscription [14] CIS II 350; McKenzie 1990: 58 n. 30, 167–68; Healey 1993: 238–42. . Possible functions include a storage or food preparation area for the funerary activities taking place at the tomb [15] Wadeson 2013b: 9. .

Trench 2 in Sector A was opened in the north-west corner, in the recessed area to the west of the small chamber (Fig. 5). Measuring 3.50 m long by 2.40 m wide, it is bound by rock walls on the north, east and west sides and has an eroded/broken niche in the west wall. The area was filled with a thick layer (0.91 m at the north) of reddish sand that was higher in the northern end due to the debris that would have washed down from the water channel in the rock above. The water running down caused erosion in the northern rock wall and natural channels formed over time. After the removal of c. 0.04 m of material from the southern end, the remains of a possible built wall emerged, consisting of two worked blocks lying on a thin layer of sand (Fig. 15).

While the first 0.73 m of material in the northern end of this trench contained Nabataean, Medieval and modern findings, the last 0.20–0.30 m of the southern and northern ends contained exclusively Nabataean and late Roman pottery. It is therefore possible that this wall was constructed in antiquity as a means of closing the southern end of this recess. The idea of this space as a reservoir serving the tomb complex is an attractive one, given that sources of water are commonly found in funerary complexes to serve the ritual activities [16] Wadeson 2013b: 8. . However, no remains of hydraulic mortar were noted on the walls of this recess and thus its function remains unknown.