Umm al-Biyara, the huge rock massif dominating the centre of Petra (fig. 1), can be considered the most important elevation connected to the city of Petra, irrespective of whether it is to be identified with biblical Sela or with „the rock“ referred to by Diodorus Siculus for the events of 312/11 BC Diod., Geogr. 19, 94, 1–100, 3; for the text and a commentary see Hackl, Jenni and Schneider 2003: 439–453. .
The International Umm al-Biyara Project (IUBP), co-directed by Stephan G. Schmid (Berlin) and Piot Bienkowski (Manchester) is focussing on the Nabataean period structures of the main plateau of Umm al-Biyara (for a broader framework see the section general outline).
Fig. 1: Umm al-Biyara from W (photo: S. G. Schmid)
For the time being, two main objectives for that project can be formulated:
finding out more about the exact plan, date and function of the Nabataean structure(s) observed by previous research and mostly concentrating on the north-eastern edge of the plateau
verifying whether there is continuity or not between the Iron Age occupation and the known Nabataean structures that seem to date no earlier then the later first century BC (see below).
For that purpose, in 2010 a first season of roughly three weeks was devoted to a survey of the summit of the mountain. Using the British plan of 1965 as a starting point (fig. 2), one of the first tasks consisted in connecting the summit of Umm al-Biyara to an existing and referenced mapping system of the Petra area. Therefore, we measured four points from the city centre to the eastern ridge of the plateau of Umm al-Biyara using a Leica total station TS 02 power – 7. As reference we used the grid established by the Swiss surveyors in the late 1980s, which was itself referenced to the Palestine Grid Glutz 1996, insisting that the Swiss system is in itself very accurate but the correspondence to the Palestine Grid is less accurate due to the lack of precision of previous mapping activities. .
Fig. 2: Umm al-Biyara, British plan of 1965 (drawing: P. M. Sykes)
Using the four fixed points, the plateau was then subdivided into 50m square grids. Each corner of a grid being named by a letter and a number, the grids themselves are named according to the distance between all four corner points (for example C–D/6–7 or G–H/4–5 and so on). These were subsequently surveyed in two ways: first, the surveyors walked along the middle line of each grid in a W–E direction, picking up all surface pottery and other objects in their line. Second, all visible structures within every grid such as walls, cisterns, quarries etc. were reported and sketched on specific sheets. A mapping team using a Leica GNSS 09 satellite positioning system measured and mapped all the structures in order to determine the dimensions, extent and orientation of the built structures (cf. fig. 3). Further, the most clearly visible and discernable structures were made the object of intensive surveys, picking up all diagnostic pottery in and around them. Last but not least, the trench dug by Morton, as well as one clearly visible illicit excavation, were cleaned in order to document the structures uncovered by them. We deliberately did not survey the area of the Edomite settlement excavated by Bennett, as well as the clearly visible dumps and potsherd deposits from that excavation, since these are covered by the final report Bienkowski in press. .
Fig. 3: Umm al-Biyara, new plan with structures surveyed in 2010 (plan: G. Teltsch and W. Kennedy)
Although this was a survey season with a rather small team, a certain infrastructure was necessary in order to work efficiently on the summit of Umm al-Biyara. A specially constructed solar collector transferring sunlight into electricity was necessary in order to charge the batteries of equipment such as the satellite measuring system, the outdoor notebooks, mobile phones and so on. As a base we used a rock cut structure on the E corner of the main plateau (no. 29 on fig. 3). All of the infrastructure, as well as the daily necessary goods (water, food), were brought up by donkeys that also took down the collected pottery and other objects as well as the garbage. In general terms we tried to make use of the summit in the most responsible way, leaving no traces behind us.
