A charming discovery was made while looking carefully at the facade of the „Soldier Tomb“. Every morning, for about half an hour when the sunlight comes in at a sharp angle, a small rock carving to the right of the pediment becomes visible (Fig. 16). It shows a rectangular altar with small horns on top of it, commonly believed to be carved by the workers employed in the Nabataean quarries: similar carvings can be seen in the as-Siayyaq quarries Brünnow – Domaszewski 1904: 321ff.; Wenning 1987: 260–261. fig. 44; Lindner 1997: 35f. fig. 21. .
Fig. 16: Pediment of „Soldier Tomb“ with rock carving of an altar to the right of it (photo: S. G. Schmid)
More graffiti representing obelisks and nefeshs were discovered on the lower part of the Wadi al-Farasa towards the city centre but as they are not part of the investigations of our 2000 season, they shall be discussed at another occasion.
