What’s so spectacular about the new tomb discovery in Jordan’s Petra?

Archaeologists person discovered a tomb beneath the ancient, imposing Al Khazneh successful Petra, Jordan.

Long earlier it appeared successful Stephen Spielberg’s 1989 blockbuster Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Al Khazneh (The Treasury) was hand-carved into the pinkish sandstone cliffs of the first-century BCE metropolis of Petra.

The 40-metre (131-foot) precocious Al Khazneh and the metropolis it sits successful became a UNESCO World Heritage tract successful 1985 and was added to the database of the New Seven Wonders of the World successful 2007.

OK, what did they find?

In August, a squad of Jordanian and US archaeologists unearthed a hidden tomb with 12 implicit skeletons and a trove of bronze, ceramic, and robust artefacts.

According to the researchers, 1 of the skeletons was clutching a ceramic cup, akin to the Holy Grail chalice successful the Spielberg film.

Petra’s Al Khazaneh is hand-carved straight into the pinkish cliffs [Getty Images]

What, you don’t mean?!

One of the leaders of the dig, Pearce Paul Creasman, was anxious to suffice reports of a chalice having been discovered, telling Al Jazeera: “Not a chalice. A juglet.

“But it had an uncanny resemblance to the movie prop from the Indiana Jones movie arsenic it was being excavated! In the airy of day, it is simply a mean ceramic vessel, the benignant of which we could expect to find successful Petra.”

Boo! How was the tomb discovered?

Unlike the elaborate facade of the exterior, the interior of Al Khazneh is simply a elemental main enclosure and 3 antechambers.

In 2003, 2 tombs with partial skeletons were unearthed to the near of the main chamber, starring researchers to speculate that further tombs mightiness beryllium successful the area.

After receiving support from the Jordanian authorities to research the site, researchers utilized precocious remote-sensing tools to find the recently discovered tomb.

An entity that Rocco-Zingaro di San-Fernando, caput of the mysterious spiritual Order of Knights Templar successful Italy, says is the legendary Holy Grail, which according to Christian folklore is the chalice utilized by Christ astatine the Last Supper with his apostles earlier his decease by crucifixion [Reuters]

Who were the 12 skeletons?

No 1 truly knows.

According to Tim Kinnaird from the University of St Andrews School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, who examined the find, “The tomb was astir apt built arsenic a mausoleum and crypt successful the Nabatean Kingdom astatine the opening of the archetypal period AD for Aretas IV Philopatris [Nabatean king from astir 9 BCE to 40CE].

“Like galore tombs successful the valley, fewer remains person ever been recovered successful the tombs owed to their consequent usage and reuse implicit the past 2 millennia.

“It’s fantastic that we present person the pottery, ecofacts and sediments to day erstwhile the Treasury was constructed… to person a definitive day volition beryllium a monumental accomplishment for america all.”

What’s the Nabataean kingdom?

No 1 truly knows a large woody astir the Nabateans. However, they’re thought to person made important advances successful engineering, particularly successful h2o absorption and, arsenic evidenced by Petra, architecture,

Before it was invaded by the Roman Empire astir 106 CE, the Nabatean kingdom was a large Arab kingdom from astatine slightest 312 BC, connected swaths of what is present Jordan and Israel.

Its past capital, Petra, oversaw galore of the region’s cardinal commercialized routes, connecting the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and the Mediterranean.

A uncommon prop facsimile manuscript publication known arsenic the ‘Grail Diary’ from Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade is shown astatine Christie’s connected November 23, 2012 successful London, England [Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images]

So, was Al Khazneh the Nabataean treasury?

It could person been, but there’s nary existent grounds for it. Many modern researchers deliberation the gathering whitethorn person been a mausoleum.

The name, Al Khazneh oregon Khaznet al-Faroun, came from the content among section tribespeople that the urn disposable astatine the apical of the facade contained untold Egyptian treasure.

According to the legend, the Egyptian pharaoh, connected escaping Moses’ closing of the Red Sea with portion of his army, magically created Al Khazneh arsenic a harmless spot for his treasure.

The urn is really carved from coagulated sandstone but that did not halt section men from riddling the sculpture with gunshots successful the anticipation of releasing the treasure inside.

A sunset presumption of Al Khazneh [Getty Images]

Is determination much to Petra than conscionable Al Khazneh?

The immense bulk of the metropolis remains underground, archaeologists similar Zeidoun Al-Muheisen of Jordan’s Yarmouk University, who has been excavating Petra since 1979, estimate.

Above ground, determination are a fig of temples and tombs that uncover themselves to radical entering the metropolis via the earthy and winding constrictive rocky opening known arsenic the Siq.

So there’s much beneath Petra’s sands?

“Yes, determination is much to discover,” Creasman told Al Jazeera.

“We person not completed excavations astatine the tomb itself… determination is acold much enactment remaining.

“Many of the secrets of the Nabataeans stay successful Petra’s sands.”