The Brown University Petra Archaeological Project: Landscape Archaeology in the Northern Hinterland of Petra, Jordan

The Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP) revealed significant patterns of human activity spanning from the Lower Paleolithic to the present in the northern hinterland of Petra, Jordan. Through an intensive survey covering 1,000 hectares using closely spaced fieldwalking and geophysical surveys, researchers documented tens of thousands of artifacts and over 1,000 archaeological features, along with test excavations at ten key sites. This approach, characterized by its methodological rigor, uncovered previously unrecognized spatial distributions that shed light on the long-term human history of the region. The study highlights the potential of such intensive methodologies to transform our understanding of landscape archaeology in Jordan and beyond.

Knodell, A. R., Alcock, S. E., Tuttle, C. A., Cloke, C. F., Erickson-Gini, T., Feldman, C., Rollefson, G. O., Sinibaldi, M., Urban, T. M., & Vella, C. (2017). The Brown University Petra Archaeological Project: Landscape Archaeology in the Northern Hinterland of Petra, Jordan. American Journal of Archaeology, 121(4), 621–683. https://doi.org/10.3764/aja.121.4.0621