The Preservation of Petra

The ancient Jordanian desert city of Petra regained fame as the location of the 1989 filming of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The restoration of the city, however, is still incomplete, and many of Petra's archaeological treasures have yet to be uncovered. The challenge in the meantime is for Petra to withstand the tests of time, tourism, and temperature and the effects of a growing Bedouin population.

Petra is often referred to as the "rose-red city" because of the color of the sandstone from which it was built. The city came into being more than 2,000 years ago. At that time Arabian nomads called the Nabateans settled down with the wealth they had gained from trading spice and incense. From this prosperity they created Petra. The city flourished as the capital of the Nabatean kingdom from 300 B.C. until 106 A.D. It was then occupied by Rome. The city remained an important center until it was half destroyed by an earthquake in 363.

Petra faded from memory until the 12th-century Crusades. At that time King Baldwin I of Jerusalem realized the strategic location of the site and established an outpost there. Later the Crusaders built a mountain fortress on the same spot. It was abandoned at the end of their campaign. During the ensuing centuries, sandstorms and wind eroded Petra's buildings. Sand and debris buried much of the city. Only Bedouin shepherds knew of Petra's existence until the Swiss explorer Johan Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812.

Archaeologists have shown an interest in the area since 1812. However, it was not until the 1960s that conservation of the site became a priority. Jordan's Queen Noor and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) took on Petra as a formal conservation project. Global attention became focused on the site's artifacts and concerns for their preservation. During excavations archaeologists found tombs and tomes and art and artifacts. A world-class water system that in its heyday sustained 20,000 people was also uncovered. However, the sandstone that made for a perfect aquifer and allowed memorials to be carved with relative ease had, over time, made Petra vulnerable. Wind and water have taken a toll on the fragile stone. The abandonment of the city's once flourishing water system had caused soil erosion and flooding.

From 1960 to 1970 the World Bank and UNESCO launched a study of the site. In 1985 UNESCO added Petra to its World Heritage List. The Petra National Trust (PNT), a private, nonprofit organization, was founded in 1989 with the aid of Jordan's Queen Noor. She secured a team of UNESCO specialists who, along with Jordanian experts, produced a plan for Petra National Park. By 1993 Jordan had allocated some 100 square miles (259 sq km) of canyon country for the park.

Designation of Petra as a World Heritage site, however, was not enough to ensure the area's preservation. The site itself needed long-term protection. Queen Noor set up a committee to ensure that architectural development in the surrounding area would remain in keeping with that of Petra. She also allotted land to the Bedoul, a Bedouin tribe some researchers believe are related to the Nabateans. They had lived in the city's rock tombs until 1985. Still of concern, however, is population growth, conservation, and managing the tourism that has brought both prosperity and problems to Petra.

Jordan's tourism trade generates more than 17,000 jobs and brings in about $1 billion a year. In the late 1980s an estimated 100,000 people visited Petra. By the early 1990s that number had risen to 400,000. The number of hotels in the area has risen from 5 in 1994 to some 60 in 2004. To manage this influx, the World Bank set up a $27 million plan in 1996 for the construction of a drainage system to prevent untreated waste from being discharged into the environment. In addition, terraces from the Nabatean period have been restored. There are plans to renovate the roads to accommodate increased traffic. Furthermore, trees are being planted to help absorb water during the rainy season and to limit building development.

Efforts to accommodate visitors have made the lives of the Bedouls easier. They have also detracted from the beauty of the region. Concurrently, the area's Bedoul population, most of whom make a living from tourism, is growing. In 1985 there were 40 Bedoul families; now there are 350. As a result housing construction is on the rise. Owing to the increasing cost of land, the Bedoul have added on to their homes. They have also been given permission to expand into an area adjacent to Petra.

Some experts say that the issue of conservation may be even more immediate than increases in tourism and population. In 1993 Jordan's antiquities department and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) launched a joint conservation plan. It included the development of a natural mortar ideal for Petra's sandstone structures. Not content with restoring monuments, the GTZ called on Jordan to maintain restoration efforts. To that end the GTZ set up the Conservation and Restoration Center in Petra independent of Jordan's antiquities department and staffed it with experts. The GTZ has spent at least $3.5 million on the project.

Meanwhile, there are the usual bureaucratic problems. The tourism ministry is at odds with the department of antiquities over the unattractive appearance of the scaffolding used during renovations. Archaeologists have criticized the PNT for commissioning a Swiss firm to build dams in the valleys leading to the Siq, a narrow cleft that is the main entrance to Petra. The purpose of the dams is to avoid the recurrence of the 1963 tragedy in which 21 French tourists drowned in flash floods. Archaeologists argue, however, that the $1.5 million project financed by the Swiss government damages Petra's integrity. They also argue that the excavation process creates a powder that has coated the walls of the Siq, dulling the rocks' colors.

In the meantime archaeological excavations continue. In 1998 researchers found a pool complex near the Great Temple. In 2000 they unearthed a Nabatean villa near the Siq. In 2003 they found more tombs cut in the rock beneath the Khazneh, or Treasury, the most famous of Petra's monuments. Despite this, experts estimate that only about 5% of Petra has been unearthed. Archaeologists plan more digs at the Treasury, projects in which the PNT intends to remain involved. The trust is also keen to implement a system of watershed management. They also want to create alternate trails to the site (visitors now enter Petra on horseback through the Siq, kicking up dust that is harmful to the monuments). The trust hopes to establish procedures for community planning, conserve the Neolithic village of Beidha, and revive indigenous vegetation to prevent erosion. Throughout all this activity, the Petra National Trust remains committed to preserving this great rose-colored city of stone.