This building once had a monumental stairway leading up to the smaller platform, at the top of which stood sandstone columns. 184 x 161 feet, on which sat another platform measuring c. Just half a mile southwest of these rose-colored sandstone structures, however, lie the remains of buildings that were previously unknown to researchers-until now.Īmong the structures recently identified by Sarah Parcak and Christopher Tuttle, the most prominent consists of a large rectangular platform measuring c. Petra is famous for its Roman-period rock-cut monuments that line the city center.

thanks to the spice trade and served as a crossroads where Arabian and Hellenistic influences intermingled. Nineteenth-century English poet John Burgon memorialized Petra as “a rose-red city half as old as time.” Well-positioned between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea, the Nabataean caravan-city flourished beginning in the first century B.C.E. Many people have heard of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Petra-or have been among the half a million who visit the ancient ruins each year. “Most importantly, they are allowing archaeologists to ask better questions about past human–environment interactions and to see landscapes and sites as integrated rather than separate.”Īl-Khazneh glimpsed from the Siq, Petra’s winding, narrow canyon. “New satellite sensors and remote sensing technologies are transforming our understanding of ancient landscapes and archaeological sites across the globe,” write Parcak and Tuttle. Parcak, an Egyptologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and winner of the 2016 TED Prize, and Tuttle, ‎Executive Director of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, tout the promise of ever-advancing technology in furthering archaeological research in their paper: In a new study published in the archaeology journal Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research ( BASOR), Parcak and Tuttle describe the discovery and mapping of the new Petra monument using Google Earth, satellite imagery, ground survey and drones. Photo: Markv’s image is licenced under CC BY-SA 3.0.Ī mysterious building more than twice the length of a tennis court and six times as wide has been “hiding in plain sight” at Petra in modern Jordan, say researchers Sarah Parcak and Christopher A. Al-Khazneh (“the Treasury”), one of Petra’s iconic monuments.

Sarah parcak