Umm Al-Biyara: Excavations by Crystal-M. Bennett in Petra 1960-1965

By Piotr Bienkowski

Umm al-Biyara, the highest mountain in Petra, southern Jordan, was the first Iron Age Edomite site to be extensively excavated. It was a domestic, unwalled site of stone-built longhouses dating to the 7th-6th centuries BCE. The stratigraphy, pottery, small finds and inscribed material, including the important bulla of Qos-Gabr, King of Edom are described, supplemented by chapters on the use of space and a landscape study of mountain-top sites in the Petra region. The later Nabataean remains on the edge of the summit indicate a major Nabataean complex of buildings, possibly a palace, which would make this the first Nabataean palace in Petra to be explicitly identified.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1842174398
• ISBN13: 9781842174395
• Release Date: August 2011
• Publisher: Council for British Research in the Levant
• Length: 160 Pages