"Petra" a Petra Travel Page by arabian10

Since the 1970’s, archeologists have used aerial surveys to more than triple the number of known archeological sites in Jordan to more than 25,000. One of the best known is Petra, and images of the tombs of the Nabataean builders of the first centuries BC and of our era have been widely reproduced. The setting of these structures inevitably means that they are seen as monuments that soar up and away from the viewer, but the aerial view offers a different perspective. Here, the Khazneh or “Treasury,” the first tomb the ground-level visitor encounters after passing through the narrow gorge known as the Siq (in deep shadow at bottom center), is built in an embayment that restricts ground views. The aerial view shows its size relative to both the tiny human figures in front of it and the immense rock formation from which it was cut.