Ad-Deir

Guests: Cynthia Finlayson, PhD, Professor of Archaeology at BYU; Josie Newbold, Graduate Student in Archaeology at BYU  Also known as the Rose City because of the color of the sandstone out of which the ancient city is carved, Petra in Jordan is an international heritage site and an archaeological treasure dating back to around 300 BC, or earlier. You’d think that such a well-known series of monuments might have been studied to death. But, there’s one structure in the Petra Archaeological Park that’s only now being comprehensively examined. It’s called “Ad Deir” and it’s a spectacular columned façade carved into a sandstone cliff like something straight off an Indiana Jones movie set. And like a movie set, it’s just a façade. The 26-foot tall doorway into the ornate temple-like structure opens into merely a small, simple room.