Amman:The Department of Antiquities (DoA) has announced the successful completion of a significant archaeological project aimed at conserving, documenting, and showcasing discoveries in the southeastern Jordan desert. This initiative was supported by the French Embassy and funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
According to Jordan News Agency, the project highlights the collaboration between Jordan and France in the fields of heritage preservation, professional training, and archaeological research. It focuses on Jordan's prehistoric and Neolithic heritage, offering insights into the economic, social, and cultural transformations of the ancient Near East.
The project is based on excavations that have been ongoing since 2012, conducted by Al-Hussein Bin Talal University alongside the French Lumière University Lyon 2. These efforts were supported by the French National Centre for Scientific Research's ArScAn laboratory and the French Institute of the Near East (IFPO). The project concentrated on three main areas restoring artifacts, advanced documentation, and museum integration.
Artifact restoration was undertaken at the Jerash Regional Conservation Center, where around 30 artifacts were conserved through the collaboration of Jordanian specialists and experts from the French National Institute of Cultural Heritage. The advanced documentation included digitizing collections using photogrammetry, 3D scanning, and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), with the Department of Antiquities receiving specialized technology and staff training. Additionally, the French firm Les Charrons developed a display and scenography design to integrate the findings into the Petra Museum's permanent exhibition.
The archaeological finds originate from the Jibal Khashabiyeh area, located 90 kilometers east of Al-Jafr. Key discoveries include 9,000-year-old mass hunting traps known as desert kites, previously unknown Neolithic settlements referred to as the Ghassanid Culture, and two ritual structures featuring human-shaped carvings, small stone animal figurines, marine fossils, and miniature models of the hunting traps.
A ceremony to commemorate the project's completion was held at the Department of Antiquities, attended by Director-General Fadi Abu Danah, French Deputy Head of Mission in Jordan Jean-Christophe Augé, and IFPO's Head of Archaeology Tara Steimer-Herbet.