Day 14 – Home. But first – yesterday’s blog updated: Aqabat Hijaz and Fassu’ah 1

We surveyed the early Ottoman fort which we know as Fassu’ah 1 and which was a water source for the Hijaz Railway during the First World War. Because the fort is in a vulnerable position in a wadi dominated by high ground, unsurprisingly we found that the surrounding heights were defended with breastworks and trenches. Our survey also included the two cisterns beside the fort, from which we believe trains of pack animals carrying water skins transported water to Aqabat Hijaz station about 2 km to the east. The survey team also found traces of the Anglo-Jordanian army exercises that had taken place over the previous few weeks. We sampled abandoned ration tins, and found, much to our delight, that British Army issue chicken and herb paté is quite palatable!

At Aqabat Hijaz Station, a second team cleared debris and surveyed and planned the site. This revealed that the station had been converted into a mini fort with the addition of loopholes, mud brick walls, and extensive breastworks with blockhouses. A collection of elaborate Ottoman roof tiles was made for later study. Other finds included cartridges, buttons, fragments of uniform, and several Turkish grenades. Unfortunately, this complex site, while rich in finds, is being destroyed by mechanised earthmoving probably motivated by the pervasive myth of buried Ottoman gold.

Later in the day, to round off the season, the two academic directors of the project gave a Powerpoint presentation at the Ma’an campus of Al Hussein Bin Talal University to an audience of about 200 students. Discussion was lively, and the success of the event was evident when a number of both male and female students expressed an interest in volunteering for the 2008 field season.

This year’s field season has proved as successful as last year’s with many new discoveries and insights. We are discovering spectacular sites in the desert faster than we can investigate them. Many are completely unknown, unexplored and unrecorded. We plan to investigate several of these new sites next year. In particular we plan to study the fort and possible command centre on the Batn al Ghoul escarpment, and to excavate the nearby Ottoman Army camp from which we recovered parts of a military tunic and where there are other indications of superb preservation of First World War artefacts.

We will be returning to southern Jordan for our 3rd Field Season in November 2008. Essential details will be confirmed within the next few weeks. Recruitment will then begin immediately. Log on to this site again soon. Book early to secure a place.

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Day 13 – Final day......

..... well, final day here, but not the final blog. Very hectic day today with much happening, including the finding of 3 live hand grenades and an indication of more beneath the ground. So much has happened and we are really frantically busy this evening packing, trying to sort out next year’s accommodation and tomorrows transport for a 5.am start. The net result is that a full blog isn’t possible this evening unfortunately, but the plan is to try to do a closing blog tomorrow sometime, including hopefully details of next year’s season and a full round up of this one. Please log in tomorrow for the update and more info regarding what has been the most amazing modern archaeological experience here in Southern Jordan.

Day 12 - Rest day plus!

Most of the group had a well earned rest day today, with a long journey to the spectacular Wadi Rum via short stops on the way. First stop was at at the Ottoman fort at Guweira where the ruins of the fort sit interestingly alongside a modern day army camp. We have permission to excavate here at some point in the future. Then on to Abu Lissan to meet and give presents to the grandson of Auda Abu Tayi, close associate of Lawrence, (played by Anthony Quinn in the film Lawrence of Arabia). Two reasons to stop here – one being the personal relationship with David Thorp and another it being an integral part of GARP project itself.

On to the desert at Wadi Rum and two hours of spectacular travel through the awe inspiring geology of the Wadi, hurtling over and round the dunes in 4x4’s, with each driver seemingly trying to outdo the others by virtue of pace and line. Intermingled with stops for tea, photos and a look at some Nabataean desert rock art and then a final thrilling dash back the few miles to the start. Exhilarating stuff indeed. Then a fantastic lunch of traditional local produce with the Bedouins at Palms Desert Camp.

Then we moved again – this time to the sea side resort of Aqaba. A bustling town with sights and smell s so typical of the Middle East. It also boasts the second largest flagpole in the world, and as the sun set spectacularly over the water we witnessed the proud raising of an enormous (20m x 40m) flag of Jordan, gently and beautifully unfurling and climbing into the deepening red evening sky.

Whilst all this was going on, four people set off in a 4x4 down the road from Ma’an to Mudowwara and the Saudi border. Their mission was a field reconnaissance down the Hijaz Railway beyond Wadi Rutm to locate Shahm, Ramleh and Mudowwara stations and any other Ottoman military installations in between. The trip was spectacularly successful.

Our first discovery, at Shahm, was a fortified and heavily disturbed station, with breastworks, trenches, and a loop-holed mud-brick parapet on the station roof. Nearby, was a strong hilltop breastwork, and beneath the hill a large Ottoman army camp, composed of aligned and evenly spaced tent-rings, several square features, and a possibly contemporary access road.

Next we reached the site of Ramleh station, which, though recognizable from Ottoman masonry blocks and surviving in-filled trenches, had totally disappeared. Several kilometres further south, we visited a dramatically sited breastwork fort on top of a precipitous rocky outcrop. Between this fort and the railway line was a sizeable military encampment represented by numerous tent rings.

Finally we reached Mudawwara station, two of whose buildings survive intact because they are in use as Bedouin houses. The appearance of Mudawwara station, overlooked by a dominating ridge about 500 m to the west, corresponds exactly to T. E. Lawrence’s description in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

Day 11 Wadi Rutm/ Aqabat Hejaz.

Team member testing the trajectory of Ottoman latrine.

Work continued on the camp in an attempt to finish off the entire site this morning. All hands were involved in planning the remaining tent circles and similar features or continuing to excavate the now rapidly expanding latrine. The site planning was completed by around mid-day and whlst the drivers were at their Friday mosque services an impromptu metal detecting demonstration was given to those waiting for them to return with the transport. Several folk had what for them was a first go at detecting and everybody found something, ranging from an old nail to a Turkish button, so it was a great success.

The latrine pit (yes we’ve had every joke about bottoming your feature and feeling a breeze in the Wadi) turned into another potential megalithic structure, with the Ottoman brick latrie structure cut into it millennia later. More recording in the heat and the flies and we finally finished the work at Wadi Rutm. Oh, and we got to use the phrase ‘faecal staining’ in the report.

In the afternoon the team transferred to a new site, Aqabat Hejaz railway station, which is two stations north of Wadi Rutm, about 10 km up the line. This station seems to have been turned into a small fort with loopholes in the walls and both mud brick and the addition of dry stone wall breast works. The site is largely ruinous and at risk from modern industrial activity from the modern railway and nearby phosphate works. Creating a plan of this station-fort is therefore a form of rescue archaeology. Finds within the area of the buildings included a live 303 round, a book, elaborate Ottoman roof tiles and other artefacts. Around the exterior of the buildings

The day ended with a dramatic illustration of how different and exciting conflict archaeology can be. Attempting to visit the site of an early Ottoman fort which we call Fassu’ah 1, team members found themselves almost in the midst of a joint Jordanian British army exercise, with smoke shells bursting, machine guns rattling and soldiers crouching, running and firing whilst the start shells burst overhead. And all this occurred on and around the site of the Ottoman fort1. The team members discussed with a member of the British armed forces the possibility of visiting the site on Sunday 11^th, Remembrance Sunday. This would be a dramatic and fitting conclusion to our two week expedition and study of modern conflict archaeology.

Tomorrow is a rest day and most of the group are going down south to see the stunning Wadi Rum and spend some time in the resort of Aquaba.

Day 10 – Wadi Rutm.

Work began at pace today in an attempt to complete the excavation and recording of the Ottoman army camp at Wadi Rutm. With several tent circles as yet untouched it was a big ask! All teams worked really hard throughout the day but in the end it proved to be too big a task to complete, so we will be going back tomorrow morning to absolutely finish off this site. There was one excellent outcome from today. At the end of last season it was unclear where both the cooking for the camp was done and where the latrines were in the camp. Having found the cooking pit a few days ago the quest for the latrine remained. This was eventually positively identified and excavated this afternoon, leaving two of the significant unanswered questions from last season now well and truly answered.

Also during the morning a small group went to a site near to Wadi Rutm station where the Bedouin had camped overnight with flocks of goats and sheep and a large herd of camels. This was an overnight stop on their migration path south for the winter and the location was one which has been used for thousands of years for travellers in both directions. The intention was to experience firsthand the nature and presence of such a troop of travelling nomads, and to hopefully begin to understand it within the context of the overall historical and ethnographic landscape. Evidence of a fire, tea making, animal feeding and children playing were all found and photographed, together with modern day cartons for milk, eggs and mango juice. This together with other information found and recorded will hopefully form the basis of some further research and publication.

Another bizarre intrusion into our conflict zone occurred today, although this was hardly an act of aggression. A female goat kidded somewhere near the centre of the camp while we were all having lunch some 100 metres away by our bus. On returning to the site the newborn kid was partially collapsed between one of our flight cases and our water bottle supplies, with the mother anxiously waiting nearby. After some gentle coaxing and moving of kit, and some carefully offered water by our local driver Salah to the mother, the two were reunited and the young kid immediately suckled. A few minutes later both were content and calm and were driven off by Salah in an attempt to find their owner. A short way down the road he came across a Bedouin anxiously searching for his lost goat. How surprised and grateful was he to not only have her returned but with a healthy kid as well! And it turned out to be the very same Bedouin who had entertained a couple of our group to Chi (Jordanian tea) in their camp the day before, so the favour was very well returned with smiling faces all round.

Tomorrow brings a last visit to Wadi Rutm and a first proper look for the team at the new site at Fassu’ah, with a blog report hopefully late afternoon/early evening.

Day 9 – Wadi Rutm/Batn Al-Ghoul/ Fassu’ah 2.

Excavation and recording of the Ottoman army camp at Wadi Rutm continued and included the probable discovery of the military latrine for the camp. Meantime Bedouin nomads were moving down the Wadi migrating south to winter in the Hijaz. Early warning of this event is given when two archaeologists appear over the crest of the hill fleeing in panic from a pack of dogs. The dogs, having gained the western end of the hill, marked their victory by urinating on the excavations, proving this yet again to be a contested landscape. The dogs were i fact shepherding a huge flock of sheep and goats, most of whose Bedouin owners arrived in a lorry, a tanker and a pick-up truck to set up camp about 250 metres from the traditional caravan site by Wadi Rutm station. The oldest coins from this site we now know to be Nabatean, so that the arrival of the bed today proves at least 2000 years of use of this traditional place of gathering, camping and trading. In the afternoon they were all joined by a similarly impressive herd of camels.

Meanwhile at Fassu’ah 2 the geophysicists gridded the outer defended area within the walled enclosure into 30 metre squares. The magnetic survey of this area revealed several interesting anomalies which are worthy of future investigation. The metal detectors then followed them into the grids detecting and logging a range of initial finds for the site.

The rest of the team that had not visited Fassu’ah 2 before went up to the site in the afternoon to be universally struck by the quantity of historical and archaeological material and the awesome wonder of the place itself in its commanding position overlooking the wadi.

An initial investigation of the surrounding landscape revealed a system of stone lined roads, paths leading to a group of 4 stone quarries. These paths converged at a bend of the Hijaz railway just north of Batn Al-Ghoul station and were joined by another stone lined path which had exited the main administrative block within the main compound. This evidence suggests the possibility that a deliberate halt for trains was established at this point for the purpose of loading stones and access for officers, water and supplies to and from the train. If this is right then it’s likely to have been a response to the conflict pertaining at the time rather than an integral part of the pre-war railway system.

Day 8 – Ma’an / Wadi Rutm/Batn Al-Ghoul.

Today the detectorists were dropped off at Ma’an and completed the gridded survey to the rear of the trench faces the second phase of which had begun yesterday. Yields were as expected with a significant clustering towards the redoubt and tapering away as the trench dwindled towards the town. The usual metallic objects were all found, incoming rounds from the attacking forces including French and British bullets, many grapnel balls and some heavier shell fragments. The defending Ottomans were found to have been firing their usual German Mauser weapons with plenty of cartridge cases in evidence.

This group then joined the main party at Wadi Rutm just in time for morning tea. The others had been completing the recording of the tended encampment. More tent rings had been excavated and the detailed recording had begun. This carried on throughout the day, reflecting the need and importance for the place of painstaking and thorough work in amongst all the excitement of new discoveries. In all three teams are furiously recording and two slogging through sand to uncover more of the Ottoman Encampment, and all in 30 degrees C in the shade, (although there isn’t any....) We are now more like silicon monkeys than dirt monkeys! Also of note is that one of the previously excavated rings had been tampered with since our last visit, with the central post hole enlarged and the central stone moved, probably by treasure seekers in a vain attempt to find gold, just as if to confirm the true conflict nature of this incredible landscape.

During the afternoon a team including the detectorists travelled in the 4x4 across country from the main road at Batn Al-Ghoul and up the escarpment from the base of Batn Al-Ghoul to the site we are currently calling Fassu’ah 2. An initial metal detector survey revealed evidence for Ottoman occupation and outgoing fire, together with some more horse shoes. In the courtyard of the main building complex a system of delicate paths radiate out from a central point which may have originally been a flag pole. Examination of the Fassu’ah 2 site has emphasized a growing impression that Ottoman defensive tactics during the First World War were sophisticated and likely to have been effective. The stereotype of a corrupt and incompetent army seems increasingly less likely on the evidence of modern conflict archaeology.

Day 7 - Ma'an.

Today we returned to the area in front of the station at Ma’an. The trench area to the north of the Hill of the Birds which had proved so productive on the first day was re-visited by the detectorists who performed 30 metre gridded timed sweeps for a distance of 330 metres along the trench system, towards the redoubt. This yielded over a kilogram of incoming rounds, small shrapnel, and grapnel balls and fired cartridge cases. It is hoped to be able to complete this survey tomorrow morning with a view to marrying up the results with the previous season’s data that covered the rest of the trenched area.

Elsewhere the digging teams completed the recording of the other main features of the site, mainly planning, photographing and section drawing, to contribute towards a comprehensive data set covering the entire militarised area. Whilst doing this the archaeologists discovered a piece of unexploded ordnance in the Southern redoubt. Fortunately the corrosive nature of the sand in which it had lay for some 90 years had reduced it to what was described as ‘a lump of blue Daz’ rendering it completely harmless but of great interest!

Landscape archaeology research using Google Earth had previously identified trench systems on Jebel Semnah, about six kilometres west of the Hill of the Birds and Ma’an station. These were visited and surveyed by a small team today. We have now proved the existence of an outer ring of defences around Ma’an and the Hijaz railway station. Jebel Semnah completely dominates the surrounding landscape and is a forbidding eminence for any potential attacker, its gentle slightly convex slopes, devoid of any cover or dead ground, would have constituted a desperate killing ground in front of the Turkish trenches. The surface was littered with fired rounds, evidence almost certainly of the battle fought here in April 1918.

Finally as promised – here is a link to some pictures showing what we have got up to during the first week of our second season here in Jordan: http://www.gwag.co.uk/Images/album/index.html

Day 6 - Rest day.

Today the group refrained from digging and spent the day doing other things. Most of us went to visit the amazing wonder that is the ancient Nabataean City of Petra. This comletely lives up to all expectations from the breathtaking opening into the city to be confronted by the now famous treasury, to the extreme vistas throughout this vast city once of 30,000 souls. Suffice it to say all new visitors were awestruck and those that had been before could not resist re-visiting.

Internet connectivity problems have prevented the uploading of a gallery of images from the first week. Hopefully this will be sorted out tomorrow and it will be added together with the update from the first day of the second week of this season's dig.

Day 5 – Wadi Rutm and Batn Al Ghoul.

What an amazing day! On the Eastern escarpment above Wadi Rutm station, we have now identified a complete military complex which includes a large dry stone wall built redoubt, several smaller outposts and five trenches. Much of this came about by following some painstaking research into a document consisting of a sketch by a First World War pilot of some trenches on the hillside above the station.

Also work continued excavating and recording the Ottoman Army camp North of the Wadi Rutm station. This is what archaeology is really all about. Today we excavated an Ottoman army position amidst the stunning scenery of Wadi Rutm, and it turned out to be a possible pre-historic megalithic structure! Four to six thousand years of Near Eastern heritage, encapsulated in a single landscape – this is why we are dirt monkeys!

Elsewhere, at Batn AL-Ghoul old station one team began a geophysical survey in the area of the disappeared station buildings. Nearby metal detecting began in an area of apparently Ottoman military tent rings which were discovered yesterday on a walk along the railway line between there and Wadi Rutm. This unearthed many Turkish army buttons one of which was attached to the cuff of a uniform. Further digging unearthed most spectacularly large fragments of an Ottoman army uniform which contained in a pocket a wad of desiccated printed paper which could be anything from money to cigarette making paraphernalia.

Meanwhile a small team investigated an intriguing scatter of thousands of corroded and often flattened tins believed to have originally contained meat, fish and possibly soup. This represents a side investigation into objects that were not First World War but which are found superimposed on ww1 sites elsewhere. They almost certainly belong to a period somewhere between the 1960’s and 70’s and thus represent a unique case study in ‘contemporary archaeology’. By investigating these objects, we will better understand their presence and significance on ww1 sites.

It gets better! A chance encounter with a Bedouin man and a trek into the hillside above Batn Al Ghoul lead to the discovery of an impressively large Ottoman walled complex, previously unknown to us, with the remains of large stone built dry stone wall structures. Just outside the walled enclosure is a large and almost complete oven structure. This site totally dominates the Wadi Rutm ad would appear to be a kind of command post for the Turkish military presence in the whole area. The oral tradition appears to suggest that this was indeed occupied by the Ottoman commanders. Part of the area was said by the Bedouin to be stabling for officers horses, and indeed a horse shoe was found in that area.

As days pass we are only just beginning to come to grasp with the extent and wonder of this fascinatingly rich militarised landscape.

Day 4 – Wadi Rutm.

On the way to the dig site at Wadi Rutm the party stopped to take a brief look at three extremely interesting coupled 1913 dated German manufactured rail wagons on the old-line between Ma'an and Wadi Rutm. Showing the signs of age and wear and tear from their fierce desert environment, they are desperately in need of conservation and we hope we can be able to find some way to encourage and support this.

Following on to Wadi Rutm the party as usual split into various teams. The detectorists went on to a site near to South of the station itself where a known spread of ancient and modern coinage and artefacts had been found the previous season. After a shaky start and in intense heat with no option of shade they worked on for 3 hours, locating 12 coins ranging from medieval to 1955. This site would definitely benefit from a return, albeit preferably in more hospitable climes.

In the afternoon two detectorists revisited each of the tent ring features at the site to re-sweep and code any new finds. One went off with three others to two sites to the west of Rutm station that had been found in the walk yesterday. These consisted of approximately 8 tent rings and a suspected outpost. Only one fragment of a fired bullet was located.

Elsewhere the western end of the tent rings and gun emplacement recording (both drawn and written) continued. Tent ring 4, the most extensively and professionally constructed, (i.e. it has the largest placed ashlar!) produced unexpected small finds. These included a piece of Turkish WW1 barbed wire, a desiccated date stone, (you can imagine the Ottoman soldier chewing and spitting whilst keeping guard over the Wadi), and even fragile paper.

Once the recording was complete the excavation team moved west – to begin the next challenge: further tent rings, not all circular (more info to follow tomorrow), small gun emplacements and features as yet undetermined. And, the non-cesspit is now definitely a cooking pit and square into the bargain. Burnt seed/corn husks are just some of the finds surfacing.

Today’s heat also made us feel like trapped Ottoman soldiers awaiting the Arab anvil. Other groups forayed out to seek further exciting locations and to confirm the worthiness of some already found. Reports back from these were unfortunately too late to make today’s blog, but will hopefully be included tomorrow.

Over the past few days we have had a number of visitors including local village children and adults, police of various sorts and a party of four Brits who found out about us via the GARP website and in spite of a very outdated map managed to find us in the desert. They were very interested in the project and came to have a look at both to Ma’an and Wadi Rutm, with a view to potentially bringing a larger party back next year to visit the fascinating site of this First World War conflict.

Day 3 – Wadi Rutm.

Today the party split into two groups with one exploring to find Batn Al-Ghoul station which was approximately 10 km north of Wadi Rutm station and the site of which was found with some difficulty. Almost all physical trace of the station had been erased from the landscape. Every stone of every building had been removed.

A short distance away from where the station would have stood was a probable Ottoman army camp represented by stone tent rings and on a nearby hilltop probable military breast work.

They then followed the old pilgrimage route south down into the wadi which cut across the abandoned railway embankment. They followed the embankment south and roughly midway between the site of bag and Wadi Rutm stations they came across a substantial military breastwork on a hilltop and nearby a group of probable stone tent rings. They then walked on to meet the main party who were excavating the Ottoman army Camp at Wadi Rutm.

This larger group spent the day continuing the excavation, metal detector survey and field walking which had begun the previous season. The detectorists undertook a full and systematic sweep of the entire plateau finding a number of Ottoman army uniform buttons, together with a range of other metal artefacts including spoons, coins, a lock and a pen nib. Four other teams excavated apparent tent rings at the western end of the encampment whilst the gun emplacement that had been uncovered last year was methodically recorded. Evidence of tent pegs both wooden and metal and centralised post holes indicating tent poles and the use of Turkish bell tents was found.

At the end of the day a suspected stone circled cess pit was investigated. This turned out not to contain cess but rather revealed evidence of burnt material which will be further excavated tomorrow.

Day 2 - Ma'an

Ma’an station, a major station on the HIJAZ RAILWAY, is at the centre of a complex of hilltop trenches extending outwards from the station designed to protect it and a garrison of up to 6000 Turkish troops in 1916 – 1918. The whole party went to the site for the first time today. The various teams went off to develop their work in the following areas: the metal detectorists spent the morning investigating a section of the crenulated trench to the north of the Hill of the Birds and discovered one particularly heavy concentration of expended cartridge cases and incoming rounds possibly indicating the location of a single firing site during the battle. The surveyors roved across the wide expanse of the lower levels of the site and located the foundations a number of new buildings and other feature. These were further investigated in the afternoon by the detectorists. One digging team excavated a section of front line firing trench and communication trench serving it. A second digging team excavated what was probably a hastily constructed support trench for the front line firing trench at a slightly higher level. Unlike in the front line the frontline firing trench, no expended munitions were found in the support trench, which implies it postdates the battle in April 1918. Two other digging teams working on the southern redoubt, one excavated a short section of frontline firing trench and its’ serving communications trench, and the other excavated a possible machine gun placement.

We were also visited by the Inspector of Antiquities for Ma’an Hani Falahat, who took one of the directors to se be Birket Ma’an, where there is a gigantic Ottoman cistern fed by a spring which supplied water to the whole of Ma’an including Ma’nn station and the Turkish garrison during the first world war. This enlarges the defended landscape of which we are aware and are attempting to define.

The plan is that tomorrow the team heads out into the desert proper to Wadi Rutm, to continue investigation of a Hijaz Railway station and Turkish military encampments. We also hope to publish edited extracts of the Site Diary beginning tomorrow.

We are most grateful to the Candles Hotel Petra for their kind assistance with access to Internet facilities for the uploading of this blog.

Day 1 - orientation.

The remaining party arrived at Amman safely at around 10.30 pm local time on Monday evening. Unfortunately to a problem with the official paperwork two had to stay in Amman overnight waiting for clearance for flight cases of equipment, including the metal detectors. This resulted in the rest checking into the hotel at 4.00am local.

Undaunted the remainder had a late breakfast and, together with the advance party, met to discuss the project in broad terms and to allocate teams for different areas of the work and become aware of the health and safety issues associated with a project of this type in a Middle Eastern country.

We then boarded our transport and headed up to the first principal dig site at Ma’an, a journey of some 50 minutes from Petra.

Once there the new recruits and those visiting for the second time walked the various points of interest over the range of the site. During this Neil Faulkner, David Thorpe and others outlined the historical context of the features, their archaeological significance and the extent to which they had already been investigated plus the general plans for the development of the work.

Many thanks to the College of Archaeology at Al-Hussein Bin Talal University for their help in providing an internet connection to upload this blog.

Pre-dig info

Advance party has been there for a couple of days now. Everything sounds good, although there are apparently no internet facilities in the hotel.

The good news is the Jordanian Department Of Antiquities have promised us access via the university at Petra, which means this blog looks like it will actually happen and be updated live every day from tomorrow onwards. Exciting stuff!

UPDATE -

A forward party comprising of Neil Faulkner, David Thorpe, David and Angie Hibbitt flew to Jordan on Friday 26 October 2007, arriving at Wadi Musa in the early hours of Saturday morning. Their remit was to prepare for the remainder of the party, who would join us in three days time.

This year the Project is fortunate in having the assistance of two lecturers from the Al-Hussein Bin Talal University (Zeyad Al-Salameen and Mansour Shqiarat) as well as Jeyad Kafafi, a Curator at the Jordan Museum. All three will be contributing their expertise and knowledge and will be working on site as part of the team. The University has also kindly agreed to loan the Project a Total Station which will be huge asset to the surveying team.

The two Dave’s spent some time on Monday acquainting themselves with this equipment while Neil, Zeyad and Angie went to Ma’an to meet with Mansour and Hani Falahat, who is the Inspector of Antiquities for the Ma’an region. Hani worked closely with us last year and we are pleased to resume our working relationship with him.

A site visit followed at the Hajj Fort of Fassu-oh, which is approximately 60km south of Ma’an. The fort is one of a series of Ottoman installations and protected the watering place which was later used to supply water to the Aqabat-Hejaz railway station. We spent some time carefully exploring the fort which is largely intact but has been subjected to some digging by treasure hunters. The fort is isolated, lying at the bottom of a Wadi, surrounded by hills. There are two water reservoirs adjacent, typical of the type found elsewhere in Southern Jordan. The site is ripe for further investigation.

A check of the over looking hills revealed two possible observation posts and two trenches.

We also visited the site of the Aqabat-Hejaz Station, which is roughly 2km east of Fassu-oh. There some standing building remains here, as a well as a water reservoir which may have had a building on top of it. There also appeared to be a later addition of a fortified wall around these station buildings.

These are both exciting new sites that add to our growing knowledge and understanding of the activities of those involved in the Great Arab Revolt in this area.

Jordan 2007 - daily updates

GWAG, the Great War Archaeology Group, in their guise of the Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP), will be excavating, recording and surveying for their second season in October/November '07 in southern Jordan.

A daily BLOG will commence with a pre-amble on or about 27th October 2007.

Click here for the full BLOG, which will also be syndicated to the CWA website.