The High Commissioner arrived and is staying with Cooks.  [Austen] Harrison write to say he was unable to come and visit us.
 
A.E.C. spent the morning on the nearer El Ma’aisera ridge looking at Kennedy’s Memorandum queries in connection with the great tomb, Fives court etc.  She could find no sign of a sanctuary, but think the whole lay-out may be an elaborate example of the type of enceinte described on the Turkomanya tomb.  A new type of tomb turned up, and two unfinished very early tombs, as well as more cisterns.  A complete investigation of the ridge might be done and would be interesting if there is time for anything intensive.  She took 5 panorama telephoto views from the Edomite circle in the afternoon glow.

Reference: Horsfield, G [and probably Conway, A] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 11 April: 31-32. 

[By George Horsfield and possibly Agnes Conway]
G. H.

Cold after rain and snow, a slight fall of snow on the mountains to S.E.  Visitors to Cooks Camp can’t move, as all the roads are impassable.
 
The digging at No. 2. cave has cleared the front “court” and part of the inside.  A Byzantine rubbish tip was found 50 cents. below surface. Below that more pottery and the head of a Figurine with a late 1st century A.D. type of hairdressing. Certain pieces of whitish grey green pottery are new, one piece has a pattern on its handle which looks like two wriggling snakes.  The court has steps round it – and the floor is unique – but as it is not yet cleaned up it is difficult to make out – it seems to have channels cut in it, and may be the result of quarrying!  
 
No. 3. cave is uninteresting – pottery Byzantine and gives no promise.  
 
Dug out 2 Xtian ? tombs opposite Turkomaniya – both empty except one which had 3 small fragments of bone. The underpart of the grave box in both cases was straight on the earth.  
 
In afternoon went down Siyagh with Dr. N. and Miss C to visit the houses of which it is full.  Up on the W side of Deir found 3 early and interesting rooms, - the one with Nab. inscriptions being particularly interesting – it was a [? In pencil] with rounded end.  Pottery in vicinity Byz.  The plateau leading to these rooms has about 50 cents. of sandy earth on it. The so-called Sanctuary is not a Sanct.
 
Finished afternoon at dig – nothing new.  The door to chamber is built of masonry inserted into the red sandstone; also the cill of door.  The masonry is rough chiselled, with margins about 3 cents. wide. 
 
The Siyagh and el Ma’aisera I think are certainly, with Habis, the oldest part of the city – but our exploration is hardly sufficiently advanced to make deductions from the evidence available.  
 
Continued sorting of pots.  
 
A.E.C. went with 3 men to dig the 2 chambers seen yesterday in the engaged pillar tomb N. of the Tomb of the Urn.  Though the S. one rang hollow, there was nothing but 1 ½ ft of manure on a stone floor. The pottery was Bedouin with one small fragment of Greco-Roman.  In the N room there was nothing at all; but the tomb chamber, of the size of a shaft grave, seems to have been on the upper floor, and the purpose of the 2 small, beautifully squared chambers on the ground floor, is still unknown.  
 
Mahmud climbed to the top of the 4 sacrophagi bases in the Palace Tomb and picked among the divisions; but there was nothing new to be seen.  
 
A.C. found a view point in the Siyagh from which 9 tiers of houses on El Habis can be distinguished. There are however tombs as well, and the hill-side is still a puzzle.  The shaft-grave complex at the S.W. end is at the back of what must once have been a huge row of Nabataean tombs along the edge of the Wady Tuglera. These seem to have been quarried and to have fallen down and their relation to the shaft graves behind them I cannot fathom. (These lead into them from the top).

Reference: Horsfield, G. [and possibly Conway, A.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 22 April: 49-51. 

[possibly George Horsfield and Agnes Conway]
​
Removed from Ma’aisera to Syagh [sic] and cleared two rooms and seven graves and three Tomb chambers – found nothing.  Operating on a shaft grave which has produced so far from the shaft a glass bottle – a fragment of lamp – and a piece of pierced stone-diamonds which has probably formed part of a window grill.
 
Ma’aisera has belied its hoary appearance.  It seems certain from the facts and evidence obtained that it dates from near 1 BC or 14 A.D. allowing a margin on either side.  The Assyrian Tombs do not seem more ancient.  Two arrangements of insides were noticed – a single grave deep and large at the side – which took nearly half floor area – or this in combination with niches at the back for burials, or alone.  The Tombs with Dushara symbols (Triple Dushara Tomb) from the fact of cremation were the most interesting – but as no pottery or object was found then date is uncertain – but in the case of others (No. 3 below particularly) a large amount of “burnt” bones was obtained in fragments – and the signs of burning have been noted on several occasions – but never with the conclusive evidence as to means as that obtained in Triple Dushara in five cases. 
 
The use of sand has obtained in every tomb or grave opened which was wholly or partially undisturbed – and the disappearance of the corpse caused the sand to fall and in several cases where the covers were in place there was a space between the sand and the cover.  
 
The burial images were various – the austere Dushara method with nothing – with the symbol carved in the wall above and at its side a lamp niche – or a profusion of common pots – an iron ring and a bronze cylindrical vessel or just a juglet at the feet.  
 
A.E.C. spent the morning photographing in the Farasas; exploring the Wady en Iver [sic], where Dalman calls a room with a horned altar scratched on the walls a sanctuary, and trying in vain to find the inscription to the Divine Obodat at the end of the En Iver [sic] Valley.  Neither Brunnow nor Dalman give instructions that can be followed on the spot. Photographed in the Siyagh in the afternoon and went to the dig on El Habis with Mr Horsfield. 

Reference: [unsigned, possibly Horsfield, G. and Conway, A.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 1 May: 63-65. 

[possibly by George Horsfield] 
​
Proceeded with Syagh [sic] shaft grave and retrieved a small pot and a lamp.  One grave out of four awaits excavation.  The excavation of the group SE of El Habis proceeded but the result was disappointing as most of the graves had been rifled.  In one case the corpse in an unrifled tomb may be a Christian reuse. This was in the SE group.  The SW group is proceeding and from the shaft of one came fragments of alabaster pots with covers – about 4 but many of the fragments are missing.

Reference: [unsigned, possibly Horsfield, G.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 2 May Part 1: 65. 

[possibly by Agnes Conway]
​
Photographed the Siyagh from El Habis, El Habis from El Ma’aisera and the Deir ridge from the latter.  It takes almost a whole morning to take 6 half-plate photographs in different places if it entails setting the thing up afresh each time.  

To the Deir in the afternoon, looking at the Roman houses and cisterns and grasping that the Temple is not a tomb, but has the outline of a horned altar in the niche.  The water channel from the Mountains that feed the row of cisterns is the largest I have seen in Petra.  Dalman’s so-called sanctuary No. 496, which looked like a grave in the distance, is a Syrian arched entrance to a trichinium with a Roman horned altar on the left.  I imagine it must be a house, and is the only one I know with an arched entrance in Petra. The view over the Ghor at sunset was clear and all the Sinai peninsular visible to me for the first time.  The light beyond the black Siyagh was extra-ordinarily beautiful.  

Reference: [unsigned, possibly Conway, A.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 3 May Part 2: 66-67. ​

[possibly George Horsfield and Agnes Conway]
​
Continued to dig graves on El Habis South – without result as the accumulation inside the shafts is not cleared away.  Found a shaft which was completely hidden and which appears to have never been disturbed – it is to the N.W. of the others.  The graves so far examined all seem to have been opened at some time and their occupants renewed [sic].  
 
A.E.C. went with Dr. Nielsen to see the sanctuaries of El Mataha and Sidd el Magin.  The 1stsanctuary is an altar with somewhat the arrangement of the so-called “brand-altar” of Zibb Atuf, and Dr. Nielsen thinks it far earlier than the Roman suburb of El Nasara in which it stands. The row of cult symbols is in connection with a house next door and has nothing whatever to do with the altar about 30 yards away – the raised lid-less tomb-shaped box of No. 4 is a mystery. The very narrow gorge of Sidd el Magin, which flows between Roman houses on both banks, had water in the pools and was a perfect refuge from the sun, which today was grilling.  The niches along both sides are Hadrianic and the water may possibly have worn down the gorge for 2 yards since the niches were cut. Photographed in the Siyagh in the afternoon.

Reference: [unsigned, possibly Horsfield, G. and Conway, A.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 4 May: 67. 

[possibly George Horsfield and Agnes Conway]
​
Working on Tombs to S. of El Habis.  They are very disappointing as all so far observed have been disturbed.  The finds amount to a few pots, bones and sherds, but not amounting to much.  Can find no signs of cremations. 
 
The undisturbed tomb seems to be entered from a crack in the rock and if my surmise is correct should be both interesting and important.  The “crack” is a vertical stratification – in which stairs are commonly cut.  At one end it shows signs of cutting – but the sides show a natural weathered surface – the width is the same as a shaft and length just over 4 metres.  
 
Finished photographing at the Edomite High Place and describing it.  I’m never going there again!  Measured houses in the Siyagh in the afternoon.  

Reference: [unsigned, possibly Horsfield, G. and Conway, A.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 5 May: 68. 

[possibly by both George Horsfield and Agnes Conway] 

One grave in South group produced pots of no great interest.  At the N. end the Tomb remarked yesterday has grown more interesting – a doorway with an arched moulding over an architrave has appeared North of the Crack.  The doorway was found from inside and is now in process of being dug out.  One piece of pottery has turned up.  Red painted in black – new pattern – fragment.  
 
A.E.C. and Dr. Nielsen went to the Wady el Darraj, after seeing the Khazneh, to find Dalman’s 4th sanctuary of El Kantarah – Dr Nielsen found this and regarded it as quarry cutting, after A.E.C. had got tired of looking and departed with Mahmud to the Wady Muzlim to see the Sik tunnel.  This is a huge cutting in the white rock; very long and very impressive. She walked the whole length of the wady, with Mahmud’s help, till it suddenly ended in the Sidd el Magin. There are remains of a stone built arch towards the N.  The rock pools were full of water at the bottom of precipices of red sandstone; and Mahmud 4 times lifted her down the precipice and waded with her in his arms to safety!  
 
Photographed houses on El Habis in the afternoon.

Reference: [unsigned, possibly Horsfield, G. and Conway, A.] 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 6 May: 68-69. 

[possibly by both George Horsfield and Agnes Conway]

The Tombs south of El Habis have all petered out without giving any evidence different to that already obtained, nor producing anything in the way of pottery that was not previously known and explored – nor was there the faintest evidence of cremations. The one thing not previously found was a collection of alabaster pots – all in fragments – there seem to be four in all – large and small.
 
The North Tomb was finished clearing at the end of the working day – there are three graves and all unopened.  Pottery has been found in the Chamber of the same character as previously known – but with one or two fresh shapes.  The works are now closed down and will allow of time to consider them in their different evidences.  The main feeling is disappointment at the lack of variety and their comparative modernity.  Every effort has been made to find the oldest and deepest sites – the same with the tombs and graves.  The evidence has been the same in all cases and seems conclusive that the civilization was of Mediterranean origin – except for the “Assyrian” Pylon Tombs.  Taking Medain Salih as the fixed chronological starting point then Petra is not older – but must have existed and flourished under the same trade and cultural impulse – which dies towards the end of the first century at M.S. but was diverted in the case of Petra to being intermediary between N. & S.  This then was the flourishing period – the 2nd century, which filled Provincia Arabia with cities and completed the Graeco-Romanization of Petra in the monuments of Hadrian.  

​A. C.
 
Went with Mr Horsfield to the opening of four graves in a round arched tomb chamber on El Habis – untouched; and photographed the skeletons. The last day’s dig, and all the men were paid off in the afternoon.  Photographed and planned the three storied house in the Siyagh.  

G. H.  
 
Opened the four graves in the North Tomb at El Habis.  The first lies across the threshold and was covered with flagstones. The others were roughly coffin shaped and were filled in with gravel from Wadi bed.  Began on the one nearest to wall inside, which contained nothing but the remains of a skull and some fragment – it was dissected by [blank] but it had never been disturbed. The next was much the same, but produced a few more bones, likewise next.  They were all the same in type and equally barren in objects.
 
The Threshold grave was more interesting – it was much wider and square ended – on removing cover saw it was broken through into tomb under.  There were two skeletons side by side, the upper part of right hand was gone, having fallen through hole and the other partly.  The grave was full of sand which seemed to have been washed in.  On dissection 11 skulls turned up, and underneath top skeletons was a mass of disordered bones and skulls.  It had been used as a charnel house, but the last burials were orderly and the cover was sealed with lime mortar.  There was not the slightest indication of the age of graves – about 1.00 m above floor on the sand were found a number of pots.  The doorway has a certain architectural character but is crude and poorly executed.  Not a thing was found on floor level or in the graves.  The orientation was E & W.  The dead were laid with their feet to the E.  
 
Reference: Conway, A. and Horsfield G. 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 9 May: 72-74.