Petra 1929
  • Home
  • About
  • Prelude
  • Diary
  • Wider Context
  • People
  • Places
  • Resources
  • Illustrations

21 April 1929

12/9/2018

 
[by Agnes Conway]
A. C. 

​
No dig today as it poured with rain and Mr. Horsfield sorted pots, and A.E.C. welcomed the chance of reading. At lunch-time there was a shout of water in the Wadi Musa, and the whole camp rushed to see it pouring into the Siyagh.  It was, however, coming from the Metaha and not from the Sik at that time; so Mr H. and A.E.C. went to examine the large buildings under El Hubta. The enormous façade next but one N. of the Tomb of the Urn has only 2 small but perfectly squared or tooled rooms, one of which seemed to ring hollow in the middle of the floor and may be worth clearing out.  The next two at right angles to each other, have no facades and may be houses.  The Corinthian Tomb has capitals almost Byzantine, combined with triglyphs and dentals of yellow stone painted with stripes of black. It was impossible to tell whether the inserted stone of the low arches on the left was plastered or not.  Inside the Palace Tomb the arrangement of 4 bases for sarcophagi 1,  on a high shelf in a niche, was odd and unique in Petra.
Picture
Flooding in Wadi Musa, near El Biyara, 1929. Copyright UCL Institute of Archaeology.
The colour of this ceiling and the neighbouring one on the left was superb in the greyish light; a fantastic palette of blood red, orange, pink, grey, pale mauve, and silver, set off by great black splotches from the Bedouin fires.  
 
As soon as the sun shone the colour paled.  This English day of thunderclouds, and snatches of deep blue sky brought out all the colour of the rocks and intensified the green.  A blinding hail storm was difficult to battle against on the way home.  We jumped the Wady Musa and got to camp a few minutes before the Deir Wady became a raging torrent, cutting off the 2 sides of the camp from each other, and threatening the tents, around which trenches had to be dug at once.  Before supper the stream was dry again.
__
[Footnote] 1. The same seen later near right [? In pencil] of Tomb of Urn

Reference: Conway, A. 1929 (transcribed by A. Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 21 April: 48-49. 

4 May 1929

12/9/2018

 
[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. 

    Categories

    All
    Accident
    Agnes Conway
    Ain Musa
    Akaba
    Ali Burar
    Al Khan
    Al Najr
    Al Qantara
    Aqueduct
    Arif Hussar
    Bdul
    Bedouin
    Birka
    Burials
    By Agnes Conway
    By George Horsfield
    By Tawfiq Canaan
    Camels
    Camp
    Caves
    Cemetery
    Circassians
    Cisterns
    Cooking
    Cook's Camp
    Copper Smelting
    Corinthian Tomb
    Deir
    Ditlef Nielsen
    Division
    Drifullah
    Dushara
    Edomite High Place
    El Barid
    El Basta
    El Biyara
    El Habis
    El Hremije
    Elji
    El Kantarah
    El Khazneh
    El Khubtha
    El Ma'aisera
    El Mataha
    El Medras
    El Nasara
    El Ramle
    El Wajra
    Excavation
    Exploration
    Farasas
    Garden Tomb
    George Horsfield
    Ghor
    Graves
    Great High Place
    Hammam
    Henry Mond
    Hormuz
    Houses
    Hrabet En Mer
    Huaymil
    Human Remains
    Huraimiya Gorge
    Idhra Al Hisha
    Inscriptions
    Jebel En Mer
    Katoote
    Klausenschluct
    Ma'an
    Mahmud Charish
    Mount Hor
    Mr Head
    Numara Pass
    Osair
    Packing
    Palace Tomb
    Payday
    Personnel
    Petra
    Photography
    Planning
    Quarries
    Recording
    Sabra
    Sanctuaries
    Sextus Florentinus
    Sheikh Bashir
    Sidd El Magin
    Sik
    Sik Tunnel
    Siyagh
    Strike
    Survey
    Tawfiq Canaan
    Theatre
    Tomb Of Onaisu
    Tomb Of The Urn
    Tombs
    Triple Dushara Tomb
    Turkomaniya
    Turkomaniya Tomb
    Visitors
    Wadi El Mataha
    Wadi El Muslin
    Wadi En Mer
    Wadi Umm Ratam
    Wady Deir
    Wady El Darraj
    Wady Marris Hamdan
    Wady Musa
    Wady Muzlim
    Wady Tughera
    Wahabi Caravan
    Weather
    Workmen
    Zantour
    Zibb Atuf
    Zibb Pharoun

    Archives

    October 2018
    September 2018

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Prelude
  • Diary
  • Wider Context
  • People
  • Places
  • Resources
  • Illustrations