[By George Horsfield and Agnes Conway]
G. Horsfield

Went to Ma’an with Arif hassar for money in company with Mahmud Charish. Brought back £200 which I obtained after waiting 3 hours.  The digging went on with 25 men without interruption and supervised by Ali Burar. 
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A.E.C. and Dr. Nielsen went to Al Najr to find Kennedy’s High Place. Approaching it from the back side they could see nothing towards the top that looked worked; but as Difollah shouted down that it was good, AEC was hauled up.  The top, which is about 57 yds in length, at first seemed to her a quarry mass only – but gradually it appeared to unfold itself as an altar mass with a gap left in the back wall orientated to the W.  At one end is a small niche with a horned altar; at the other a larger niche.  It divides itself roughly into 3 terraces, on the middle of which are 4 blocks, beneath what might be a tier of seats on the N edge.  On the lower terrace close to the E. precipice, is what might be an altar. A very little pottery of uncertain date is strewn about.  Seen from the ground in the E. side is a small projecting platform, upon which there appears to be a similar altar, which must again be investigated from the top. Should it be a High Place a fine view could be had of the sacrifices from the wide open space below which leads up gradually to a tomb area.  Dr. Nielsen was unable to climb to the top.  

A.E.C. thinks the massif may originally have been a High Place, which was afterwards quarried away to build the city, any staircase approaches being then cut off.  Marks of quarry working seem to be clearly visible in the projecting portion on the S., and there are small carvings high up which might be mason’s marks.  
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In the afternoon A.E.C. walked on the Ma’aisera ridge above the Camp, spotting from above a large built wall inside a cave or tomb, and then going to Kennedy’s fig. 149 to look up the suggestions in his Memorandum.  
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Dr. Canaan did two big rounds finding place names and collected stories as usual from the Bedu.

Reference: 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 April: 18-20. 

[By Agnes Conway and George Horsfield]

A.E.C. took Mr. Horsfield to see Al Najr, and he pronounced the whole place to be a quarry, probably temp [sic] Hadrian to build the Hadrianic city.  The horned altar and niche would just have been put up by the quarrymen to amuse themselves.  All the surrounding cult places, recommended by Kennedy for examination, are quarries as well, and to have fixed this definitely will save us all a great deal of time. We walked through Al Nasara, also full of old quarries which looked like cult objects, to the suburb on the N.W. face. Here Mr. Horsfield agreed that the tricliniums, niches, rooms etc all included by Dalman in his account of the 6 sanctuaries under El Hubta, are houses.  One room is particularly fine and considered by him to be the earliest specimen of a typical Arab house.
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G. Horsfield Spent the morning with Miss Conway visiting Northern area, in which I dashed all her hopes, as the alleged Higher Places are all quarries and the crude symbols the products of the leisure of quarrymen, visited some of the rock cut chambers on the S side, many of which seem to have been houses.  The facade without a door, in front of which is a wall, seems to have been a Nymphaeum.

Spent the afternoon on the dig – a wall has appeared on the W. side which seems early. Pottery same as before and scarce but the house debris, bones, pottery and ashes are in evidence.  The work is going better and with more of a swing, as the men are broken to organized labour – 26 men employed – taking on 10 more tomorrow.
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In the afternoon A.E.C. investigated the caves around El Habis which all seem to be houses of different dates.  One has remains of a very fine black plastering on the walls and ceiling.

Reference: [By 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, 2 April: 20-21. 

[By George Horsfield, Agnes Conway and Tawfiq Canaan]
G. H.
Spent two hrs. with Dr. Nielsen and Miss Conway in N.W. side of El Habis examining the High Place approaches, also the underlying quarry with its tombs.  Spent the rest of the morning at the dig and completed my survey of the South Wall which runs from El Habis to the Castellum in the middle, and is the highest point of the South side of the city, then to the side of Zubb Atuf on the E.  In the afternoon cleaned up the high place on El Habis in part; found nothing but sane [sic] and sheep droppings covered with thin grass to a depth of 30 centimetres.  Visited the dig and saw the exposed side of the wall which has appeared in it and its junction with the S wall; its outer face, in the fragment exposed, is the same as the wall which limits the Town on the Wadi Farasa.  The wall in the dig projects beyond its face and is broken away, which seems to suggest that there was a Tower or at any rate a change in plane of the wall.  The pottery is the same and scarce.  At the side of the wall inside are the remains of another, crudely built of small shapeless stones, without a foundation, about a meter high.  Three Nabataean coins turned up of the common sort with crossed cornucopias which I have often seen and sometimes bought.  

I have decided to go to a deeper level and shall proceed to cut off another meter from the front.

A.E.C. spent most of the day making a prismatic compass plan of the circle of old unhewn stones surrounding the rock which she found on March 28th.  

J. [sic] B. Canaan: Before noon went through the siq to Wadi-el-Muslin, followed its course and the course of its tributaries up to Wadi-el-Mataha. Made a plan of the Siq, el-Mataha and the surroundings.

Reference: Horsfield, G., [Conway, A.] and Canaan, T. 1929 (transcribed by A Thornton). Petra Exploration Fund Diary. "Business Papers to be Kept", Horsfield Collection Box 8, UCL Institute of Archaeology, 3 April: 21-22. 

 [By George Horsfield and probably Agnes Conway)
G. H.​
Excavated Miss Conway’s stone circle to the N.  Ali in charge.  

Dig went on.  The stratifications are clearly defined; plenty of house rubbish, mixed with bones, but hardly any pottery – such as is coming out much coarser; mostly cooking pots but occasional pieces of finer sorts.  The wall on W side is now showing its foundations, which are only just below the surface and consist of a mass of loose material, carelessly thrown in, seemingly in mud, though the earth in the interstices shows an appearance of lime and poor stuff.  The wall I have not dated; it could be Byzantine – but the pottery overlying it is all of the 2nd century – so it must be earlier.  

A.E.C. spent the morning with the diggers in her stone circle.  At one point on the outside it was dug down to bed rock, 2 ½ metres below the top of the stones.  Nothing was found in the earth except charcoal.  The ground in front of the central red stone was dug down to the rock and had nothing at all in it, showing that the earth had been filled in to level it when the circle was first built.  The gaps in the circle were filled up with underground stones, but the E. end ran in to a black rock, beyond the end of which there was a 6 metre gap.  This entrance is in the right place to suit a flight of steps in the sandstone, found by Dr Nielsen – to the S.W. of the circle.  She completed the plan in the afternoon, putting in the black and white rocks, which are evidently part of the sanctuary.  All agree that this an early sanctuary, probably the earliest building yet found in Petra, and presumably Edomite. 
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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, 6 April: 25-26. 

[by George Horsfield and possibly Agnes Conway]
​G. H. 
The dig proceeded slowly and has advanced into the debris about 2 metres beyond the W. side wall – at a depth of 4 ½ metres from the summit, 3.50 m below the top of wall.  Pottery has come out more freely and the limit of the finer pottery is passing. To-day 4 baskets fairly full appeared consisting of large round handles and fragments of wine jars, cooking pots and a few fragments of terra sigillata, which I think are of the beginning of the 1st century AD.  I have decided to stop the work here for a day or two and have arranged to divide the working party in order to dig into the two mounds lying between Ez Zantour and Zubb Abuf [sic] – so as to have some comparative material.  These mounds are very puzzling as they seem early 2nd and 3rd century and would suggest that this part of the city was abandoned at this period and used as a dump for household debris. I began to examine the North area of the city between the Wadi Ma’aisera and Hubda – beyond Wadi Musa.  It is extremely difficult to form an opinion of its extent in an early period towards the North.  There is the appearance of a defensive wall inside the inhabited area which continues to the Wadi Ma’aisera then turns South following its left bank and is lost in the ruins of what appears to be a Hadrianic building with columns and a court to the S.  I could not find the point where it crossed the Wadi.  

In front of this at about 15 metres N. is another wall of slight construction, which appears as a heap of stones which does not seem to go anywhere. At the end are the foundations of a large building standing out from the wall to the N. which looks as if it were the base of a Tower – or it may be only the foundation of a lost building – it is built of red standstone, I think the ordinary paving stone, which is seen in many places, lying about in disorder on the ground and others outlining graves which are orientated roughly E. and W.  

The area examined is well covered with ruins which appear to be classical in character – with columns, drums and bases –of well-built material like the Kasr-el Bint.  They seem to have suffered changes and alterations.  There are signs of rough terracing to walls which suggest that this part also has been cultivated at some later date.  I noted that some of the fields seem to have been irrigated on the S side, the water probably having been brought from the site before the complete breakdown of the canalisation system.  

A.E.C. spent some time at the dig with Mr Horsfield, and went on to the Farasa West valley.  There she saw what looked like unrifled tombs near the ceiling of the Greco-Roman Tomb Br.[unnow] 257.  She was puzzled by the water arrangements in connection with Br.[unnow] 228, and the water-channel in what ought to be a cistern next door.  The interiors of some of these tombs need photographing as types, particularly the pilaster panelling of Br.[unnow] 228 and 253. The closed glen leading to 228 with the block at the end and the cisterns above is a most attractive enceinte and full of greenery; and the swanky grave courtyard of 257 is charming. The white shaft grave area on the way to it with stibadia etc seems queer and old by comparison.  An attempted study of the facades is not leading to much at present, and the interiors are proving more interesting.

Spent the afternoon trying to find the way up Jebel en Numer, and walked a long way up the Wadi Umm Ratam and back by the Thughra.  In an isolated spot near the Umm Ratam was one rock cut grave in a wonderful position – otherwise the walk was free of all monuments! 
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Found one doubtful flint implement. (Mousterian).

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, 7 April: 26-29. 

[By George Horsfield and possibly Agnes Conway]
G. H. 
Dug at B. v C. to east of Ez Zantour.  The pottery similar to that from a 1st cent [? In pencil] at lower level.  This part of the city must have been abandoned at this period. And lies S. of Dalman’s Byzantine wall.
Spent the morning with Miss C. in El Farasa E. and El Farasa W. exploring tombs.
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Dug out three tombs that Miss C discovered in Farasa W., moved much filth from two niches – tombs unexcavated – the other had been excavated but yielded nothing but mutton bones and sheep manure.  In Farasa W. saw other niches high up in right hand tombs which may contain something – all accessible ones have been visited by local Arabs.  
 
Saw interesting cistern found by Mahmud on top of Garden Tomb with a vaulted chamber beyond.  Hall of fluted columns visited; corrected plan and made notes in Weygand.  The horizontal slit on front looks as though it were intended to spring vault from.  Saw new type of Tomb; a low chamber with small square door high up in the wall; one on other side of Wady, - half of which has been cut away – exposing section. Have discovered meaning of the horizontal slits in walls – they are to spring arches from; then the interval is covered with slabs to form roof.  
 
At dig in the afternoon – worked quite well – Ali and Arif at one each; spent rest of afternoon in finding N Wall – in which I was successful – but it is very different to Dalman.  Cook complains of being roasted – must put shelter over kitchen.  A.E.C. went to the Edomite High Place in afternoon and took 3 panorama photographs with the ½ plate camera.  

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, 8 April: 28-30. 

[by George Horsfield and Agnes Conway]
G. H.  Changed digging back to Katooti [see 4 April entry] – spent morning writing up Hadrianic North part of city wall.  Afternoon on dig which I don’t in the least understand.  Pottery all [? In pencil]

A.E.C. photographed in the morning in El Farasa W. & El Farasa E. and found an enormous cistern near the mouth of Wady en Mer.  She took the interiors of 2 tombs with sarcophagi under the ceiling with the half-plate camera in afternoon, in El Farasa W.

Reference: 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, 9 April: 30. ​

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. 

[probably by Agnes Conway]

A.E.C. spent the morning on Al-Ma’aisera looking at all the tombs leading to the watch-room overlooking the barred Wady Marras Hamdan outside the town.  The tombs are particularly small, and there are many niches with facades too small for tombs.  When above the Turkomanya Wady, I saw a line of camels which turned out to the be the last of 300 or so, which had come from Hayil, a 20 days’ journey, with 50 Wahabis to look after them.  From Ma’an they went by Ain Hai and ain Khraje to El Barid, where they slept last night.  They went out by El Thughra on the way to Akaba and a 5 days’ journey to Egypt to sell the camels.  They said the Star Pass was too hard on the camels legs and so was the Siq.  This seems to imply that El Barid may have been the last station on the way to Petra on the Southern and Eastern Trade Routes, as well as the first station from Petra on the way to Gaza.  It was a first hand demonstration of the Trade Routes that we never could have hoped for, and a very fine spectacle.  The afternoon went on shopping chores and consultations with Mr Read [Head] about my camera.  The “Sybil” focus is all wrong and impossible to use.

Reference: [unsigned, but 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, 12 April: 33. ​

[By George Horsfield and possibly Agnes Conway]
G. H.
​
Began to dig on S. face of the city between the outer and the Byzantine wall, on a face of 10 metres. The ground was covered with the fragments of stone slabs that seem to have formed the sides and covers to Xian graves – one of which had been destroyed.  They were on the surface.  
 
The surface is sandy earth with small fragments of pottery[.]  One lamp with a cross and several Byzantine coins were turned up. Visited with Miss C. the Tombs at foot of Biyara on the other side of W. Tughra.  Afternoon was on the dig all the time; the surface is clear up the wall and the S. end down [? in pencil] about ¾ in.  Very little pottery is turning up.  Remains of wood ash are appearing – but the pottery is limited and uninteresting and very fragmentary.  
 
Wall stones are turning up just below the surface and fragments of stone are mingled with the earth, particularly at foot of Byzantine wall.  
 
A.E.C. spent the afternoon on the nearer Ma’aisera ridge and in the wadi-al Gharbiyah, where, in a small area are six silted up caves almost at Wady level on each side.  Four are hidden by falls of detritus and two filled to the very top with sand, - thinks these may all be tombs, and that one is of the large Serai type and worth digging.  

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, 13 April: 33-34.