Petra Tour: Bab as-Siq
In the necropolis along the path from the Visitor Centre to the deep gorge of the Siq, one can see remarkably unusual burial sites, including some of Petra's oldest.
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The 6 m high monolith completely cut out of the rock stands on the edge of the plateau on which the Aslah Triclinium Complex is located. To the left it goes steeply down to the entrance of the Wadi-Mudhlim tunnel.
At the top of the block tomb a frieze of crowsteps runs between two horizontal lines: each side with five crowsteps of four-steps each, flanked by half-stacks at the corners.
To the west of the block there is an access to a room and a narrow vertical shaft leading to a deep underground burial chamber. Although the tomb is clearly separated from the block monument, it probably belongs to it.
On the northern side there is a 3.2 x 3.4 m large rock chamber. To the south there are several burial pits carved into the ground. They belong to a Nabataean cemetery of over 50 graves on this plateau.
(Information from Mouton & Renel)
© Photo, text: Haupt & Binder
In the necropolis along the path from the Visitor Centre to the deep gorge of the Siq, one can see remarkably unusual burial sites, including some of Petra's oldest.
The early Petra monolithic funerary blocks at Ras Sulayman and Bab as-Siq.
In: Men on the Rocks. The Formation of Nabataean Petra
Proceedings of a conference held in Berlin, 2-4 December 2011
Michel Mouton, Stephan G. Schmid (ed.)
Logos Verlag Berlin, 2013
ISBN 978-3-8325-3313-7
pp. 135 - 162