Main party leaves tomorrow.

The advance party travelled yesterday and are now happily enjoying the Edom Hotel in Wadi Musa, where they are busily sorting out the huge array of things needed for the smooth running of the Project this year. Huge thanks to them for all the hard work.

More details of our planned Fieldwork this season:


The 2011 fieldwork season

The Road to Aqaba

This season, we plan to begin the second phase of the Great Arab Revolt Project.

Having explored the militarised landscapes along the Hijaz Railway between Ma’an and Mudawarra during the first five years, we now plan to explore the road between Ma’an and Aqaba. This routeway was heavily contested between June 1917 and September 1918. Regular Hashemite and British forces played a larger role here, so that the conflict combined both conventional and guerrilla elements. We wish to contrast the archaeological imprint here with that already investigated on the railway.

We hope also to initiate a major oral history project in this more heavily settled region.

Abu al Lissan: fortifications and battle site

Known from historical sources, including Seven Pillars of Wisdom, as the site of a major battle between Hashemite and Ottoman forces, we wish to carry out a preliminary reconnaissance of the battle site and assess its potential for future work.

We also wish to explore forts and other military features, once part of the defences guarding the road through the mountain pass near the village. We hope to involve the local community in this work, and we hope that the community will become a source of oral-history data.

The Line from Ma’an to Mudaawra
The survey team will be returning to some of the sites between Ma’an and Mudaawra that were worked on earlier in order to complete some data  collection.


And to give you a flavour of past seasons, here are a few images taken between 2007 and 2010: (click for bigger views)

Hopefully we will have many new discoveries this seasons adding to the emerging understanding of this conflict. Please check back often for updates, or, better still - follow us by clicking the button on the right hand side. Many thanks.