2012 Season Preview

GARP Season 7 begins in a couple of weeks, with the main party arriving in Jordan late on November 4th.

Project Background for new readers

The Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP) is planned as a ten-year project to investigate First World War archaeology in Jordan and develop new heritage sites for visitors. In contrast to the Western Front, where considerable fieldwork has taken place, First World War remains in Jordan have never been systematically investigated. These remains have particular interest for four reasons:

• they are associated with the exploits and legend of Lawrence of Arabia, an iconic historical and cultural figure in the English-speaking world
• they represent a struggle that was central to the creation of the states and conflicts of the modern Middle East
• they represent the archaeological imprint of a distinctive type of irregular or guerrilla warfare which has been of huge historical importance over the last 90 years
• they offer a range of military landscapes, sites and artefact assemblages, and a range of memories, associations and modern significances, which contrast with the more familiar archaeology, commemoration and tourism of the Western Front

Our aim, working closely with Jordanian colleagues and local communities, is to catalogue the  visible remains (buildings and earthworks), to carry out surveys and trial excavations at a representative sample of sites, to record oral histories and folk memories, and to develop one or more sites for effective public presentation.

The 2012 fieldwork season

The areas we wish to study this season, if permissions are given, are as follows:

Wadi Rutm Fort and Mudawarra

Though plans can change due to circumstances, our current intention for the 2012 season is to focus our work on two main sites. We will return to Wadi Rutm in order to investigate the hilltop fort and associated complex which lies at the top of the ridge to the east of Wadi Rutm station. This location has commanding views to the west, south, and east, and was clearly central to effective control over the entire stretch of landscape from the Batn Al-Ghoul escarpment in the north to Tell Shahm in the sand desert to the south.

We will also investigate Mudawarra, an extensive complex comprising three large hilltop forts and a reused Early Ottoman fort and associated buildings. Mudawarra was (and is) a major oasis and agricultural settlement on the traditional Hajj routeway through the sand desert, and was heavily militarised during the Great Arab Revolt.  

You can follow our work this season by checking the blog each day. For automatic updates please become a regular follower by clicking on the  Join this site  button the right of this message. (You don't need a Google account to do this). Also please share our progress by tweeting or posting to your Facebook timeline - we love getting new people interested in our project. You can use the links on the right to visit the main GARP website or travel back through previous exciting discoveries recounted in the blogs of earlier seasons.