5 November 2026
The 2024 excavation of tomb 62c, underneath the Treasury, was a special collaboration between Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, the Petra Development & Tourism Region Authority, and ACOR. Started at the request of the Jordanian government, the project had multiple purposes: 1) to gather data essential to the conservation and preservation of Petra’s archaeological heritage; 2) to investigate the landscape surrounding the Treasury (Al-Khazneh) through geophysical analysis; 3) to refine the date of the Treasury’s construction; and 4) to learn more about the use of the tombs below the Treasury.
The project was conducted in two parts. First, in February 2024, Prof. C. Richard Bates of the University of St. Andrews (UK) surveyed through non-invasive means. Using electromagnetic conductivity and ground penetrating radar, Bates assessed the condition of the areas around the Treasury, its courtyard, the exit of the Siq, and the wadi to which they all feed in advance of potential work to divert and control flood waters, thus improving the tourist experience. The findings produced high-quality data and identified several possible cultural features, the most interesting of which may be another row of ancient structures under the Treasury’s façade and courtyard. In summer of 2024, excavations were conducted to evaluate the veracity of the remote-sensing data and to collect scientific samples that had not generally been possible during the earlier 2003 and 2005 excavations (Farajat and Nawafleh 2003; 2025). The 2005 excavation was unpublished at the time of the 2024 work and its records were unavailable. Subsequent analysis of the material culture found in 2024 has tentatively refined the date of the Treasury’s construction to the first decade of Aretas IV’s reign (ca. 9–1 BCE). The team is now publishing the results of geophysical survey and the excavation.
Articles:
Farajat, S., and S. Nawafleh. 2005. “Report on the Al-Khazneh Courtyard Excavations at Petra (2003 Season).” Annual of the Department of Antiquities 49: 373–393.
Farajat, S., and S. Nawafleh. 2025. “The Excavations of the Al-Khazna Courtyard in Petra, Jordan Second Season 2005.” Jordan Journal for History and Archaeology 19.1 (March): 197–237.
Wenner, S., F. Saadeh, M. Vincent, and P. P. Creasman. 2026. “An Appendix for ‘A Refined Date for the Khazneh Based on Finds from the Excavation of Tomb 62C.'” (Download)