Sanctuaries, taxation and caravans: Wadi Sabra, a satellite hamlet of Petra (original) (raw)

Several questions have remained unanswered in scholarship about the interpretation of Wadi Sabra, a satellite hamlet situated 6.5 km south of Petra’s city centre, not least because of the lack of substantial fieldwork undertaken there. In 2014, the Belgian and French archaeological missions to Petra together made the first general map of the site at a scale of 1:50, which subsequently allowed a new understanding and interpretation of its various archaeological features. A second temple, associated with the precinct that was partially studied by J.P. Zeitler in 1992, was discovered and surveyed, together with its temenos, a bath complex and crypto-porticoes. Dwellings developed on a hill to the west of this precinct from the Nabataean to Late Roman periods, and an enigmatic isolated building has been tentatively identified as a caravanserai. The site, which is accessed from the Wadi Arabah via Wadi Sabra and lies besides springs at the bottom of Ras Sabra, was an obligatory transshipment stop for the caravans. It is therefore proposed that there is a correlation between the storage facilities of the sanctuary and the likely existence of a royal or municipal taxation of the caravans destined for Petra, as explained by Pliny the Elder for Southern Arabia. This interpretation, which could also be applied to at least another major peripheral temple in the greater Petra area, can contribute to our understanding of the presence of a major rock-cut theatre at Sabra. This theatre has remained largely unexplained and can be consequently justified by the organization of religious and commercial feasts. This paper will present and discuss these new findings and hypotheses, subsequently shedding light on Petra’s hinterland and the organization of Nabataean trade.