ERIC WESTERVELT, HOST:
It's been hailed as a stunning discovery. A team of archaeologists have unearthed a hidden tomb in Jordan's ancient city of Petra. Researchers found the tomb in the UNESCO World Heritage site under the treasury, a massive building carved into the pink sandstone around 2,000 years ago. Fans of Indiana Jones might remember it as the fictional resting place of the Holy Grail. Professor Richard Bates is a geophysicist from St. Andrews University in Scotland, and he was part of the search. Richard, welcome to the program.
RICHARD BATES: It's very nice to be with you.
WESTERVELT: What exactly did you find in the tomb?
BATES: So the tomb actually contains about 12 skeletons. We think they are ranging in age between children and adults. And at this stage of the project, we don't actually know the sex of them because until you exume them and do much more further analysis, that's the time that you would be able to discern that.
WESTERVELT: We don't know who they are and their significance, per se?
BATES: Not really. I mean, we do know something more than just sort of saying there's a bunch of skeletons in the tomb there. And that's because we were able to take samples from around the skeletons of the sediment. And so we can date those. And the preliminary dates we've got back put it at about 100 B.C. to about 100 A.D.
WESTERVELT: Explain to us, if you will, Richard, how you found the tomb.
BATES: I use remote sensing, geophysical techniques, to look into the earth at things that you can't see from the surface. In this case, ground-penetrating radar - and I'm recording that and interpreting it to get a picture of what you cannot see with your own eyes.
WESTERVELT: And that came back with some startling discoveries that you said, we need to unearth this. We need to go in.
BATES: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, the first stage was that that showed me there was a big void down there. And so, you know, once we'd mapped that out, then we could start to say, sort of X marks the spot for the diggers.
WESTERVELT: Petra was the capital of the Nabataean people around 2,000 years ago. They're a bit of a mystery. They were a nomadic people, but what else do we know about this ancient civilization and the significance of Petra in their civilization?
BATES: That's the really bizarre thing here because, of course, Petra - as you say, for a nomadic people, this was a settlement, and they were building in stone, but carving these stone mausoleums as they've been regarded. But even that - you know, us saying, well, they're carving a mausoleum - the problem we have is that very little evidence of their - if you want - daily lives, their societal structures, etc., exists. And some of that's because, of course, the Romans came in very soon afterwards. And often as is the case with when Rome moves in, they don't completely obliterate what came before, but they do do a pretty good job of having them and their mark as being what should be remembered. We've only ever uncovered places which have got fragments, not complete skeletons. So what's been discovered here - it's already showing us a view into the life and, of course, the death and the ritual practices of that time right at the heart of that kingdom.
WESTERVELT: So you think there's more to find in and around Petra that will deepen our understanding of this civilization?
BATES: Oh, absolutely. I mean, the geophysics that we've done today has tantalized in hints that there are more of these buried situations in different places in Petra. And the deeper we go, the more likelihood is that they are like this, too, with remains in them and relatively undisturbed.
WESTERVELT: That's Professor Richard Bates of St. Andrews University in Scotland. Professor Bates, thanks for joining us.
BATES: No, thank you. It's been my pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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