The Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority recently announced that they will be initiating new excavations at Petra in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities in Jordan. The goal of the project is to unearth the front courtyard of the Treasury in order to understand the architectural elements of the lower part of the structure. Scholars also hope to follow-up on some work from 2003 that discovered some tombs and facades below the treasury, as well as uncover more of the water system the ancient Nabataeans used. There was no word on the exact timing of the excavations in the announcement. In Scripture, Petra may have been where the magi obtained the frankincense they gave as a gift to Jesus, since the Nabataeans held a monopoly on the frankincense trade at that time. The Nabataean king, Aretas, is also mentioned in 1 Cor. 11:32.
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