Overview
Beidha includes two distinct sites. A Nabatean settlement in the Siq al-Barid ("Little Petra"), and a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B village to the south. Located just 4.5 kilometers north of Petra, the Nabatean settlement is essentially a suburb of Nabatean Petra.
The Neolithic village was discovered by Diana Kirkbride in 1956 and excavated by her for eight seasons between 1958 and 1967, and in 1983. She discovered three distinct periods of inhabitation: Natufian occupation during the eleventh millennium BCE, a PPNB village dating to the seventh millennium BCE, and finally, terraced agricultural fields used by the Nabateans from the second century BCE through the first century CE. All the remains visible at the site today belong to the Neolithic period.
The village comprises a low tell (mound) with three main phases of construction in a deposit some three meters thick. A few outlying buildings were found in another shallow deposit nearby. The collection of 65 buildings spread over some 1425 square meters reveals the typological development from clusters of round houses to rectangular pier houses, some with two stories. The smallest buildings of the settlement average about four square meters; the largest range in size from 28 square meters to 105 square meters. Most of the buildings appear to be domestic structures, but a few of the larger buildings are centrally located, suggesting a communal function. The architectural transition from circular and sub-rectangular homes to the rectangular corridor and pier houses occurring over many centuries is easily seen. All in all, the site offers a textbook opportunity for studying PPNB social organization over time.
The archaeological strata uncovered at the site, as illustrated in the site plan, date to the following periods:
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Prepottery Neolithic B, Phase C2 (Level II) |
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Prepottery Neolithic B, Phase C1 (Level II/III) |
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Prepottery Neolithic B, Phase B (Level IV) |
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Prepottery Neolithic B, Phase A2 (Level V) |
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Prepottery Neolithic B, Phase A1 (Level VI) |
The Nabatean suburb of Petra is early Roman and unmarked.
