The Nabataean Rock Carving Technique in Petra

Abstract

This paper introduces the steps that the Nabataeans used to carve their simple, less elaborated façades and interiors of the caves in Petra. Because some of the façades and interiors of the caves were used as quarries, the quarrying system has to be examined also. This leads: 1) the inference of the different types and sizes of tools that the Nabataeans used, and 2) to the recording of the masons’ marks. Both tools and masons’ marks are discussed in separate chapters. These subjects are of great importance to the Nabateaen studies, hoewever they were hardly mentioned, much less previously examined in detail. To achieve the goal of the study of the carving technique and related subjects, two steps were followed: firstly, visiting Petra to examine the unfinished façades and interiors; secondly, searching in the available literature related to the above topics. My approach to the first was to conduct a survey of the whole site looking for and recoding the stages of carving. The cave’s number of each example, if known, is shown on the map. The surveys in 1990-91 and 1993-94 revealed interesting results forming the core of this dissertation and led to the discovery of the seven tooth chisel marks and the quarry evidence that shows how the blocks were extracted from the rocks. My concern is to present the Nabataean carving step by step from the very first chisel strike to the time when the deceased were buried in the loci, prepared for them, introducing the appropriate example for each step and describing the cutting technique, supported with photographs and drawings. Further information is included:- Time and labor, completing missing parts, arrangement and use of graves inside the chambers, the 45 degrees oblique lines that distinguishes the Nabataean chiseling and dressing from other ways of chiseling, and the use of plaster. I discuss the quarrying technique in detail and refer briefly to the stone transfer, the unique use of the stones in Qasr al-Bint Temple and the Urn Tomb staircase, the mortar used, the repairing of the broken pieces during their dressing, and give examples of quarries in neighboring countries. Finally, I provide an introduction to the study of the origins of the Nabataean carving technique, a subject that can only be elaborated when more detailed studies of earlier Iron Age carving techniques in the southern Levant are available.