Medieval Petra-Shawbak Project: archaeology of a Mediterranean Frontier

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Medieval Petra-Shawbak Project: archaeology of a Mediterranean Frontier Archaeological project of scientific research and international cooperation

Shawbak Castle is a historic fortified site that dominates nearby medieval settlements and represents the only exemple of a Crusader royal castle (1115-1189) re-founded as a Citadel for the Ayyubid capital city of South Jordan (1189-1260). The citadel is encircled by a complex and continuous defensive system of elliptical plan (175 x 90 m), with three curtain walls and jutting towers and ramparts,

dating from Crusader Mamluk ages (last interventions in 1297-98). The castle’s wall encloses many medieval monumental secular and ecclesiastical buildings, as well as medieval residential areas of remarkable dimensions (circa AD 1212) Recent research documented also upstanding structures of an earlier Roman fort of Limes Arabicus. Moreover medieval Arabic sources record a larger urban settlement located to the east of the castle, remains of which are preserved in ‘modern’ settlements of Jaya and Abu Maktoub. Located aproximately 25 km north of Petra, the archaeological-monumental area of Mons Regalis/Shawbak is one of the most impressive rural medieval settlements of Middle East and Mediterranean. It occupies a strategic position on top of a limestone hill within a very spectacular and highly preserved natural landscape. Shawbak castle and region are currently studied by the Italian Archaeological Mission of the University of Florence (Italy), in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities of Jordan

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La Missione archeologica italiana Petra ‘medievale’: archeologia dell’insediamento crociato-ayyubide in Transgiordania opera da trent’anni nella Giordania meridionale, con metodologie e tematiche innovative per l’archeologia del Vicino Oriente mediterraneo. Le indagini sono partite dalla valle di Petra, porta del deserto e del Mediterraneo − capitale del regno dei Nabatei a controllo della via dell’incenso, annessa all’impero di Roma da Traiano e abbandonata dopo le invasioni persiane e il crollo dell’antico limes arabicus −, incastellata in epoca crociata a cominciare dalla costruzione dei primi castelli per volere di re Baldovino I di Gerusalemme (al-Wu’ayra e al-Habis), per poi arrivare al castello di Shawbak, posto pochi chilometri più a nord, a controllo strategico delle vie carovaniere e vera ‘porta’ di accesso a Petra.

La Missione opera sotto la direzione della Cattedra di Archeologia Medievale dell’Università di Firenze, in collaborazione con il Department of Antiquities of Jordan.