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Jordan Tours

Scholar Calls for Systematic Awareness Programmes to Preserve Heritage

 AMMAN — International agreements to protect and promote intangible cultural heritage (ICH) have only recently become an incentive for Jordan, according to a Jordanian expert.

Nabataean Cultivation

Inscriptions Offer Clues to Nabataeans’ Social, Political Relations

 AMMAN — Ancient inscriptions found in the Eastern Desert reveal relations between Nabateans and bedouin tribes and depict daily life as well as major political events, wars and revolts, said a Jordanian scholar.

Karak Castle

Mamluk Sultans Sent Sons to Karak Castle to ‘Toughen them up’

 AMMAN — In the Mamluk period, some of the most politically dangerous persons went to Karak Castle, said an American scholar.

Azraq

Excavations Put Spotlight on Ancient Human Settlements in Azraq

 AMMAN — The Azraq region appears to have been a magnet for human settlement in the Epipalaeolithic period, which dates back 20,000 to 10,000 years.

Best of Petra

Petra Records 30 per Cent Rise in Visitors in First Eight Months of 2019

 AMMAN — A total of 657,918 tourists of various nationalities have visited Petra in the first eight months of 2019, compared with 507,299 visitors during the same period of 2018, marking a 30 per cent increase.

Natufian Diet

Remnants of Ancient Bread Give Clues to Natufian Diet

 AMMAN — The remnants of 14,000-year-old bread were found at an archaeological site called Shubayqa 1 site in north-eastern Jordan.

Khirbet Jazzir

Scholar Refutes Tentative Identification of Khirbet Jazzir with Biblical Site

 AMMAN — Khirbet Jazzir, some four kilometres southwest from Salt, was mentioned in scholarly literature as biblical site Jazer, according to a German archaeologist.

Jordan Discoveries

Researchers Seek to Decipher Ancient Moabite Inscriptions

 AMMAN — An inscription known as Mesha Stele or Mesha Inscription indicates that in the ancient town of Altaruz, located some 30 kilometres southwest of Madaba, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, was worshipped.

Jordanian scholar Delves into Time Measurement in Ancient Agrarian Societies

 AMMAN — Time has always preoccupied humans, and in order to organise daily life, ancient civilisations constructed different devices to measure time, said a Jordanian scholar.

Best of Petra

Jordan Sees 8.6 Per Cent rise in Tourism Revenue

 AMMAN — The Kingdom’s tourism revenue in the first seven months of 2019 went up by 8.6 per cent to $3.2 billion, compared with the January-July period of 2018 that registered $2.95 billion, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) announced on Wednesday.

Moab

Mudayna Excavations Point to Moab’s ‘Complex’ Regional Relations

 AMMAN — Iron Age imports from Egypt, Cyprus, Phoenicia, Syria and Assyria indicate complex economic and political relations between Moab and the major powers in the region, according to a Canadian scholar.

Madaba City Tours and Churches Tour

Iron Age Temple Ruins near Madaba Shed Light on Ancient Cult Practices

 AMMAN — Khirbet Ataruz, located around 30 kilometres southwest of Madaba, represented an early Iron Age II temple with two building phases, according to a US archaeologist.

Amman Airport

RJ Sees First-Half Profits Rise

 AMMAN — For the first time since 2007, Royal Jordanian (RJ) registered JD3.4 million profit from continuing operations in the first half of 2019 against JD11.1 million loss for the same period in 2018 and a net profit of JD1.5 million, according to RJ CEO Stefan Pichler.

Islamic Architecture

Scholar Delves into Intricacies of Early Islamic Architecture near Karak

 AMMAN — An intricate mosaic medallion and marble capitals unearthed in a building in Shuqayra Al Gharbiyya, near Karak, speak to the wealth of the building’s original inhabitants, a Jordanian scholar recently told The Jordan Times.

Ancient Nabataeans

Ancient Nabataeans Were Using Roman Technology a Century before Occupation

 AMMAN — The early adaption of an ancient heating system by the Nabataeans point to an outward-facing society, according to a Canadian archaeologist.

Byzantine-Era

Researcher Says Byzantine-Era Artisans ‘Less Skilful’ than Predecessors

 AMMAN — Jordan has an abundance of sites filled with Roman wall paintings adorning temples and necropolises, but paintings from later periods are often only found in fragments, according to a Polish conservator.

Jerash Festival

34th Jerash Festival Opens

 AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Thursday inaugurated the 34th Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Jordan Reserves

Rare Nocturnal Bird Spotted Nesting in Fifa Reserve

 AMMAN — A Nubian Nightjar bird was spotted late last month nesting for the first time in Fifa Nature Reserve (FNR), the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) said on Wednesday.

Jordan s Festival

Bint Bladi Expo Celebrates Entrepreneurial Women

 AMMAN — Deputising for Her Majesty Queen Rania, Minister of Social Development Basma Ishaqat on Wednesday inaugurated the Bint Bladi Expo in support of productive Jordanian women.

Jordan tourism

Tourism Sees Uptick in First Half of 2019

 AMMAN — Tourism revenues have increased by 8.3 per cent during the first half of this year, reaching $2.6 billion (some JD1.9 billion) compared with $2.4 billion registered in the same period last year, according to preliminary data released by the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) on Monday.

Best of Petra

Conference Sheds Light on 10 Years of Excavations at Petra Church, Temple of Winged Lions

 AMMAN — Excavations take time, money, planning, cooperation, conservation and publishing, said Director of the American Centre of Oriental Research (ACOR) Barbara Porter at a presentation on the Petra Church and the Temple of the Winged Lions on Monday.