Petra may be one of the world’s best-known archaeological and tourist sites, ... the Urn Tomb, the Palace Tomb and the Corinthian Tomb.

Mathematical study also revealed the astronomical plan for the Urn Tomb; ... Even today, Petra is hidden in the cliffs, reachable only through a thin split in the mountain known as the Siq.

Exactly 200 years ago this month, the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, ... The grandest row of tombs on the site are the so-called Royal Tombs, including the Urn Tomb.

When in 446 AD the Christian Bishop Jason converted the Urn Tomb into the Cathedral of Petra, the solsticial markers also served as a reference in determining Christmas Eve (24 December) and St ...

Add the Monastery at Petra to the monuments that humans probably built for astronomical purposes. New research suggests that ancient architects tracked the motion of the sun and constructed the ...

In the early 1800s, a Swiss explorer tricked his way into Petra, the ancient oasis whose location had been a closely guarded secret for centuries. Known as Ed Deir—the Monastery—this building ...

In AD446, Bishop Jason converted the Urn Tomb into the Cathedral of Petra, a Christian tomb, and the three markers were used to determine the dates of Christmas Eve and the birth of St John the ...

Scientists have found that the Monastery at Petra in Jordan was built to track the sun. ... Another significant structure, the Urn Tomb, has a main gate centered with the equinox sunset, ...