Unlike the research in Mesopotamia, and that in Palestine and Israel, the archaeology of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was late to start. It does not have the famous cities mentioned in the Bible or the rich depositories of cuneiform tablets that attracted nineteenth-century scholars to the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris and to the area west of the river Jordan. And in spite of the fact that it is part of the “Holy Land,” it did not play a major role in what was known as “biblical archaeology.” Jordan, however, has its own treasures, the rose-red city of Petra and the majestic ruins of Jerash among them, which have drawn scholars over time, and its heritage and the scholars studying it have now a firm place in the archaeology of the region. Van der Steen's overview of the history of archaeological research in Jordan tells the story...
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