Monumental Forgotten Gardens of Petra Rediscovered After 2,000 Years
Cool fountains and a huge pool in mid-desert enabled by strikingly advanced stone-carved irrigation and water storage system.
Philippe Bohstrom Sep 25, 2016 12:39 PM
The monumental 2,000-year-old pool in Petra, a waste of water that was a sign of sheer power in the desert.Leigh-Ann Bedal
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Recent excavations at Petra have revealed a startlingly advanced irrigation system and water storage system that enabled the desert city's people to survive – and to maintain a magnificent garden featuring fountains, ponds and a huge swimming pool. The engineering feats and other luxuries attest to the ancient Nabatean capital's former splendor and wealth some 2,000 years ago.
Petra is perhaps best known for its sandstone canyon that leads directly to Al Khazneh, The Treasury, seen in the climax to "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" where the hero archaeologists, played by Harrison Ford and Sean Connery, ride out of the canyon and into the Treasury in their quest for the Holy Grail.
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http://www.haaretz.com/jewish/archaeology/1.744119