Endless Stairs

[AlanLichty]

One of the things that took a while to get used to was how extensive the Nabataeans' stone carving actually was. The best example I saw was with stairs carved into the hills/bluffs/cliffs/etc. They were almost everywhere you went. Some led to the tomb facades but others were located at considerable distances from anything like that. The Nabataeans had incredibly extensive water retention systems that channeled almost every drop of rain that fell in the area. Every hilltop for several miles around the city center has channels carved along the faces to channel the water into large caverns carved out under the cliffs. For all of those water projects there are stairs to facilitate access. The end result was that you could count on finding Nabataean stairs to get you absolutely anywhere in the Petra basin including quite a few box canyons without visible trails.

These examples are in Siq al-Barid (AKA Little Petra) between Petra and the neolithic site at Beidha.

More Stairs

• AlanLichty
• Feb 14, 2018

Nabataean stairs in Petra.

I have always referred to this set as the Stairway to Nowhere.

Stairway To Nowhere

• AlanLichty
• Feb 14, 2018

Petra, Jordan.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wow , those stairs in the first image appear to start at an inaccessible location. I wonder if it started with a wooden ladder when it was in use?

 

[AlanLichty]

A perfectly excellent question - and no clues to help answer it

There might have been more stone present on that outcrop when the stairs were first carved out. You can see quite a bit of rock was removed from the front of the outcrop at some point but no ornate facades accompany the efforts.

 

[BarryHamilton]

Really cool stuff, Alan. You worked that site very nicely!

 

[JimFox]

How interesting Alan! Those stairs are so cool, and you demonstrate how extensive they are with the first shot. That would have been so cool to walk up those stairs.

 

[AlanLichty]

The Nabataean stairs are quite handy and we used them all the time. There are probably several miles of stairs scattered around the Petra basin.

 

[Mike Mancil]

Good stuff! I'm really enjoying both the images and the summaries in this series.