2 Old Ruins to Explore in Ma'an Governorate
Checkout places to visit in Ma'an Governorate
The largest governate in Jordan by area. Evidence for human settlement in Ma'an Governorate dates back to at least 7000 BC, when the Neolithic village of Basta was founded. Basta was one of the first settlements in the world to have agriculture and domesticated livestock.
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Old Ruins to Explore in Ma'an Governorate
A much smaller version of the grand Petra, consisting of three wider open areas connected by a 450-metre (1,480 ft) canyon. Like Petra, it is a Nabataean site, with buildings carved into the walls of the sandstone canyons. While the purpose of some of the buildings is not clear, archaeologists believe that the whole complex was a suburb of Petra, the Nabatean capital, meant to house visiting traders on the Silk Road.
A crusader castle perched on the side of a rocky, conical mountain. It was built in 1115 by Baldwin I of Jerusalem during his expedition to the area where he captured Aqaba on the Red Sea in 1116. The castle was strategically important as it dominated the main passage from Egypt to Syria. This allowed who ever to hold the castle to tax not only traders, both those who were on pilgrimages to Mecca and Medina.