PRESS RELEASE 10.12.2008

The Finnish Jabal Haroun Project (FJHP) announces the appearance of the first volume in its final publication series:

Zbigniew T. Fiema and Jaakko Frösén. PETRA - THE MOUNTAIN OF AARON. Volume I. The Church and the Chapel. 446 pp, numerous plans and b&w illustrations, 69 color illustrations. ISBN 978-951-653-364-6. Societas Scientiarum Fennica. Helsinki. 2008. 125 €

The FJHP is a multidisciplinary, scholarly investigation at Jabal Haroun (the Mountain of the Prophet Aaron) located near the ancient Nabataean city of Petra in southern Jordan. According to Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions, the mountain is considered to be a burial place of Aaron, Moses’s brother. Between 1997 and 2007, the FJHP was involved in the archaeological excavation of a large architectural complex located at the high plateau of the mountain and in a survey of the environs of the site. The excavated site spans the time from the Nabataean, through the Byzantine, until the Early Islamic periods (1st century B.C./A.D – 9th/11th century A.D.). Initially the site was occupied by a Nabataean sanctuary. In the later 5th century, a Christian basilica, a chapel, several monastic structures and a hostel quarter were built at the site. Apparently, one of the religious phenomena associated with the rise of Early Christianity in the Near East - the transformation of a pagan cultic place into a sacred, Biblical location - had taken place at Jabal Haroun. The Byzantine monastic center had a memorial character clearly associated with pilgrimages. The church was richly decorated with marble furnishings, and floor and wall mosaics. The ecclesiastical occupation of the church ended by the late 8th century and the chapel by the 9th but other structures were probably still in use by the Crusader period.

The FJHP was carried out within the framework of the Research Centre "Ancient and Medieval Greek Documents, Archives and Libraries," under the direction of Prof. Jaakko Frösén, University of Helsinki, being a part of the "Centres of Excellence in Research" program of the Academy of Finland. Among the major sponsors of the project are the Academy of Finland, the University of Helsinki, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, and the Rita Kuusakoski-Peltonen and Jari Peltonen Foundation. The project was assisted by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Many FJHP members received support from the Finnish private foundations. While the main goal of the project is the scholarly investigation of the extant remains at Jabal Haroun, the FJHP is also strongly dedicated to the training of new cadres of Finnish classical and Near Eastern archaeologists.

This volume specifically concerns the two most significant and impressive structures at the site – the church and the chapel - and it well reflects the interdisciplinary and international character of the FJHP. Among the 32 contributors to this volume - both scholars and students - are archaeologists, historians, epigraphers, conservators and natural scientists from Finland, Sweden, the United States, France, Italy, Jordan, Switzerland, and Great Britain. The 16 chapters of the volume present a wide range of subjects related to the history and archaeology of the site and its main structures, including the historical sources and interpretation, stratigraphy, architecture, art historical studies, and the analyses of ceramics, glass, roof tiles, metal objects, inscriptions, and wall plaster. The latest fieldwork documentation techniques are presented by the cartographers from the Helsinki University of Technology.

The results of the FJHP investigations stress the importance of the Jabal Haroun site in the context of the history of Petra and Jordan. This site, so significant for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as well as for the Nabataean history and religion, existed, probably without major interruption, for almost 1000 years and it produced a wealth of archaeological data and material culture remains

The second and third volumes of the FHP publication series which will concern the Nabataean cultic center and the Byzantine monastery as well as the FJHP survey results will appear within the next two-three years.

Prof. Jaakko Frösén Dr. Zbigniew T. Fiema

The FJHP Director The FJHP Chief Archaeologist

Dept. of Classics The Academy of Finland Research Fellow

PL 4, Kluuvikatu 7 c/o Dept. of Classics

FI-00014 University of Helsinki P.O.B 4, Kluuvikatu 7

jaakko.frosen@helsinki.fi FI-00014 University of Helsinki

zbigniew.fiema@helsinki.fi

Distributed by

Tiedekirja

Kirkkokatu 14, FI-0017 Helsinki

<tiedekirja@tsv.fi>