The Finnish Jabal Harun Project (FJHP) survey, supervised by professor Mika Lavento, University of Helsinki, is an integral part of the Finnish Jabal Harun Project directed by professor Jaakko Frösén. The final field season of the survey was carried out in 2005. This year the surveyed area was extended beyond the immediate surroundings of Jabal Harun as far as the Snake Monument towards Petra, and to Tulul Muthaylua in the direction of Wadi Sabra. During this season the survey had three objectives. First, to conclude the intensive survey of the Jabal Harun area. Second, to carry out an extensive survey of the adjacent areas towards Wadi Sabra and towards Petra itself, recording both new and previously known archaeological sites, in order to enhance our understanding of the relationship between the Jabal Harun area and its surroundings. The third objective was to follow ancient routes crossing the Jabal Harun area, one leading from Petra towards Abu Khushayba in the southwest and another going towards the west and north, toUmm Ratam, and to record the structures and sites related to these routes. In addition, geoarchaeological studies and research for flint material provenance were carried out.  

The intensive survey carried out this season concentrated on two areas located to the northwest and northeast of Jabal Harun. The areas were divided into twelve tracts, which were surveyed by 4-6 people walking in a line and collecting all detected finds. Structures and sites found were documented and mapped by total station. Altogether eight sites were recorded in these two areas, raising the total number of sites recorded in the Jabal Harun area between 1998-2005 to 189. Five of these new sites are agricultural installations consisting of barrage dams and terrace walls. The other sites are a threshing floor, a stepped road structure, and a lithic concentration, which has a late prehistoric character. The background pottery scatter was predominantly Nabataean-Roman, as during the earlier seasons.

The extensive survey covered the area up to Tulul Mutheilya and Wadi al-Bitahi in the south and to the Snake Monument in the direction of Petra, as well as the immediate vicinity of the ancient routes. The locations of the sites found were determined using hand-held GPS and the sites were documented with short written descriptions and digital photography. Small samples of lithics and diagnostic pottery sherds were collected to be studied later to enable the dating of the sites. The field observations will be complemented during the winter 2005-2006 using aerial photographs to be provided by Bob Bewley. A total of 171 sites, including both newly detected and previously known sites, were recorded during the extensive survey work. The types of sites included petroglyphs, a few concentrations of flint material, several Nabataean cisterns and rock-carved water channels, Nabataean cultic installations, tombs and rock-cut graves as well as stone-lined grave pits dug in the earth, several remains of buildings from small one- or two-roomed ones to multi-roomed structures with a courtyard, and small, structureless stone heaps associated with Nabataean pottery. In addition, numerous terrace walls and wadi barrages were noted in the surveyed areas and will be mapped later from the aerial photographs. Many of the recorded small Nabataean-Roman sites were damaged by illicit excavation. The state of these sites indicates that it is problematic to preserve the archaeological heritage in the more far-flung areas of the Petra Archaeological Park.    

The combined results of the intensive and extensive survey work indicate that during the Nabataean and Roman periods, the Jabal Harun area had a different, more peripheral character as compared to the adjacent areas towards Petra and Wadi Sabra. The use of the Jabal Harun area was mainly agricultural, and according to a preliminary comparison of the find material, the period of settlement in the area seems to have been shorter and ended earlier than in the other areas. On the other hand, the abundancy of Middle Palaeolithic material in the Jabal Harun area is striking compared to the extensively surveyed areas. Some reasons for these differences can be proposed, such as topography and the availability of flint raw material and water, but a detailed analysis is needed to better understand the emerging settlement and land use patterns during different periods.