The JIAAW Wreath

Wreath carved in a sandstone block — **Object: Petra 37**
JIAAW, Loan from the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

This wreath, which you may recognize as the logo for the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, was uncovered in 1998 during the Petra Great Temple Excavation in Petra, Jordan (1993-2008, directed by Martha Sharp Joukowsky). This limestone carving was found built upside down into a late Byzantine wall located between columns in the east side of the Great Temple’s Lower Temenos. There is evidence that this stonework was reused in the wall alongside a number of other reused and replastered architectural fragments from other sites. The wreath is a great example of a common phenomenon seen at archaeological sites: the reuse of materials and spaces over time. In fact, the Great Temple itself is a site that was reused and occupied by various groups, including but not limited to the Nabataeans and the Romans.

-Jinette Jimenez ’21, JIAAW Records and Collections Assistant

Learn more about objects from Petra currently at the Joukowsky Institute and the Petra Great Temple Excavation below.

Petra at the Joukowsky
The elephant capital outside Rhode Island HallPhoto taken by Rainey Zimmermann Welcome to the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, housed in Rhode Island Hall at Brown University. This building contains a large number of materials from the site of Petra, located in the Southern half of Jordan.

The Petra Great Temple | The Lower Temenos
In the Lower Temenos, large, white, hexagonal pavers were positioned above an extensive canalization system which has been traced from the Temple Forecourt under the Lower Temenos to the Wadi Musa. At the Southern end of the Lower Temenos, at one time, a central stairway led up to the Upper Temenos.

The Petra Great Temple | History
By 313 CE (AD), Christianity had become a state-recognized religion. In 330 CE, the Emperor Constantine established the Eastern Roman Empire with its capital at Constantinople. Although the 363 earthquake destroyed half of the city, it appears that Petra retained its urban vitality into late antiquity, when it was the seat of a Byzantine bishopric.