Today we will be talking about The Treasury, one of the largest and most elaborate in Petra and thought to be the mausoleum of the Nabatean King Aretas IV of the 1st century AD, when Petra was a city state of the Roman Empire.

But how was The Treasury even carved in the first place? The iron and steel tools of the day would have had no problem cutting the sandstone and the interiors can be explained with conventional methods, but it’s the outward facing façade, it’s huge size on a sheer, almost vertical rock face that puzzles so many people.

It was certainly cut with convention tools as we can still see the clear tools marks, showing the chiselling techniques of the day, but the problem is really just access, because it’s such a tall structure.

In this video we will look to tackle the subject of just how the Treasury at Petra was carved as we look to unravel this age-old mystery of the ancient world.