PROVO -- Archaeologist David Johnson sees faces.

Faces in rock. Faces in bone. Faces in plaster. Faces in pottery shards.

Tiny faces by the hundreds.

Last summer, the Brigham Young University researcher unearthed an array of human images carved into debris from Petra, Jordan. The items were sprinkled among human remains in rock-cut graves dating back to about AD 90. The tan sandstone tomb contained four graves, each housing multiple individuals.

"For a while there, I thought I was crazy," Johnson explained as he held a Petra piece in his cluttered BYU office a few weeks ago. "I was just seeing things."

Other experts are still a little blurry. Johnson's findings contradict what has been established about the people who built the tombs, known as the Nabateans. Many in the field believe Nabateans were forbidden from creating human images at all, let alone hundreds of them.

At first glance, the artifacts looked like bits of junk tossed into burial plots -- rocks, bone fragments, broken pottery.

"It's like they went to the city dump to get all of this stuff," he said.

During Johnson's last Petra visit, he happened to examine a lumpy piece of plaster. He suddenly saw faces peering back at him. Could the lumps just happen to resemble human images?

Johnson pulled out piece after piece from Tomb E, Tomb Complex 10. Intricately carved visages became visible on all items. The pattern appears too organized to have occurred naturally, he says.

Some artifacts carry multiple mugs -- full faces, profiles and other views. Mercury, messenger of the gods, turns up on a lump of bronze. A male figure with a finger touched to his mouth, possibly the Egyptian sun deity Horus the Child, appears on other fragments.

To the first-time viewer, the faces simply appear to be natural bumps and juts found on a typical rock. But when an observer learns what to look for, some of the faces come into focus.

"Every time I look at these, I find a few faces," he said as he picked out a trio of new faces on a piece of brown chart he held up to a fluorescent ceiling light.

David Graf, a historian at the University of Miami, Fla., examined some of Johnson's findings briefly. In several cases, human images were discernible.

"I had a hard time always visualizing what he was talking about," said Graf, who attended a talk Johnson presented on his early research last year at the American Schools of Oriental Research conference in Colorado.

Natural Phenomena? Cynthia Finlayson, an art history professor at BYU, has seen the faces too. But she is not yet convinced that every artifact pulled from the Petra graves has tiny carvings. Perhaps some people find faces in stone the way some see rabbits or elephants in the clouds.

"There are obvious items that have been tooled, or worked," said Finlayson, who has examined some of the items brought back to Provo. "Then there are others that someone else could look at and think it is natural wear."

The Nabateans who may have churned out this work were part of a nomadic group that eventually settled in Petra. Compared to other ancient groups, the Nabateans are not one of history's most well chronicled groups.

The ancient society broke into recorded history with a passing mention in a document from around 330 B.C. Petra began to resemble a city toward the end of the second century B.C. Nabateans profited from Arabian gold, spice and exotic animal trade routes which crossed their land.

At its peak, the Nabatean city of Petra was home to 30,000. The elaborately-carved public buildings still visible today began to spring up at the start of the first century A.D. Several Nabatean kings ruled the land until the Roman Empire took over Petra in 106 B.C.

Petra's last historical mention, before fading into obscurity, occurred in 1276 as the Crusades swept through the area. Swiss explorer John Burckhardt "rediscovered" the sandstone city in 1812.

When Theories Collide: Graf, the University of Miami scholar, says much of the field leans toward the theory that the Nabateans did not carve faces. Johnson's findings stand as the latest challenge to this notion.

Joseph Patrich, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa, Israel, wrote a book on the topic: The Formation of Nabatean Art: Prohibition of a Graven Image Among the Nabatean. The author noted that the human form never was found in any of the group's art. Other texts tout similar ideas.

BYU researchers turned up 150 plaster chunks, 200 pottery pieces and more than 1,000 stones all carrying what could be sculpted human faces. Many faces may represent gods borrowed from other Middle Eastern religions. The Egyptian cult of Isis, which includes Horus, is a common theme.

Graf said it would be close-minded to think that there was not a single Nabatean producing art with faces. The researcher adds that while he is not convinced of the existing theory, he is not ready to jump on the Johnson boat just yet. While Graf saw some faces, there were other less clear examples. Graf said he is willing to give Johnson the benefit of the doubt, though better photographs might more distinctly illustrate the findings.

Johnson says he plans to publish results from the BYU-funded study in a research journal. Finlayson, the BYU art historian, cautioned that more work is needed before researchers can draw any definitive conclusions. The Near East art expert and registered professional archaeologist will join Johnson in Petra this summer for the next dig.

"There are enough items that are definitely tooled or have been worked that I think David has justified reasons to go back," she said.

Johnson and company will revisit Petra on June 25. The team will tackle the only untouched grave in Tomb E. Crew members last summer preserved one grave for future study.

"It's got some exciting potential, but we have to be careful we're interpreting the evidence correctly," Finlayson said.

The BYU team plans an exhaustive examination of the final 3-foot-by-6-foot grave. Workers will map the exact location and orientation of each item.

Finlayson said if the artifacts are found in groupings with each body, it will strengthen the burial ceremony theory.

A looming question is what purpose the faces served. Evidence exists that the Egyptians engaged in a similar practice with semi-precious stones, Johnson noted.

"They were probably magical charms," he speculated of the Nabatean artifacts. "In the afterlife, you needed them to protect yourself from evil spirits."

Arabic Nickname: Johnson spent his first Petra summer washing pottery as a University of Utah grad student in 1977. Finlayson was also a grad student on the project that year, though her career took her elsewhere. Johnson gradually rose through the ranks and now runs his own Petra expeditions.

Over the years, locals have come to recognize Johnson. Many greet him as "Dr. Abu Daoud," which translates from Arabic to Dr. Father of David, the name of his son. This title is considered a sign of respect in the Arab world.

He also earned another nickname while working near snake eggs as he snacked on candy-coated almonds. Witnesses thought he was eating snake eggs, which resembled Johnson's almonds. Some began calling him "Dr. Abu Dud," which literally translates to Dr. Father of Worms. The name, which alludes to the snakes, is an Arabic play on words of his other title.

Notoriety comes with a price as he travels through the area.

"Many times, the taxi driver turns out to be somebody I worked with," he said. "Some of them I've fired several times, which worries me a little."

Area cab drivers keep busy with sightseers that flock to the region. Petra is considered Jordan's top tourist draw.

Petra's Treasury is recognizable even to many who have never set foot in Jordan. The structure carved into a vertical sandstone rock face was featured in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" as the Holy Grail's hiding place. To reach the Treasury, or "el Khazneh," visitors must first trek through a winding, narrow gorge called the Siq.

Suburban Archaeology: In Petra, archaeological work in the area has focused mainly on the spectacular municipal buildings and religious structures. Johnson now has set his sights on other locations to form a more well-rounded picture of the Nabateans.

Past work at Petra would be similar to investigating Salt Lake City by digging only at Temple Square.

"We're focusing on the suburban areas of Petra; a middle class, lower class area," he said.

Michael Chazan -- an archaeologist from the University of Toronto -- is involved in a project near Johnson's work area. Chazan is focuses on an earlier group, the Natufians.

These people were moving from a hunting and gathering lifestyle to an agricultural society.

"We're separated by 200 meters and 10,000 years," Chazan said of their respective work sites.

In one instance, Chazan found a man buried face down with his hands hog-tied behind his back.

The body is more than 10,000 years old, but it remains unclear why this man was buried in such a manner.

"It's a very uncomfortable position," Chazan said.

Johnson noted that there may be some overlap between the two digs this summer because of their proximity. Some Nabatean tombs near Johnson's own work site have been plundered over the centuries. The tomb under examination was apparently unattractive to thieves because of its plain front. Drift sand that flooded the site also probably deterred lazy tomb raiders.

Tomb Complex 10 was carved into an alcove about a mile north of the famed Treasury. It is an area that easily could be mistaken for southern Utah's red rock country, Johnson said.

All that is known for certain about the people buried in these graves is that they were not royalty. A bronze or gold plaque may have named the entombed, but the marker is long gone.

The anonymous Nabateans may provide priceless clues to the past. The discovery of potential tiny faces this summer could help Johnson chip away at the mystery that continues to shroud the Nabateans.

• Story originally published by:
The Salt Lake Tribune / UT | Greg Lavine - May 05.02

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