In the late 3rd - early 4th centuries AD a revitalization of military structures took place under Roman control in Jordan. The Roman legionary fortress of Udhruḥ measuring 4.7 hectares with its large external U-shaped towers was according to the west gate building inscription rebuilt by the Legio VI Ferrata in AD 303-304.

What surprised us – already since the start of the Udhruḥ Archaeological Project in 2011 – is that the Udhruḥ fortress was laid out in a more monumental way than its regional counterparts. This most probably has to do with its location near Petra, and Udhruḥ’s initial importance as an important Nabataean centre. We can hereby think of a Roman monumental gateway – via the refurbishment of an old Nabataean (caravanserai) post – to the capital of Petra. For this it is important to investigate and excavate the ‘exterior’ east gate of the fortress, which is laid out towards the antique caravan routes. In 2005 the ‘interior’ west gate towards Petra was cleared – not excavated – by the Department of Antiquites of Jordan. This resulted in retrieving an important Roman military building inscription. The partial rebuilding of this gate was however done erroneously, lacking archaeological knowledge and proper documentation/registration.

Approach

The setting is promising as earlier excavations at the fort’s eastern curtain wall proved that we can encounter approximately 3-3.5 metres of undisturbed stratigraphic layers, walls and foundations at this location.

The process of excavating the east gate of the Roman fortress of Udhruḥ will be monitored by means of making 3D-reconstructions, with a mobile Arctec Space Spider (architectural elements) plus through photogrammetry (AgiSoft Photoscan: larger settings). These 3D-reconstructions will be used for virtually reassembling the gate building, but also to reconstruct the process of ruination and collapse of this. Our work process will be monitored continuously with two Go-Pro-cameras resulting in a Time-Lapse video, which can be used for documentation purposes. We plan to take 14C-samples from the core of the gate and earlier, possible Nabataean foundations. This sampling consists in extracting charred twigs from the mortars within the walls: a method which has proved successful in dating other structures during earlier campaigns (2016-2019). 

Implications and relevance

This project will result in dating and virtually remodelling the ‘exterior’ gate of one of the most monumental military installations on Rome’s eastern limes. This can provide essential information on the construction of late Roman forts, the Roman presence in the southern Levant, and if we retrieve a new Roman gate inscription – which is not inconceivable considering the regional setting and monumentality –insight in the political structure and embedding of this monumental desert portal into the Roman world.

Driessen M.J. & Abudanah F. (2023), ‘Power Over’ or ‘Power With’? : Monumentality in the Desert: the Roman legionary fortress of Udhruḥ (Jordan). Golubović S. (Ed.), LIMES XXIIII: Proceedings of the 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies, 2nd − 9th September 2018 Viminacium − Belgrade, Serbia . 24th International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies 2 September 2018 - 9 September 2018. Belgrade: Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade, pp. 163-178.