ABSTRACT
The authors' research straddles the boundary between cultural anthropology and archaeology, using ethnography to understand the practice and history of archaeology. At Petra in Jordan and at atalhyk in Turkey, they work with local community members to assemble oral histories of the long-term archaeological research in these places. The authors participating in the systematic regional survey of the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP). This project, directed by Susan E. Alcock and Christopher A. Tuttle, aims to understand the development of Petra and its surrounding area through time. Petra has been the focus of innumerable archaeological projects, beginning with surveys of the rock-cut and constructed monuments during the 1890s and early decades of the twentieth century. Petra, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World' and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a city in southern Jordan most well known as the capital city of the Nabataean kingdom.
