The Independent reports that a ceremonial platform was discovered by satellite and drone imagery underneath the sands at Petra, in Jordan.
The platform measures 184 x 161 feet, and includes a descending staircase and wall of columns. Pottery found in the area suggests that the structure is over 2,100 years old.
“Even after two centuries of fieldwork in Petra and its environs, new discoveries and identifications of monumental structures continue to be made,” wrote archaeologists Sarah Parcak and Christopher Tuttle in a recent report.
According to the Independent, the platform is to the south of Petra in southwest Jordan. Orginial images of the site had been overlooked, as the sides resembled regular terrace walls common throughout the old city of Petra.
“I knew something was there and other archaeologists – who have worked in Petra for the last, God knows, 100 years at least,” Mr. Tuttle told The Guardian about his decision to review the satellite imagery and photography further.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Petra each year. The city was the capital of the Nabataean empire from 400 BC to 106 AD and was named one of the seven new wonders of the world in 2007.
