Baydha

Transliterated Name	Source	Name
Baydha	Arabic	بييدها
Beydha	Arabic	بييدها
Beidha	Arabic	بييدها
Khirbet at-Baydha	Arabic	كهيربيت اتءبايدها
Khirbet Beidha	Arabic
Islamic Baydha

Islamic Baydha

Sinibaldi (2015) offers the following introduction to Baydha:

Islamic Bayda is located about 7 km north of the Petra old city centre, immediately east of Siq el-Barid and west of the modern Ammarin village. The site is a rural village whose most evident remains consist of several clusters of built habitations and rock-cut features; the village has been settled over a long time during the Islamic period (Early Islamic to Ottoman periods). There had been settlement at the site during the Nabataean and Byzantine periods; frequentation or settlement in the Iron Age has been also recorded.

Sinibaldi (2014:127) notes that the Islamic Baydha Project has conducted excavations here since 2014 and has recently dated the two village mosques to the 11th-14th centuries. She added that the mosques, so far the only ones identified and excavated in the region, demonstrate the presence of a village of a considerable size and significance through the Middle Islamic period, a time during which the Franks were also intensely occupying this area (12th century), in which they had a great strategic and economic interest.

The neolithic site of Beidha is in the vicinity.

Maps, Aerial Views, Plans, Drawings, and Photos

Maps and Aerial Views

Fig. 5.6 Location map from

Fig. 5.6

Location of the mentioned sites in the Wadi Musa and Jabal Shara areas

(reproduced and adapted from B. Beckers and B. Schutt, The Chronology of Ancient Agricultural Terraces in the Environs of Petra, in M. Mouton and S. Schmid, 2013)

Sinibaldi (2016)

Sinibaldi (2016)
Baydha in Google Earth

Baydha

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Plans and Drawings

Normal Size

Fig. 1 Plan of the western

Fig. 1

Plan of the western part of the study area at Beidha

Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2

Bikai et al (2020)

part of the study area from Bikai et al (2020)
Fig. 68 Tentative reconstruction
Fig. 68

A tentative reconstruction of Mosque 2 - from above
- the excavated structure
- a reconstruction of the upper part of the building
- a reconstruction of its exterior
(Reconstruction by Qais Tweissi on the basis of the team’s study of the structure’s walls)

Sinibaldi (2018)
of Mosque 2 (aka Western Mosque) from Sinibaldi (2018)
Fig. 2 A mosque recorded

Fig. 2

A mosque recorded by the survey of the Islamic Baydha Project in the 2023 season.

(Photogrammetry by Maksym Mackiewicz)

Sinibaldi (2024)

by the Photogrammetry survey of the Islamic Baydha Project in the 2023 season from Sinibaldi (2024)

Magnified

Fig. 1 Plan of the western

Fig. 1

Plan of the western part of the study area at Beidha

Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2

Bikai et al (2020)

part of the study area from Bikai et al (2020)
Fig. 68 Tentative reconstruction
Fig. 68

A tentative reconstruction of Mosque 2 - from above
- the excavated structure
- a reconstruction of the upper part of the building
- a reconstruction of its exterior
(Reconstruction by Qais Tweissi on the basis of the team’s study of the structure’s walls)

Sinibaldi (2018)
of Mosque 2 (aka Western Mosque) from Sinibaldi (2018)
Fig. 2 A mosque recorded

Fig. 2

A mosque recorded by the survey of the Islamic Baydha Project in the 2023 season.

(Photogrammetry by Maksym Mackiewicz)

Sinibaldi (2024)

by the Photogrammetry survey of the Islamic Baydha Project in the 2023 season from Sinibaldi (2024)

Photos

Fig. 1 Photo of Mosque 1

Fig. 1

Mosque 1

Sinibaldi refers to the Eastern Mosque as Mosque 1

Photo by Micaela Sinibaldi

Sinibaldi (2023)

from Sinibaldi (2023)
Fig. 2 Photo of Mosque 2

Fig. 2

Mosque 2

Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2

Photo by Micaela Sinibaldi

Sinibaldi (2023)

from Sinibaldi (2023)

Earlier earthquake

Plans

Fig. 1 Plan of the western

Fig. 1

Plan of the western part of the study area at Beidha

Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2

Bikai et al (2020)

part of the study area from Bikai et al (2020)
Fig. 68 Tentative reconstruction
Fig. 68

A tentative reconstruction of Mosque 2 - from above
- the excavated structure
- a reconstruction of the upper part of the building
- a reconstruction of its exterior
(Reconstruction by Qais Tweissi on the basis of the team’s study of the structure’s walls)

Sinibaldi (2018)
of Mosque 2 (aka Western Mosque) from Sinibaldi (2018)

Discussion

No evidence has been uncovered as of yet but Sinibaldi (2020:96-97) reports a Byzantine phase underneath Mosque 1 (aka the Eastern Mosque).

Western Mosque Earthquake - 11th-13th centuries CE

Plans

Fig. 1 Plan of the western

Fig. 1

Plan of the western part of the study area at Beidha

Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2

Bikai et al (2020)

part of the study area from Bikai et al (2020)
Fig. 68 Tentative reconstruction
Fig. 68

A tentative reconstruction of Mosque 2 - from above
- the excavated structure
- a reconstruction of the upper part of the building
- a reconstruction of its exterior
(Reconstruction by Qais Tweissi on the basis of the team’s study of the structure’s walls)

Sinibaldi (2018)
of Mosque 2 (aka Western Mosque) from Sinibaldi (2018)

Discussion

Sinibaldi (2018:75) reports that Mosque 2 (aka the Western Mosque) was probably destroyed by an earthquake. Sinibaldi (2023:360) reports that ¹⁴C analysis of archaeobotanical materials recovered from surfaces of use of mosques 1 and 2 produced preliminary results which dated the samples from the two mosques between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries CE.

Western Mosque Earthquake - 11th-13th centuries CE

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description
probably destroyed by an earthquake suggests collapsed walls	Mosque 2 (aka Western Mosque) Fig. 1 Plan of the western part of the study area at Beidha Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2 Bikai et al (2020)	Fig. 68 A tentative reconstruction of Mosque 2 - from above the excavated structure a reconstruction of the upper part of the building a reconstruction of its exterior (Reconstruction by Qais Tweissi on the basis of the team’s study of the structure’s walls) Sinibaldi (2018) Fig. 2 Mosque 2 Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2 Photo by Micaela Sinibaldi Sinibaldi (2023)	Sinibaldi (2018:75) reports that Mosque 2 (aka the Western Mosque) which Sinibaldi (2016:95) dates to not earlier than the 13th-14th century CE (Mamluk period) was probably destroyed by an earthquake.

Western Mosque Earthquake - 11th-13th centuries CE

Earthquake Archeological Effects chart

Earthquake Archeological Effects (EAE)

Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224)

Effect	Location	Image(s)	Description	Intensity
probably destroyed by an earthquake suggests collapsed walls	Mosque 2 (aka Western Mosque) Fig. 1 Plan of the western part of the study area at Beidha Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2 Bikai et al (2020)	Fig. 68 A tentative reconstruction of Mosque 2 - from above the excavated structure a reconstruction of the upper part of the building a reconstruction of its exterior (Reconstruction by Qais Tweissi on the basis of the team’s study of the structure’s walls) Sinibaldi (2018) Fig. 2 Mosque 2 Sinibaldi refers to the Western Mosque as Mosque 2 Photo by Micaela Sinibaldi Sinibaldi (2023)	Sinibaldi (2018:75) reports that Mosque 2 (aka the Western Mosque) which Sinibaldi (2016:95) dates to not earlier than the 13th-14th century CE (Mamluk period) was probably destroyed by an earthquake.	VIII+

The archeoseismic evidence requires a minimum Intensity of VIII (8) when using the Earthquake Archeological Effects chart of Rodríguez-Pascua et al (2013: 221-224).

References

Islamic Baydha

Main References