It’s a discovery fit for a Hollywood blockbuster.
A secret tomb filled with skeletons has been found in Petra, Jordan – located underneath a site used in the Indiana Jones adventure films.
Fans would recognise the location as the fictional final resting place of the Holy Grail in the third Indiana Jones film.
But in reality, a team of archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old tomb with at least 12 skeletons inside.
The find was finally made in August after 20 years of speculation about the location of the tomb, below the elaborate monument known as the Khaznah, or ‘Treasury’.
Archaeologists used ground penetrating radar earlier this year and the results suggested a strong possibility of something underground, prompting Jordan’s government to give permission for a dig site.
Two tombs had been found below the left side of the monument back in 2003, and the theory that there could have been more secret underground chambers had not been confirmed until now.
The tomb was excavated in August, led by Dr Pearce Paul Creasman from the American Center of Research, and alongside the skeletons were goods made from bronze, iron and ceramic.
Dr Creasman contacted Josh Gates, host of the Discovery Channel’s Expedition Unknown series, to invite the film crew along to the excavation.
And during the dig they found a skeleton clutching a ceramic chalice which resembled the shape of the Holy Grail featured in the Indiana Jones film, CNN reports.
Josh Gates, host of the show, said: ‘It really was this awesome moment of history imitating art.
‘This is a hugely rare discovery. In the two centuries Petra has been investigated by archaeologists, nothing like this has been found before.
‘Even in front of one of the most famous buildings in the world, there are still huge discoveries to be made.’
It gives a ‘rare insight’ into the lives of ancient Arabic nomads known as the Nabataeans, whose influence stretched from modern-day Yemen to Damascus, Syria, and from western Iraq into the Sinai Desert.
Researchers will continue to examine the skeletons and artifacts, using extracted DNA to see if they were related to each other, as well as dating them. It’s hoped other analysis could reveal their diets and whether they had physical jobs.
‘They must be hugely important people, because where they’re buried is such prime real estate; it really is the main entrance to the city,’ Josh said.
‘I think learning who they are is really going to help unlock part of the story of the Khaznah.’
Historians have struggled to determine the exact borders of the Nabataeans’ political control as they didn’t leave written histories, like the ancient Egyptians did.
But by studying graffiti carved into rocks and canyon walls, researchers discovered the Nabataeans could read and write.
Despite this, it seems the ancient civilisation refused to document their history – possibly to withhold some of its secrets – with no libraries and only a few scraps of writing found by archaeologists.
Petra was voted as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World back in the noughties, thanks to its unique architecture and many mysteries still surrounding the city.
The Khaznah’s purpose is still unknown – a popular theory is that the monument served as a mausoleum, despite no skeletal remains being found within the building itself.
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