Ba'ja is located in a very spectacular setting about 10 km north of Petra. The approximately 10 000 m2 village have been built on a terrace formation with deep ravines around it and located in a canyon with vertical cliff walls surrounding it. The only access to the hidden site is through a siq [deep ravine] that is about 0,5 km long and at its narrowest only one meter wide. The site was first studied in 1984 and it has been extensively excavated in 1997 and from 1999 forward. The finds have been spectacular with a lot of architectural evidence, plaster, stone tools, shells used as decorations, grinding tools, clay artefacts and other evidence about the way of life on the site about 9000 - 8500 years ago. During the last seasons a spectacular burial combined with fresco -like art was found under one of the houses. Early in the excavations it became clear that the people living in Ba´ja had been producing rings of sandstone almost in an industrial manner. These prestige goods were produced not only for their own use but most probably also for export from the site. This and e.g. the marine finds from the Red Sea shows that sites like Ba´ja had extensive contacts where items were moved over great distances.

 Early History of the Petra Area - The Early Neolithic