Entering a forgotten gorge in Wadi Rum.

Amidst the landscape in Wadi Rum, Jordan, ancient signs of nomadic tribes can be found.

Hidden away between the eroded mountains i sought refuge from the sun and found a gorge where others took refuge long ago.

The people that left their petroglyps(marks in rock) are the Thamud.

The presence of water in this narrow gorge, amidst the desert landscape in Wadi Rum,

and this pit going into the deeps, might have made this place very important and a haven to be protected.

For all along the walls that give entrance to this gorge, people have left their marks.

My guess, a representation of feet.

The Thamudic people are a nomadic Arab tribe that migrated in the Wadi Rum area in early Christian times.

Elephant

Horse and rider

Ibex

The Thamud became neighbours of the Nabataean people who lived in Jordan for large parts of ancient history, especially building their culture during Greco-Roman times, with important monuments in Petra fi. The Thamud have been recorded in history from the first millenium BC.

"The oldest known reference to Thamud is a 715 BC inscription of the Assyrian king Sargon II, which mentions them as being among the people of eastern and central Arabia subjugated by the Assyrians."Wiki
but they should be a much older people.

Noone knows exactly what happened to these people, it is said that they dissapeared through volcanic eruptions.

Eroded gorge walls,

View outside

I expored this area on my own, as the local guides usually direct you to one of the known and frequented places where you can discover the Thamud, but who knows where they have left their traces in this large landscape.