Huge monument found 'hiding in plain sight'

A huge monument has been discovered buried
under the sands at the Petra World Heritage site in
southern Jordan.
Archaeologists used satellite images, drone
photography and ground surveys to locate the find,
according to the study published in the American
Schools of Oriental Research.
The large platform is about as long as an Olympic
swimming pool and twice as wide.
Researchers say it is unlike any other structure at
the ancient site.
The study, by Sarah Parcak of the University of
Alabama, Birmingham, and Christopher Tuttle,
executive director of the Council of American
Overseas Research Centers, describes the find as
"hiding in plain sight".
Petra dates back to the fourth century BC, when it
was founded by the Nabataean civilization, who
inhabited parts of what is now Jordan, Iraq, Syria
and Lebanon.
Surface pottery suggests the platform was built in
the mid-second century BC, when Petra was at its
peak.
It is thought the structure may have had a
ceremonial purpose.
The survey also revealed a smaller platform was
contained inside the larger one, which was once
lined with columns on one side with a vast staircase
on the other.
Mr Tuttle told National Geographic that someone in
decades of excavation "had to know" the structure
was there yet it had not been written up.
"I've worked in Petra for 20 years, and I knew that
something was there, but it's certainly legitimate to
call this a discovery."
Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Petra each
year, although numbers have been hit by the
conflict against so-called Islamic State.
The site is best-known for the Treasury Building,
which is carved from sandstone and featured in
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.