A joined team of project B1 members of the CRC 806 and the University of Amman executed an excavation campaign at the site of Al-Ansab in the greater Petra area. Students from Cologne and Amman under the direction of Jürgen Richter, Thomas Hauck and Maysoon Al-Nahar took part. Three weeks of excavation brought to light much new information about the formation of the site and its raw material supply. This includes the discovery of a latent hearth feature, new environmental information through a broadening of the faunal record, and a thorough survey of the raw materials in the Lower Wadi Sabra. Additionally, a survey of the sites from the first project phase in the Upper Wadi Sabra was conducted, which could confirm the continued stability and good preservation of these sites.
This field campaign was the first to open up a larger area at the early Ahmarian site with the goal to acquire spatial information of the material and get a broader picture about settlement activities at the site. A total of more than 10,000 lithic artefacts were single-plotted including some unexpected worked limestone slabs and two full cores highlighting the refined operational sequence of the Ahmarian knappers.