Ba'ja

Ba'ja is a Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement dating to around 7400 BC, making it one of the oldest known villages in the Near East — roughly 9,400 years old. It sits concealed within steep sandstone formations at an elevation of about 1,160 meters, some 14 km north of Petra, reachable only by climbing through a narrow gorge and ascending via ladders. Excavations have revealed multi-storey stone buildings packed tightly together, suggesting a surprisingly organized early community at the cusp of the transition to permanent settlement. Near the gorge entrance lies Ba'ja I, a later stratigraphic sequence incorporating a Nabataean outpost and subsequent Islamic occupation layers. The site's sheer physical inaccessibility has preserved it remarkably well and turns any visit into a demanding but extraordinary archaeological excursion.