Beidha

Beidha is one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements in the Near East, situated just north of Petra in the Jordanian highlands. Inhabited around 7500 BCE, the site passed through several building phases: the earliest structures are semi-subterranean roundhouses, while later phases introduced rectangular floor plans — an architectural transition that traces the human shift toward permanent settlement across the Levant. British excavations in the 1950s and 1960s, led by archaeologist Diana Kirkbride, unearthed flint tools, animal bones, and grain residues pointing to early livestock herding and cereal processing. Included within Petra's UNESCO World Heritage designation, Beidha receives few visitors and offers no interpretation infrastructure on site — the exposed stone foundations lie open in the desert landscape, rewarding those who come with prior research.