investigator have expose a hush-hush tomb containing 12 human skeletons at the Treasury building in Jordan ’s Petra .

The Treasury building , otherwise know as Al Khazneh , worry the center of the ancient metropolis that was carve into the walls of a desert canon 2,000 days ago by the multitude of the Nabatean Kingdom . Now a UNESCO World Heritage situation , Petrais an iconic tourist attraction that is well - sleep with as the resting lieu of the Holy Grail inIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade . But despite its fictitious role in the best Indiana Jones film ( do n’t campaign me on this ) , the Treasury ’s true design remains unknown .

That ’s why discovery like these latest 12 skeletons are so exciting . Just over two decades ago , similar hidden tombs were found on the left - hand side of the site . This early discovery lead research worker to speculate that other grave could be hidden elsewhere in the construction .

Earlier this year , the squad of researchers was given permit from Jordanian authorities to conduct a week - farsighted investigation of the situation to locate Modern grave with outside perception . To do this , they used non - invasive surveying techniques with electromagnetic conductivity and ground radar . They were joined by Josh Gates , the server of a two - part program calledExpedition Unknownthat send on the Discovery Channel earlier in October 2024 .

" The main purpose of the sight was to assess the term of the domain around the Treasury , its courtyard , the plaza , the exit of the Siq and the wadi into which they all feed , in advance of potential future works to amuse and secure control inundation urine , ” Professor Bates from the University of St Andrews said in astatement .

Once the squad located a suspected tomb , an dig design was drawn up and then carry out by a squad with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities ( DoA ) and the American Center of Research ( ACOR ) . They quickly unearth a sleeping room with burial still in place .

“ The find is of outside significance as very few terminated burials from the other Nabataeans have ever been recovered from Petra before . The burial , their good , and the man remains can all be expected to help take the gaps of our cognition in how Petra come to be and who the [ Nabataeans ] were , ” Bates added .

Samples taken from the surrounding sediment as well as textile from the grave natural enclosure dated the grammatical construction of the rampart within the tomb to between the mid-1stcentury BCE and the early 2ndcentury CE .

“ The grave was most likely work up as a mausoleum and crypt in the Nabatean Kingdom at the root of the 1stcentury AD for Aretas IV Philopatris . Like many tomb in the vale , few remains have ever been found in the tomb due to their subsequent economic consumption and reprocess over the last two millennia , ” Dr Tim Kinnaird , also from the University of St Andrews , explain .

“ [ It ’s ] fantastic that we now have the clayware , ecofacts and sediments to date when the First Lord of the Treasury was construct . antecedently we ’ve worked on assumptions and conjecture – to have a definitive date will be a monumental achievement for us all . ”

Incredibly , one of the skeletons was detect grasping a ceramic vessel that is strikingly interchangeable to the Holy Grail portrayed in the Indiana Jones movie .

“ When we spotted what looked like a chalice , all of us just froze . It expect intimately identical to the Holy Grail featured inIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade , set in the ancient building forthwith above the grave . It was the ultimate moment of life imitating art , ” said Gates .

This vessel seem to be a fragment of a broken jugful that was likely made in the 1stcentury BCE .

“ There is so much that we have yet to find out about The Treasury . When was this remarkable structure built , and why ? Little did we know that this dig might completely change what we know about The Treasury and help puzzle out the mysteries of the Nabataean people , ” Pearce Paul Creasman , archeologist and executive managing director of ACOR , explicate in anotherstatement .

“ With the backup of the Jordanian government , this archeological site is bringing us closer than ever to answers . ”