The first structures at the site date back to the 1st century AD, when it was part of the Nabataean Kingdom.
The village of Umm al-Jimal in Jordan has been included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, a move hailed by the country’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities as a “great achievement”.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which is hosting a meeting of its World Heritage Committee in New Delhi, India, said on Friday that the first structures discovered at Umm al-Jimal date back to the first century. AD, “when the area was part of the Nabataean Kingdom”.
It added that inscriptions in “Greek, Nabataean, Safaitic, Latin and Arabic discovered at the site… shed light on changes in the religious beliefs of its inhabitants.”
The village is close to the Jordanian-Syrian border, 86 km (53 miles) north of the Jordanian capital Amman, and is known as “the black oasis” due to the prevalence of black volcanic rock in the area.
Jordan’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Makram al-Qaisi, said at a press conference on Sunday that Umm al-Jimal’s inclusion on the World Heritage List is a “great achievement that we should be proud of.”
He said the ministry hopes to invite local and international investors to the site and “present Umm al-Jimal as an attractive tourist destination.”
The name Umm al-Jimal comes from the use of camels in the trading caravans of the village, which was first colonized by the Nabataean people in the 1st century AD and later occupied by the Romans, becoming an important agricultural and commercial center.
Umm al-Jimal is the seventh historic site in Jordan to be added to the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with Petra, Quseir Amra, Umm al-Rasas, Wadi Rum, al-Maghtas and Salt.
Tourism contributes between 12 and 14 percent of the kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP), and its 10 million inhabitants depend heavily on the sector.
Qaisi said Jordan welcomed more than six million tourists in 2023, bringing in US$7 billion. Most tourists come from Europe, the United States and Canada, followed by Asia-Pacific countries.
But tourism in the country has been hit by Israel’s devastating war in neighboring Gaza.
Qaisi said the kingdom has seen a 4.9% drop in tourism revenue so far in 2024, and a 7.9% drop in the number of visitors.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
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