The buildings cut into the steep cliff face have doors which lead into rock cut chambers behind the ornate facades.
The most impressive of these buildings is called Al Khazneh, or the Treasury. The Treasury is nearly 12 stories tall and is so named because the Bedouins told tales that it once contained vast amounts of treasure.
It is actually a royal tomb or temple, like many of the other rock cut buildings at Petra. In the tombs there is archaeological evidence that the Nabataeans practiced the funeral rite of feasting with the dead.
Family members would eat a meal in the tomb and leave some food for the soul of the deceased. This practice was a way to connect the living and the dead, and was practiced in various forms since Neolithic times.
Besides the rock cut buildings, there were also free standing buildings built at Petra. Houses were free standing but they have since all been destroyed by earthquakes.
The Nabataeans engineered a complex system of channels and cisterns to collect rainwater for drinking. It is a credit to Nabataean engineering that this ancient water system is still used today by the Bedouins.
Even in the arid climate the Nabataeans farmed the land and raised sheep, goats, camels and horses. The Nabataean kingdom prospered by controlling the caravan trade routes that linked the East to the Mediterranean. These caravans provided spices, textiles, frankincense and myrrh to the Greek and Roman world.
Trading frankincense and myrrh was a very lucrative business in the ancient world. Both were used to make incense which was burned in every temple as an offering to the gods.
