"I could not look at such beauty without saying: 'Maybe I can help. Maybe not a lot, but perhaps a little, I can help.'"
Petra, a 2,500-year-old city in Jordan, is one of the world’s most revered cultural sites. But time and tourism are taking their toll on its monuments, carved into sandstone cliffs. Chemistry professor Talal Akasheh, who has devoted 26 years to documenting Petra scientifically, is set to complete a knowledge system that will underpin the city’s future conservation.
1985
the year Petra was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List
2,000
the number of monuments and features in Petra's Geographic Information System by 2008
2,500
the age, in years, of Petra, the city that Talal is documenting
