Underneath the Treasury in Petra, Jordan, archaeologists found remains and a ceramic vessel some said looked similar to "the Holy Grail" depicted in "Indiana Jones."
About 2,000 years ago, the powerful ancient kingdom of the Nabataeans hand-carved a city into the sandstone cliffs of Petra, Jordan. At its center: an imposing, 12-column structure that has since become known as the Treasury.
Since then, archaeologists have attempted to understand what the structure was used for, with some speculating that it was a mausoleum built as the final resting place of an important ruler of this era.
Now, a team of researchers has made what they called a "stunning" discovery: a chamber buried underneath the Treasury, also known as Al Khazneh, that contains the remains of 12 people and other items they say could finally reveal the structure's secrets and shed some light on the origins of Petra, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985.
The discovery is "stunning," said Pearce Paul Creasman, executive director of the American Center of Research, who led the dig, in an email to The Washington Post. "This work will shed light on The Treasury itself, particularly its construction and date. The material recovered from our excavation has great potential to inform us about the early history of Petra and, possibly, the origins of the Nabataeans, too."
"We were absolutely stunned by the revelation of this hidden chamber," Josh Gates, host of the Warner Bros. television series "Expedition Unknown" -- who featured the discovery on the show in a two-part episode which aired last week -- said in a news release.
Creasman said the human remains could help reveal how the Nabataeans -- whose kingdom lasted from around the 4th century BCE and 106 CE -- lived and buried their dead. He hopes it will even be possible to recover ancient DNA from the remains.
The excavations, Creasman added, could also lead to a better understanding of the environment in which Petra's people lived and thrived. "Today, Petra, the Rose City, is parched, but it was once a comparatively lush place. I am hopeful we can learn from the past and use it to improve our collective future," he said.
Jordanian archaeologists first discovered hidden tombs around the Treasury, now a popular tourist site, in 2003, according to Creasman. Though the archaeologists suspected that a tomb underneath the Treasury existed, they "ran out of time" to complete their exploration, Creasman said in an email.
Earlier this year, Creasman said his team, working with the Jordanian government, was able to confirm the existence of the tomb and start to study what was inside. The researchers used new technological tools, including remote sensors powered by radars, to identify the location of the tomb, which was buried deeper over the centuries by debris from a likely natural disaster and from the construction of the Treasury above it, Creasman said.
Once they began excavating the tomb, the researchers found at least 12 skeletal remains and items the deceased may have been buried with -- including a ceramic vessel that Gates said "looked nearly identical to the Holy Grail" depicted in Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" which filmed at the Treasury.
"It was the ultimate moment of life imitating art," he said.
The mythical Holy Grail, the cup which the dying Jesus Christ supposedly drank from, was the object of Indiana Jones's quest in the 1989 movie -- and was found at the Treasury, guarded by an ancient crusader knight hundreds of years old. The grail gained its fame for originally being part of the King Arthur legend.
Creasman said the architecture of the buried tomb is the "most exciting" aspect of the discovery, because its "construction and use is fairly unique for Petra."
"The implications of those ancient construction decisions encourage us about the likelihood that there will be more important new discoveries to be had at The Treasury, as excavations progress," he wrote.
But many questions about the Nabataeans and their city still remain. "There is so much that we have yet to learn about the Treasury, said Creasman in the Warner Bros. news release. One major remaining unanswered question: "When was this remarkable structure built, and why?"
The only thing that is certain, he said, is that "this excavation is bringing us closer than ever to answers."