of the Levant. At the time of his visit Transjordan was a place less traveled, largely unknown, and poorly explored, yet it was of great interest primarily due to the connections between the two regions in historical and biblical accounts. Interest in the ancient Near East was growing, and discoveries in both Palestine and mesopotamia were prompting scholars to explore the history of the region in the contexts of the biblical and classical references.

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Jordanian Archaeological Sites

Exploration began somewhat later in Transjordan than in Cisjordan or Palestine, however, and the country received only occasional attention from scholars and travelers during the earliest part of the nineteenth century. The first explorations in Transjordan were undertaken largely by antiquarians and biblical scholars intent upon recording sites of historical or biblical significance. Explorers such as the German Ulrich Jasper Seetzen, who visited between 1805 and 1807, and the Swiss Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who visited between 1810 and 1812, were among the first to record some of the great sites of classical antiquity, including Jerash/Gerasa