There are half dozen communities within the Petra Region of Ma’an Governorate. Over 60% of the 28,000 people live in the town of Wadi Musa. Most of them are from the Layathnah tribe. Four other clans – Bidoul, Amaariin, Rawajfah and Saidiyyiin – live in small villages established by the government. However, several Bedouins still prefer to live in cave dwellings like their nomadic ancestors did for millenniums. Given their proximity to Beidha and Siq al-Barid, I suspect these structures have a Nabataean or at least a Bedouin origin and may have been burial tombs. Behind them are the ruins of block buildings.
