This is a data archive from the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project (BUPAP). BUPAP was a multi-disciplinary archaeological research project designed to understand the development of Petra and its surrounding landscapes diachronically, throughout the region and at multiple individual sites. This research builds upon almost two decades of fieldwork by Brown University archaeologists at Petra, which focused primarily on the excavation of the Great Temple, directed by Professor Martha Sharp Joukowsky.

The beginnings of BUPAP in 2009 and its full field seasons from 2010 to 2012 with a study season in 2013) mark the second phase of Brown's involvement at Petra. Directed by Susan E. Alcock and Christopher A. Tuttle, the project aimed both to contextualize previous work and to answer new questions, often about periods and places that have received relatively little attention at and around the Nabataean capital. Fieldwork was comprised of four separate but interrelated projects: The Petra Upper Market Area Project (PUMA), which involved excavation, geophysical survey, and architectural studies in the city center; the Petra Area and Wadi Silaysil Survey (PAWS), an intensive, systematic regional survey focused on the area north of the city center; excavation and mapping at the Bayda Islamic Village (BIV; also referred to as Medieval Village Bayda [MVB] and Bayda Medieval Village [BMV]); and the Petra Routes Project (PRP), which investigated local and regional routes of communication and travel.