A secret underground tomb containing 12 skeletons has been found in Jordan's Petra

The mysterious veil on the treasure monument in Petra, Jordan has been lifted again.

Beneath the ancient rock-cut building, archaeologists have discovered a hidden tomb containing twelve relatively well-preserved human skeletons as well as an extensive collection of grave goods.

Similar tombs were found more than two decades ago on the other side of the famous Treasury, also known as Al Khazneh, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A team of researchers received permission from Jordanian authorities earlier this year to conduct a week of remote sensing in and around the Ministry of Finance, which was the center of a city hand-carved into the walls of a desert canyon by the people of the Nabatean kingdom.

“There was always the thought that there might be more graves, but no one has ever been found that still contained burials,” said Richard Bates, a geophysicist and professor at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, in an e-mail. Email. “The hope was to find an intact grave.”

Using ground-penetrating radar, the joint Jordanian-American team, which also included the Jordanian Ministry of Antiquities and the American Center of Research, a nonprofit organization based in Amman, discovered a cavity and determined its location and depth. Instead of digging straight down, which would have meant cutting through solid rock and damaging part of the building, they carefully hand-digged from the outside toward the cavity, Bates said.

Inside were 12 human skeletons at their original burial site, one of which comprised the top of a broken jar, most likely dating to the first century BCE. BC. The remains were most likely men and women and ranged in age from children to adults, Bates said. although that has yet to be confirmed.

“Since complete burials have never been found here, it is likely that we will learn much more about the Nabataean kingdom from this find,” Bates said.

The discovery could also provide new insights into the Treasury Department itself, whose purpose is still unknown.

“As famous as it is, the Treasury Department is still a mystery to us in many ways,” Pearce told Paul Creasman, director of the American Center of Research, in an email. “Anything we can do to understand it better is important.”

The Treasury, which receives more than a million visitors every year, is Petra's most famous landmark. It appeared in Steven Spielberg's 1989 film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the cinematic resting place of the Holy Grail.

The excavation of the newly discovered grave was featured in a two-part episode of the American reality television series “Expedition Unknown,” which aired on Discovery Channel.

Bates said there is evidence of other cavities in the area that could also be graves.

“It is very likely that more will be found,” he said, “and that is why we need the resources to continue the studies.”