Jordan's largest nature reserve — four distinct biogeographical zones in one 320 sq km protected area, the village of Dana perched above the Wadi Dana gorge, and the Nabataean ruins of Feynan in the copper-smelting desert below
Dana Biosphere Reserve is the largest nature reserve in Jordan (319 sq km, managed by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature), covering four distinct biogeographical zones from the summit of the Wadi Araba rift escarpment (1,500m) to the desert floor (100m above sea level) — a vertical descent of 1,400m that passes through Mediterranean forest, dry forest, semi-arid shrubland, and desert hyperarid zones. The four zones support an extraordinary range of species for a reserve of this size: 38 plant species found nowhere else in Jordan, 215 bird species (the reserve covers the Rift Val…
The Wadi Feynan area (the desert floor section of the Dana Reserve) was one of the most significant copper production centers in the ancient Middle East — the 'Feinan' copper mining district (Khirbat Faynan, the archaeological site at the valley floor) operated from the Chalcolithic period (c. 5500 BCE) through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, Nabataean, Roman, and Byzantine periods, making it one of the world's longest continuously exploited mining sites. The Roman mining operations (1st-4th century CE, using slave and convict labor on the copper smelting furnaces) are documented in papyrus records…