Earth’s and Man’s Story

Wadi Rum is a product of millions of years of complex geological and climatic processes. Rainwater, earthquakes and wind cutting across layers of sandstone over the millennia started a series of cracks that later became the corridors and canyons of Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is especially remarkable for the human habitation it has fostered. People have lived in Wadi Rum for thousands of years. Even the Nabateans of Petra once inhabited Rum, leaving behind several structures, including a temple.

Over 40,000 rock drawings and inscriptions, many going as far back as 12000 BC, are widespread in Wadi Rum, making it the site of one of the world's richest collections of rock art. These engravings are some of humanity’s earliest attempts at expression through tangible forms.  The inscriptions are in different scripts, Thamudic, Nabatean, and Arabic, chronicling civilizations that have made Wadi Rum their home.

The inscriptions have helped scholars place Wadi Rum as the most likely location of Iram, the city of the People of ‘Ad, mentioned in the Qur’an, which describes it as a place of “lofty pillars, the likes of which had never been created in the land”.

More recently, Wadi Rum’s Bedouins played an important role in Jordan’s modern history when they joined the Great Arab Revolt forces under the leadership of Al-Sharif Al-Hussien Bin Ali, the great great-grandfather of His Majesty King Abdullah II, and fought, along with Lawrence of Arabia, the occupying Ottoman army. Lawrence himself makes many references to Wadi Rum in his book, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, a title apparently inspired by one of Rum's imposing mountains. The exploits of Lawrence have become part of local folklore, and some popular tourist sites are named after him, although whether he used these exact sites is open to debate.

Virtually all the people living in and around Wadi Rum today are of Bedouin origin and, until recently, led nomadic lives, relying on their goat herds. They are resourceful, hospitable people who are largely responsible for maintaining Wadi Rum as a tourist destination.