The 74,000-hectare prop­er­ty, inscribed as a mixed nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al site, is sit­u­at­ed in south­ern Jor­dan, near the bor­der with Sau­di Ara­bia. It fea­tures a var­ied desert land­scape con­sist­ing of a range of nar­row gorges, nat­ur­al arch­es, tow­er­ing cliffs, ramps, mas­sive land­slides and cav­erns. Pet­ro­glyphs, inscrip­tions and archae­o­log­i­cal remains in the site tes­ti­fy to 12,000 years of human occu­pa­tion and inter­ac­tion with the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment. The com­bi­na­tion of 25,000 rock carv­ings with 20,000 inscrip­tions trace the evo­lu­tion of human thought and the ear­ly devel­op­ment of the alpha­bet. The site illus­trates the evo­lu­tion of pas­toral, agri­cul­tur­al and urban activ­i­ty in the region.