T he Great Temple of Petra is also a great Brown classroom. Elizabeth Payne '95, an archaeology graduate student at Boston University, has been working there every summer since her sophomore year. Joukowsky, she says, differs from most archaeologists in being equally devoted to teaching and research. Joukowsky enjoys watching undergraduates mature under the hot Jordanian sun. At Petra they discover how far they can push themselves physically, emotionally, mentally.
Students also learn from the Bedouin.
The Bedul, as the local Bedouin tribe is known, claim to be the descendants of a legendary Nabataean king. Bedouins and members of the Brown team escape to the shade of the tarps for refreshments and relaxing talk. Today they try to adapt to a world where nomads can no longer roam freely to tend their herds of goats. Joukowsky reports that most Bedul now live in overcrowded government housing, where, despite better schools and health clinics, they resent the loss of their traditional ways. Such tensions seldom surface during the excavating season, though, and the students are overwhelmed by the tribes' ethic of hospitality.