SHOWBAK Insediamenti antropici e risorse agricole

Showbak castle was built in 1115 under the first King of Jerusalem Baldovino I, to occupy a strategic position on the way between Damascus and Dead Sea and the Red Sea and then Cairo on the West and Arabian peninsula to the East. The great defensive site, called Mount Réal, was built on an abandoned ancient Roman-Byzantine fortress, 25 km North to Petra, along the King Road, as the Crusaders called it, then renamed Caliph Road. The Ayyubids conquered the castle in 1189 and, on the contrary of the other similar cases when the fortress was abandoned or destroyed, it was enlarged as considered strategic to control the roads to Jerusalem and to defend the valleys around Showbak which were at the time green, fertile, well farmed and containing several settlements. At the beginning of the XIII century Showbak become the most important palace of the region and the capital of Ayyubids domains. During this period it was esteemed that 6000 people lived within the walls. From the next century started a rapid decline; historical papers from 1340 say the castle was surrounded by desolation. The last specific use of Showbak in 1916, during the Arab riot, was as the temporary stay for Sir Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). The area where Showbak raises, is formed by low hills, on the border of a large desert region which arrives, with some breaks, up to Aqaba; the land softly declines toward the East. Near the castle area there are some water springs. Around the castle there were several little villages, mainly in the more fertile areas and many rock dwellings along the deep canyons excavated by the river in the past. Their economy, more than the trade, was focused on pastoralism and agriculture, done along the steep slopes converted by a complex and clever system of terracing and by a dense and elaborate network of water channels linked to the local springs. At the time the cultivation was: olives, apricots, figs, grapes and pomegranates, a bit less other vegetable typologies. At the end of the Seventies in the last century, several grasping works were carried out in order to pick up the water from the springs and to carry it in the area of Mukayria or beyond in the direction of At Tafilah region, where the demographic growth combined with an everlasting water supplies crisis were able to create trouble for thousands of people. This decision lead to abandon the Showbak area. The blooming terracing are now arid plots of land with few old olive trees near to the extinction. The building are demolished to recover the material, the dry stone walls around the terracing are now ruined or deteriorated. Showbak and its environment are a high value cultural heritage not only for historical and archaeological purposes, but also for scientific and anthropologic studies. It is, along the King Road, between two well known cultural and touristic poles: the beautiful Kerak castle (approx. 100 km North) and the wonderful attraction of Petra complex (30 km South), so it is in a position easy to be reach. Therefore it would be possible to promote A Showbak protect area which will be of great touristic interest itself and more if linked with the near Petra. To do this project it will be essential to think for a new plan of water source availability which will again allow the at least partial plantation of the area, the revamping of terracing and the coming back to a sustainable agriculture. There are some points of interest with a specific originality: the tunnel excavated by the Crusaders for the water needs of the castle, which represents, within the medieval hydraulic works, an example of significant functional and strategic interest and the near rock dwellings which are both in the castle valley and in other places not far from there, like i.e. at Mukayria. In these areas there were performed geo-morphological surveys, the study of the water, the evaluation of in air and in water radon concentration (the results are very low) in some now uninhabited grottos which would be equipped as short term and low cost accommodation places. The Showbak protect area could be suggested as part of specific cultural or environmental tours. One of this could be focused on the Nomadic culture, still important for the area in particular in the Wadi Arab region. It will be possible to include the study of fauna and flora in arid environment and to organize meeting with the goats and camels breeders. A second tour could be focused on the ancient forsaken villages which are in the direction of Dana Natural Reserve; some of them could be restored to become tourist accommodation or environment monitoring center or bird-watching position. A third integrated tour could be organized with the near village of Udhruh where there are, unfortunately completely abandoned, the impressive ruins of the ancient Roman Adrianopoli. Another interesting point could be the local foodstuff and their old production techniques, some of which are still in use in the plots of land along the King Road.