Djin blocks

Their use is still controversial but there is a general opinion that they were tombs, although no evidence of bones has been found, but it may be that they are a type of tombstones. Three, 30-foot-tall sandstone blocks struck the visitor, before he reaches the main entrance of the Siq, with weathered beauty of its carved columns. The local Bedouin tribes named these monuments Djinn, or "spirit" blocks, believing that they harbored phantoms, which were considered to be evil, malevolent spirits that inhabited these blocks, or "saharij" meaning water tanks, because all Djinn blocks (and they are many in Petra ) occur near places of flowing water, these three in particular, guard two of the primary conduits that supplied the 2,100-year-old city with water.

Some archaeologists suggest they served as tombs; others regard them as funerary markers or abstract representations of god Dushara.

One of these blocks is a mere block of stone, some 20 feet high, carved well out from the hillside so that it stands isolated from the others. The one next to it is of an interesting shape because it appears to be rather truncated and has a finely moulded base, a feature not so apparent in the others. There is also a curious knob on the top. It was carved close to the side of the cliff from which it is cut so that the vertical wall of rock seems to form a backdrop to it. The upper part was probably built up with harder stone and could have contained a chamber. There is unfortunately nothing left of this upper storey or of any of the masonry. The third block is the most interesting of the three and is probably the latest in date. There are still clear indications of engaged pilasters on each of the four well-worn sides.

These give a strong vertical emphasis which is capped by bold horizontal lines reminiscent of Hellenistic architecture: this block is in fact the most architectural of the three. Above the pilasters deep groove were cut into the stone, probably to accommodate a set of cornices of harder or more brightly colored stone. Walk to the northern bank of the Wadi and you will find that it is ringed with a succession of caves and niches, starting with the Obelisk Tomb and the classical Bab es-Siq Triclinium.