In 1995 Antti Arjava joined a team led by Professor Jaakko Frösén dedicated to the study of charred 6th century papyrus scrolls written in Greek that were discovered by American archaeologists in the ruined city of Petra. For the last ten years, he has been in charge of the publication of the texts. His task is drawing to a close: four large volumes are complete and the final one is in progress. Last November, when Dr Arjava was on his way from Amman airport to the American Center of Oriental Research, it turned out his taxi driver was born after the start of the project – a clear hint that the project had dragged on long enough.

The papyrus archive consists of documents preserved by the archdeacon of the Byzantine church in Petra. Some of them deal with the work of the church, but the majority are concerned with his personal property, vineyards, fields, houses, and slaves. Since very few papyri have been discovered outside Egypt, the papyri of Petra are exceptionally valuable as sources of the history of the Byzantine Middle East immediately before the Arab conquest. Furthermore, the place names in the texts shed light on the early stages of the Arabic language.