GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Calvin University celebrated a rare honor Monday after more than five decades of hard work.
University officials have been taking students and faculty to Umm al-Jimal, an ancient site in Jordan.
We’re told the site is a well-preserved village with a 2,000-year history.
Students and staff, in partnership with the Jordanian community, have surveyed and excavated the site for 52 years with the goal of unearthing its secrets.
Their efforts have granted Umm al-Jimal the UNESCO world heritage status, which is given to the world’s most important natural and cultural sites.
"Everything is built out of basalt stones, and it's a type of architecture that exists only in this particular area,” says Darrel Rohl, associate professor of archaeology and history. “And of the thousands of settlements that existed over the past, this is the only one that has remained intact in ruins … with its complete set of buildings and intact town wall."
Umm al-Jimal is now one of 1,233 UNESCO world heritage sites.
Professor Rohl congratulated everyone involved in the decades-long project on their “momentous” achievement. He says he looks forward to what the next 50 years of their partnership will bring.
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