| Description |
Although on the surface, the removal of the Bidul from Petra may seem minor, the remodeled burial caves of Petra were a critical component in the Bidul's transhumant existence. Removal from Petra and settlement in Umm Sayhun resulted in a major disturbance in the ecosystem of the Bidul. The Bidul are no longer bedouin in the sense that bedouin are nomadic. Bedouins are prior to sedentary people. • (Khaldun, 1958). The Bidul are sedentary. As a result, there has been a shift in many areas of Bidul life on a micro as well as macro level. Evidence of this shift is apparent in physical and psychological terms, and subsistence patterns. With Bidul removal from Petra came the termination of their transhumant lifestyle. Bidul relocation has resulted in sedentarization and they have had to adapt to this sedentism. Sedentarization has been and continues to be a catalyst for a host of other changes --changes that affect every aspect of Bidul life. It is the goal of this paper to look at some of the major aspects of the material culture, subsistence patterns, and attitudes of the Bidul that have changed as a result their sedentarization. |
