The history of the Sarah (Sherah Mountains) were Petra lies is still almost elusive. Traces of Palaeolithic man in the form of the usual hand axes have been found on some of the higher mountain slopes, but in a remote and very inaccessible valley in the heart of the mountain.

The rock shelter of the Upper Palaeolithic Period, probably about 10,000 B.C. where prehistoric man had apparently for at last part of each year over a considerable period of time. A number of Neolithic village sites in the neighborhood, El Beidha to the north of Petra, which turned out to be as important as Jericho for the history of this remote period, about 7000 B.C. Here was a scarified of village, six in all, with finely built houses and workshops; bone and stone tools and weapons were recovered, and there is evidence of trade with faraway Asia Minor and the Mediterranean coast. Casual surface finds of flints have been made before in Petra, but this is the first time that actual settlements and dwelling-places of the period have been discovered.