Svend Helms" work offers a fascinating exploration of the lost city of Jawa, an ancient, ruined city that lies in the basalt desert of northeast Jordan - a desolate region swept by sandstorms, where temperatures vary through extremes. Today only Bedouin venture across the Black Desert, but five thousand years ago Jawa thrived there briefly as an urban center of considerable complexity. Discovered by aviators in 1931, Jawa"s ruins were only recently excavated. Strangely, the harsh environment has protected the city - no settlement was ever built upon Jawa"s ruins - making it the best preserved Bronze Age city yet known. Helms was director of excavation at the twenty-two acre site.