Architectural Archaeology Through Reverse Engineering: A Constructivist Perspective from Jordan

Jordan’s masonry archaeology across limestone, sandstone, and basalt faces escalating threats from a disconnect between conservation and architectural education. Though Jordanian archaeology has evolved into a multidisciplinary field, architecture curricula prioritize technical training over the engineering complexities of endangered sites. This study argues that engaging future architects with ancient engineering as recoverable technical knowledge, rather than as objects for specialist intervention, is essential for cultivating advocates of archaeology. It aims to develop a constructivist framework for architectural archaeology that reorients education from mere intervention toward knowledge transfer through reverse engineering. A mixed-methods experiment with architecture students at Hashemite University engaged participants in deconstructing ancient techniques through digital documentation and structural simulation and then reconstructing this knowledge for contemporary applications. A four-domain framework operationalized object-laden epistemology (technical acquisition) and value-laden ontology (constructed advocacy). Findings revealed four transformative outcomes: science-making (recovering ancient engineering as legitimate knowledge); heritage-making (sites becoming living practice); temporality-making (past–present dialogue within presentism and futurism); and advocacy-making (students as ‘custodian-transmitters’ assuming professional stewardship). By integrating architectural archaeology into core curricula, this framework reaches future architects beyond specialized programs, addressing regional gaps in community support for endangered heritage while maintaining critical reflexivity regarding power and selection in archaeological discourse.