From Village to Bishopric: Pella in Jordan 2013
Dr. Stephen Bourke
Research Associate in Near Eastern Archaeology at Sydney University
Tuesday 26 February 2013 at 6:00pm
Reception to Follow
About the Lecture
This fully illustrated lecture will focus on recent discoveries at Pella, drawn mainly from the 2011 and 2013 field seasons. It will touch on the massive architecture recently uncovered dating to the proto-urban Early Bronze Age, before exploring recently uncovered Middle/Late Bronze and Iron Age civic/administrative complexes located five meters to the west of the monumental Fortress Temple. Recent Classical period discoveries (Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine/Umayyad) will then be outlined as they change the story of Pella’s Classical and Late Antique period history.
About the Lecturer
Stephen Bourke has worked as a Near Eastern archaeologist for more than 30 years, concentrating on pre and proto-history (ca. 5000-500 BCE) of the Levant. Beginning with a BA (Hons) at Sydney University (1979-82) under Basil Hennessy, Bourke then read his Doctorate in Syrian Bronze Age archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London (1983-90) under Peter Parr, before taking up a series of Research Fellowships at Sydney University (1992-2002). He is currently a Research Associate in Near Eastern archaeology at Sydney University.
Over the last 30 years Bourke has worked on British, American, French, German and Italian excavation projects in Jordan, Syria and Cyprus. He directed four seasons of renewed excavations at Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan (1994-1999), the largest Chalcolithic (ca. 4900-3900 cal BC) site in the southern Levant. He has worked at Pella since 1980 and has directed the Pella excavations since 1992.