Perspectives on ACOR’s Role in Preserving and Presenting Jordan’s Heritage
Source: Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (Photographer: Rebecca Banks)
(APAAME_20151001_RHB-0525). See www.apaame.org .
Dr. Barbara A. Porter, ACOR Director
Dr. Glenn J. Corbett, ACOR Associate Director
Wednesday 27 April 2016 at 6:00pm
Reception to Follow
About the Lecture:
This presentation will reflect on the history of ACOR, which is a non-profit institution dedicated to promoting research and publication in archaeology, anthropology, history, languages, and other aspects of Near Eastern Studies. Since its establishment in 1968, ACOR has undertaken many major and minor projects in Jordan, including archaeological ones in cooperation with the Department of Antiquities and the Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities. Some of the projects will be highlighted as well as other activities that help fulfill its mission “to advance knowledge of Jordan past and present.” Since the late 1980s, some projects have been funded by USAID (United States Agency for International Development), including the recent USAID Sustainable Cultural Heritage through Engagement of Local Communities Project (SCHEP). The second half of this presentation will touch on SCHEP activities, and Glenn Corbett will speak about new educational and outreach initiatives being launched by ACOR’s Temple of the Winged Lions project in Petra.
About the Lecturers:
Barbara A. Porter has been the ACOR Director since April 2006 when she succeeded Pierre Bikai. To mark her 10th anniversary she will present jointly with Glenn Corbett on ACOR’s role in helping preserve and present Jordan’s heritage. She completed her Ph.D. at Columbia University (2001) on Old Syrian Popular Style Cylinder Seals and recently published an article on the subject in the journal Iraq. However for the most part since moving to Jordan, the focus of her efforts have centered around ACOR. Her first year in Jordan included organizing the 10th International Conference on the History & Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ) which took place in Washington D.C. in May 2007 at George Washington University. She looks forward to ICHAJ 13 which will take place in Amman from 21 to 26 May. In the years prior to moving to Jordan she lived in New York City and was on the curatorial staff of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Ancient Near Eastern Art and Egyptian Art) and taught at New York University. She also led tours for 10 years around the Middle East.
Glenn J. Corbett is ACOR Associate Director and co-directs the Temple of the Winged Lions Cultural Resource Management (TWLCRM) Initiative in Petra. He received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern archaeology from the University of Chicago, where his research focused on the epigraphic and archaeological remains of pre-Islamic Arabia. Since 2005, he has also directed the Wadi Hafir Petroglyph Survey in Wadi Ramm. A summary of his research appeared on the ACOR Blog (www.acorjordan.wordpress.com) in 2015.
Together they are part of the editorial team for the “Archaeology in Jordan” newsletter that appears in the Archaeological Institute of America’s American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) every other year. They are currently preparing the newsletter entries for the October 2016 issue.