by Miya Pletsas This summer, I was given the opportunity to go back to Jordan to participate in the Khirbat al-Mukhayyat Archaeological Project survey season. During my time in Jordan, the team surveyed four sites around Khirbat al-Mukhayyat. The goal for this season was to collect data from surface collection, map architecture, and take measurements…
by Kristen Flake The Church of Sts. Lot and Procopius sits on the acropolis of ancient Khirbet al-Mukhayyat, overlooking the Dead Sea. Its 6th-century mosaic pavement is one of the best preserved in the region, covering the nave floor with the motifs typical of late antique Jordan: hunters and shepherds, vine scrolls filled with birds…
by Mohammad Rababah My journey with archaeology began not in a high-tech laboratory, but in the red dust of Jordan’s ancient sites. As a student at Yarmouk University and later as a field archaeologist, I spent years unearthing the tangible remains of our past, working on projects that stretched from the Roman aqueducts of Gadara…
by Osama Samawi During my time as an undergraduate, I enrolled in a course called “Technology in Prehistoric Periods.” At 19, the word “technology” still made me think of computers, but I signed up out of curiosity. Prof. Maysoon Al-Nahar introduced us to the fascinating world of stone tool technology using Neolithic assemblages from Tell…
by Rachel Carroll Prior to this field school, my only archaeological experience and exposure came from classes I had taken at the University of Alberta, volunteer work I had done with one of my professors, and travels I had taken with my family. Never once had I stepped foot on a site intending to contribute…
by Kareem Rosshandler I had the privilege of staying at the American Center of Research during the months of May, June, and July of 2025 and conducting research on depictions of Midian/Madyan in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an. Historically, Midian/Madyan is believed to have been located in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, with its northernmost…
by Nina Rozic This year I was able to participate in the study season for the Khirbet al-Muhkayyat Project, along with Kathleen Macleod Kerr, a fellow undergraduate student from Wilfrid Laurier University. We were delighted to return to the dig house in Madaba where we had stayed in 2023 while completing the field-school credit for…
by Benjamin V. Allison In November 1980, the Arab League met in Amman, Jordan, for a summit aimed at promoting Arab unity, particularly against Israel and Egypt, which had concluded a peace treaty the previous year. But the summit rapidly fell apart, as members of the Steadfastness and Confrontation Front (جبهة الصمود والتّصدي) — Syria, Algeria,…
by Miya Pletsas I had the opportunity to participate in the Khirbat al-Mukhayyat Archaeological Project in Jordan for my first field school as an undergraduate from Wilfrid Laurier University thanks to a Jennifer C. Groot Memorial Fellowship award from the American Center of Research. I enjoyed working alongside my peers, the local community, and professors,…
by McClean Pink I am a master’s student in the Anthropology Department at East Carolina University. Throughout the months of June and July 2022, I held a Pierre and Patricia Bikai Fellowship at the American Center of Research in Amman and, while resident there, used their resources to complete the data collection for my master’s…
by Joel S. Burnett A visit to the Jordan Archaeological Museum on the Amman Citadel or the Jordan Museum in Ras al-Ayn brings you up close with multiple examples of stone statuary from Iron Age Amman (ca. 1150–550 BCE). These impressive sculptures include miniature statues of standing anthropomorphic figures and life-size and nearly life-size sculpted…
by Charlotte Vekemans “Heritage is Jordan’s oil.” This statement, which I heard from heritage experts, development workers, and Jordanian government officials, has come to be the most captivating way for me to summarize my PhD project. With the support of a Harrell Family Fellowship granted by the American Center of Research, I conducted field research…
by Katarína Mokránová I remember well the time when I was learning how to write. It took years for my first crooked letters to become the handwriting that, admittedly, I am still not quite so proud of today. When I get tired, the text that I write transforms into an indecipherable sea of wavy lines….
By Abbad Diraneyya لتقرأ المقال باللغة العربية هنا Under a hot October sun, from which I had nothing but a winter cap to conceal my face, the famous downtown of the Eternal City looked like a bunch of half-fallen columns emerging from a pile of rubble. “Disappointing” would be an understatement: I had patiently waited…
This written interview is part of a new series we are launching on Insights: “Ask A Scholar,” through which we hope to highlight the personal experiences of fellows and other affiliated researchers. The below conversation, with former Bikai and de Vries fellow and Islamic Baydha director Micaela Sinibaldi, Ph.D., took place by email in November, 2020….