by Nicolas Seth Reeves The former capital of the ancient Nabataean Empire, the city of Petra serves today as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s most popular tourist destination. Tourism constitutes the lifeblood of three tribal communities that live in and around Petra Archaeological Park: the Bidul of Umm Sayhoun, the Layathna of Wadi Musa, and…
Petra
Recyling Refuse in Ancient Petra
by Sarah Wenner Hidden below an urban façade but nevertheless essential for its shaping, a city’s trash was routinely used in construction processes across the Roman world. Before that occurred, both established and ad hoc frameworks dictated the lifecycles of urban waste, from its initial discard, through its sorting and storage, to its reclamation by…
Analyzing Petra’s Small Finds
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…
Sustainable Tourism and the Cross at Umm el-Jimal
by Elizabeth Ursic, PhD In 2020, ACOR hosted a two-week faculty seminar in Jordan called “Sustainability at the Margins,” co-sponsored with the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC). The seminar explored the opportunities and challenges Jordan is facing as one of the most water-poor countries in the world, with a growing population and a…
The Challenges and Benefits of Preservation: Reflections on “Human Heritage”
by Carly J. Cormier The most recent ACOR virtual lecture event, “Human Heritage: Preserving Palmyra, Petra, and Hatra,” was cohosted with the Getty Research Institute (GRI) to commemorate the launch of the Getty’s new interactive online exhibition, Return to Palmyra. The presenters discussed the unique set of challenges regarding preserving the cultural and physical remains of…
A Journey from the Excavation Archive Back to the Site: The Architectural Decoration of the Temple of the Winged Lions, Petra
by Marco Dehner In my recent role as a fellow at ACOR, it was my responsibility to assist with the preparation of the upcoming final publication of the Temple of the Winged Lions (TWL) and to conduct my own research about this Nabataean- to Roman-era (1st–4th-century AD) site in Petra, Jordan, which will lead to…
Ask a Scholar: Prof. Waleed Hazbun (Former Fellow, Political Scientist)
This written interview is part of a new series on Insights: “Ask A Scholar,” through which we highlight the personal experiences of fellows and other affiliated researchers. The following conversation with former fellow Waleed Hazbun (ACOR-United States Information Agency, 1997–1998), who is now professor of political science at the University of Alabama, took place by email…
Ask a Scholar: Micaela Sinibaldi, Islamic Baydha Project Director
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….
The Petra Papyri: A city’s diary from the 6th century CE (Lecture in Arabic)
To see other ACOR lectures in English, please click here. (يوم الثلاثاء 24 أيلول 2019 الساعة 6 مساءً في المركز الأمريكي للأبحاث الشرقية (أكور برديات بترا: ذاكرة المدينة و أهلها في القرن السادس الميلادي في عام 1993 اكتُشف أرشيف من البرديات اليونانية في الكنيسة البيزنطية ببترا، يتضمن 140 بردية تقريبًا، مؤرخة في القرن السادس الميلادي،…
Reviewing the Temple of the Winged Lions (TWL), Petra: Digging through Forty Years of Archives
Dr. Pauline Piraud-Fournet is an archaeologist, architect, and associate researcher at the French Institute of the Near East. In 2019, she was the recipient of a six month TWL Publication Fellowship at ACOR. In 2016, she received her Ph.D. in Archaeology on the topic of ‘the city of Bosra’ (Southern Syria) in Late Antiquity from…
Images from a Lifetime Dedicated to Archaeology: The Paul and Nancy Lapp Collection at ACOR
By Rachael McGlensey Half a century is a long time to be an archaeologist- but Nancy Lapp has been working for 50 years and then some. Born in 1930, Nancy has been engaging with the archaeology of Jordan and Palestine since 1957. In recent decades, her primary focus has been publishing volumes on the excavations…
Pauline Piraud-Fournet: Temple of the Winged Lions Publication Fellow, Spring-Summer 2019
Pauline Piraud-Fournet is an archaeologist and architect, and the recent recipient of a new 6 month Fellowship from ACOR in 2019: the Temple of the Winged Lions (TWL) Publication Fellowship. As part of this Fellowship, which is funded from the ACOR Publication Fund, Pauline is working on the assessment of the Temple of the Winged…
Signing the Way at the Temple of the Winged Lions, Petra
Jack Green, PhD, Associate Director of ACOR and Project Director of the Temple of the Winged Lions Cultural Resource Management (TWLCRM) Initiative writes about the recent efforts in site presentation and interpretation at the Temple of the Winged Lions. The Temple of the Winged Lions (TWL) in the World Heritage Site of Petra is a…