Every year ACOR funds travel scholarships for two Jordanian researchers to attend the annual meeting of ASOR (American Schools of Oriental Research). Sahar al Khasawneh, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology at Yarmouk University in Jordan is an awardee of a Jordanian Travel Scholarship to attend the ASOR Annual Meeting in San Diego, California in November 2019. She writes about her paper and experience at the conference.

By Sahar al Khasawneh

I specialize in luminescence dating and its applications in archaeology. Despite recent successful developments of luminescence dating in geology, the technique still has limited applications in archaeology. In my work, I attempt to employ these new techniques to resolve chronological questions at archaeological sites, particularly where organic materials are scarce for carbon dating. For example, rock surface luminescence dating is a new approach that has been established in the last few years to define the date when the rocks were last exposed to the sun. In archaeology, we could use the approach to define when rocks were used for construction. The approach could also be useful for dating widespread megalithic structures. In Jordan, I was successful in dating the construction from enigmatic megalithic structures including Khatt Shebib structure (dated to ca. 400 BCE) and a so called Desert Kite structure in southern Jordan (dated to ca. 8000 BCE). I presented my work on dating the Desert Kite site at the ASOR Meeting in 2017.

I also worked with young geo-archaeological sediments such as those at Tell Maqass and Tell Damiyah, and with older sediments such as those at the Dead Sea and Wadi Hasa. At the ASOR 2019 Meeting, I had the opportunity to present my work on Tell Maqass with two different approaches of luminescence dating for the same sample, which acts as an internal age control for the site.

The ASOR Annual Meeting is one of the most important meetings in Near Eastern archaeology in North America. To me, it is an opportunity to follow up with the recent works in Jordan archaeology, and to network with other professionals and archaeologists. The ASOR Annual Meeting is also where I establish research collaborations with other scholars. I am grateful to ACOR and ASOR committees because without the travel award, I wouldn’t have had this opportunity to take part.

Attention Jordanian scholars!
Jordanian Travel Scholarship for ASOR Annual Meeting: Two travel scholarships of $3,500 are funded by ACOR and they assist Jordanians participating and delivering a paper at the ASOR Annual meeting in mid-November in the United States. Academic papers should be submitted through the ASOR’s website (www.asor.org/am) by February 15, 2020. Final award selection will be determined by the ASOR program committee.

في كل عام يقوم المركز الأمريكي للأبحاث الشرقية (أكور) بتمويل منح سفر لحضور الإجتماع السنوي للمدارس الأمريكية للأبحاث الشرقية (أسور) تقدم لإثنين من الباحثين الأردنيين؛ سحر الخصاونة، أستاذ مساعد في كلية الآثار والأنثروبولوجيا في جامعة اليرموك – الأردن، حصلت سحر على منحة السفر للمشاركة في إجتماع (أسور) السنوي والذي أقيم هذه السنة في سان دييغو – كاليفورنيا، في تشرين الثاني 2019. وقد كتبت لنا عن ورقتها البحثية و تجربتها في المؤتمر

بقلم سحر الخصاونة

أنا متخصصة في التأريخ بظاهرة التألق الضوئي وتطبيقه في علم الآثار. على الرغم من التطورات الحديثة في تقنية التأريخ بظاهرة التألق الضوئي في علوم الأرض، فلا يزال هنالك تطبيقات محدودة لاستخدام هذه التقنية في علم الآثار. في عملي أحاول استخدام هذه التقنيات الجديدة لحل المسائل الزمنية في المواقع الأثرية، لا سيما عندما تكون المواد العضوية شحيحة لاستخدامها في التأريخ بالكربون المشع. على سبيل المثال يعد تأريخ سطح الصخور بظاهرة التألق الضوئي تقنية حديثة تم تطويرها في السنوات القليلة الماضية لتأريخ المرة الأخيرة التي تعرض بها سطح الصخر لأشعة الشمس. في علم الآثار ، يمكننا استخدام هذا الأسلوب لتحديد متى تم استخدام الصخور في أعمال البناء. و بهذا يمكن الإستفادة منه في تأريخ التشكيلات الحجرية الضخمة الأثرية ذات الإنتشار الواسع. في الأردن نجحت من خلال هذه التقنية في تحديد زمن بناء بعض هذه التشكيلات الحجرية الغامضة مثل خط شبيب الأثري (الذي يرجع تاريخه إلى 400 سنة قبل الميلاد)، ومواقع المصائد الصحراوية في جنوب الأردن (يرجع تاريخها إلى 8000 سنة قبل الميلاد). قدمت عملي حول تأريخ المصائد الصحراوية في اجتماع (أسور) في عام 2017

 عملت أيضًا في مجال علم الآثار الجيولوجي وبالأخص على الرواسب الجيولوجية الموجودة في موقع تل المقص في مدينة العقبة و موقع تل داميا الواقع في غور الأردن، و في البحر الميت و وادي الحسا. في اجتماع أسور لعام 2019، أتيحت لي الفرصة لأعرض أعمالي في موقع تل المقص بطريقتين مختلفتين من التأريخ التألق الضوئي على نفس العينة، والتي عملت بمثابة مراقب داخلي لعمر الموقع

الإجتماع السنوي لأسور هو واحد من أهم المؤتمرات في علم آثار الشرق الأدني في أمريكا الشمالية. بالنسبة لي، إنها فرصة لمتابعة آخر الأعمال الأثرية في الأردن، و للتواصل مع المتخصصين و غيرهم من علماء الآثار. وهو أيضا المكان الذي أقيم فيه علاقات تعاون مع الباحثيين الآخرين. ولهذا أنا ممتنة جداً للمركز الأمريكي للأبحاث الشرقية (أكور) و للإجتماع السنوي للمدارس الأمريكية للأبحاث الشرقية (أسور) لأنه بدون تقديمهم لمنحة السفر هذه لما أتيحت لي فرصة المشاركة

تذكير للباحثين الأردنيين

منح سفر للأردنيين للمشاركة في إجتماع (آسور) السنوي: منحتان للسفر بقيمة 3500 دولار لكل منهما مقدمة من قبل المركز الأمريكي للأبحاث الشرقية (أكور) لمساعدة الأردنيين سواء كانوا طلاب أو أكاديميين أو باحثين للمشاركة وتقديم ورقة بحثية في الاجتماع السنوي للمدارس الأمريكية للأبحاث الشرقية (آسور) الذي يقام في منتصف تشرين الثاني في الولايات المتحدة من كل عام.  يرجى تقديم الأوراق الأكاديمية من خلال موقع أسور  (www.asor.org/am)  الإلكتروني مباشرة

 آخر موعد للتقديم هو 15 فبراير لعام 2020. سيتم إختيار الحاصل على المنحة من قبل لجنة برنامج أسور

The post ACOR Supports Jordanian Researchers: Dr. Sahar al Khasawneh Presents at 2019 ASOR Meeting appeared first on ACOR Jordan.

She writes below about her dissertation research project titled “Ancient Terraces in the Hinterlands of Petra.”

My connection with ACOR began when I was an undergraduate and I frequently visited ACOR’s library to read and to study. I had the opportunity to interact with various scholars in residence, to learn about their research, and become inspired by their knowledge. Since then and until today I pass by ACOR on a regular basis to use the library and touch base with colleagues.

In 2015, while working on a hydrology project that focused on mitigating flooding in the hinterlands of Petra together with a team of professors from the German Jordanian University and Yarmouk University, I began to think about ancient human interaction with the environment and the balance between survival and adaptation as the key to understanding patterns of human settlement or migration. These thoughts later developed into my dissertation project to explore human modification of the landscape through the construction of drywall terraces.

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The village of Wadi Musa, or “Elji” or “Gaya” as it was known historically, is flanked by several wadis. The village has a number of springs that encouraged humans to settle, beginning as early as the Neolithic period (the site of al- Basset) until the present time. To the northwest lies the site of Muzeraʿa, an enigmatic set of terraces that span almost half a kilometer. Today threatened by urbanization, large portions of the site were sadly demolished by bulldozing, construction, sewage, plowing and dumping of construction debris.  The need for investigation and documentation of these ancient terraces is clear and urgent.

The James A. Sauer Fellowship enabled me to embark on site investigation and documentation at Muzera’a. In May 2017, a methodology was developed to document the terraced walls, focusing on their method of construction, stone provenance, and possible function. I also collected various soil samples for future further analysis of past vegetation and possible dating. The site has proven to be more complex that initially anticipated, hence further investigation is required to explore its function and role in the dynamic landscape.

One of the most exiting aspects of working at the site of Muzera’a was interacting with the scientific communities of both Jordanian and international archaeological teams working in Petra. Working at the archaeological site brought daily interaction with local Wadi Musa community, who became almost a family.  The community’s interest and curiosity stimulated the progress of the project, and continues to inspire my research.

Catreena Hamarneh received her B.Sc. in Geology and M.A in Archaeology from the University of Jordan. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Classical Archaeology at Von Humboldt University.

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A New Perspective for the Protection of Threatened Cultural Heritage

Dr. Monther Jamhawi
Director General
Department of Antiquities of Jordan

Tuesday 24 January 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

Reception to Follow

About the Lecturer:

Dr. Monther Jamhawi is the Director General of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. Before joining the Department, he was a professor of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage at the Jordan University of Science and Technology.  Dr. Jamhawi is a widely published author and has served as a consultant expert for many national and regional projects involving heritage, conservation, and tourism development.

Dr. Jamhawi earned a Ph.D. in Cultural Resources Management from Oxford Brookes University (UK); and M.A. in Archaeology from Yarmouk University and a B.A. in Architecture from Yarmouk University.

About the Lecture:

The Department of Antiquities of Jordan was established on 1923 and since that time it has taken the responsibility under the law to excavate, restore, and protect Jordan’s antiquities and to present part of the antiquities as a cultural tourism product. The classical approach and the existing procedures for adopting these responsibilities proved that vandalism and illegal trading and illicit trafficking of objects are still active. International reports show that ISIS is relying on the antiquities trade to raise funds for their terrorist activities. Therefore, the need for a new perspective to change the procedures in saving our heritage has become crucial. This lecture will focus on how heritage could be a tool for the cross cultural dialogue when dealing with Jordan’s many sites and monuments as a human innovation that should be respected and saved.

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Jehad Haron is no stranger to breaking new ground in Jordan’s archaeology. As a longtime member of the Department of Antiquities (DOA), he worked on 22 international projects, including 12 salvage excavations at threatened sites in Jordan and abroad, and served a three-year term as the DOA’s Director of Excavations and Survey. As Chief of Bureau for the DOA in 2000, he held the exceptional role of managing and overseeing the site work of foreign archaeologists. In all, Jehad’s DOA career spanned 24 years, during which he visited or worked on, by his own estimate, “just about every site in Jordan.”

Now Jehad is breaking new ground with USAID SCHEP, where he recently took the position of Cultural Heritage Resource (CHR) Projects Lead. I sat down with my new colleague to get a better sense of who he is and to hear his ideas about the future of cultural heritage preservation in Jordan. During our conversation, he had the following to say regarding his vision for the position and what he hopes to accomplish.

“Guidelines. Guidelines are what we need more than anything. We have no rules, no formal process, no way to make sure that [archaeological] sites are being developed, managed, and promoted in a proper way. This is what we need to show the world, that we can do this, that we can be in charge of these areas and do it in a way that will respect the integrity of the site, the integrity of its values.

With any site, you have three main needs that have to be considered: the conservation needs, the local community needs, and visitor needs. I want us to develop a formula to work on all three of these at the same time. I know sometimes they seem very different—How do you make these fun public spaces for tourists and visitors to enjoy, while also protecting the site’s history? How do we make sure the local community feels invested and that they are benefiting from the site, while also respecting the values of that community? It’s a balance between these three, but we can do it.

One of the most important things we can do is ensure that the function of these sites stays the same. Do I want people to visit and enjoy these places? Of course. But I’m not going to turn an ancient church into a nightclub just so people come. This is what we must always ask ourselves: How do we respect the values of these sites? How do we respect the tangible and intangible structures but still allow people to enjoy them? We need to find a way to preserve these values but also develop and promote these sites so more people enjoy cultural heritage.”

As he’s speaking, his passion for these topics is contagious, and it’s hard not to get excited along with him, his hand gestures getting more pronounced the more he talks. I’m reminded of the first time I ever heard him speak. It was at the 13th International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan (ICHAJ) in May 2016, before he had officially joined the USAID SCHEP team. He was presenting during a session on Conservation and Site Management about his experience working with Jordan’s World Heritage Sites. Even then he was vocal about the necessity of involving local communities in the archaeological process, in transferring knowledge to others within Jordan.

“I fear some of the younger people are like leaves in the wind, because they don’t know their own history. It is the job of archaeologists to pass this history on to another generation,” Jehad told me during our interview. “It’s so sad that a boy living right next to an archaeological site knows less about it than a man in a university thousands of miles away.”

For Jehad, community involvement and proper site use and management is more than just a theoretical exercise; they are issues he’s been directly involved with throughout his long career with the DOA. During his time with USAID SCHEP, he hopes to put this extensive field experience to work. “It’s impossible to do this work—really do it—unless you’re out in the field, interacting with people,” he tells me earnestly. “You have to be outside as much as you’re behind a desk.”

Since taking over as CHR Projects Lead in July, he has taken his own advice to heart,  undertaking a grueling schedule, touring all five current USAID SCHEP sites and visiting potential locations to be added in the future. During these visits, he talks to everyone from conservation trainees to project directors, getting a sense of the on-the-ground operations and the work that’s still to be done. This hands-on approach and long-standing commitment to community engagement and responsible site development is one of the reasons he has slipped seamlessly into the rest of the USAID SCHEP team.

The intense pace of work with USAID SCHEP is a welcome change for Jehad. “I think I’ll be able to help fill in a lot of gaps, both with USAID SCHEP and at the Department of Antiquities,” said Jehad. “We can be better, and we can do more to advance cultural heritage protection together. I’ve learned a lot and I think I can use it here at USAID SCHEP. I think I can help.”

Written by Sofia J. Smith, USAID SCHEP Communications Officer

This blog article is not official U.S. Government information and does not necessarily represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development or the U.S. Government.

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