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…
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…
by Kathryn Grossman I have been in Jordan for two months now, and Tom Parker’s presence is everywhere—in my work, in conversations with colleagues, on the stiff breeze at Petra. Despite twenty years in Near Eastern archaeology, this is my first time working in Jordan; I had just imagined he would be here when I…
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…
المركز الأمريكي للأبحاث و معهد بحوث جيتي يقدمان وبكل فخر التراث الإنساني:الحفاظ على تدمر، البترا والحضربرنامج عبر الفضاء الإلكترونييوم الأربعاء 16 حزيران وصف البرنامج: تحكي التواريخ القديمة لمدينة تدمر (سوريا) والبترا (الأردن) والحضر (العراق) قصة التبادل الثقافي بين هذه المدين، حيث تشارك سكانها طرق التجارة، كما قاموا ببناء آثار مماثلة، وعبدوا آلهة محلية وإقليمية مشتركة. ورغم…
تصفّح/ي المعلومات باللغة العربيّة هنا ACOR and the Getty Research Institute Proudly Present:“Human Heritage: Preserving Palmyra, Petra, and Hatra”Hosted on Zoom on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 This program is also available in Arabic. About the program: Cohosted in Arabic and English by the Getty Research Institute and the American Center of Research in Jordan, this…
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…
by Jack Green, Ph.D. In November 2020, ACOR published the second volume of Archaeology in Jordan (AIJ), an open-access biennial that continues the “Archaeology in Jordan Newsletter,” which appeared in the American Journal of Archaeology from 1991 to 2016. AIJ does not provide a full representation of all the archaeological fieldwork and research conducted in the…
by Jane Taylor In this photo essay, writer and photographer Jane Taylor reflects on her many visits to Petra from the 1970s onward, which in turn contributed to books including Petra (1993, 2005) and Petra and the Lost Kingdom of the Nabataeans (2001). Something of her personal journey of discovery is told through encounters with…
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…
ACOR cannot thrive without the help of great interns – they are often current university students and recent graduates from the U.S. and Jordan. Safa’ Joudeh and Libby Trowbridge worked together as a great intern team to help document a large number of objects excavated and sifted from the Temple of the Winged Lions (TWL), a…
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…
Michael Morris is an ACOR-CAORC post-doctoral fellow in fall 2018, currently working to conserve two marble Aphrodite figures found at Petra’s North Ridge Excavations conducted under ACOR Board members S. Thomas Parker and Megan Perry. After an initial polychrome study by Mark Abbe, these extraordinary figures will be conserved and exhibited in the new Petra…
The ACOR Video Lecture Series provides accessible discussions of new research into the past and present of Jordan and the broader Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean worlds. This video was adapted from the public lectures delivered at ACOR by Dr. Jaakko Frösén and Dr. Antti Arjava from the University of Helsinki to discuss the final…
The first time I came to Petra, it was as a wide-eyed tourist; I walked through the Siq and followed the winding path to the Treasury, marveling at the banded colors in the rock and the intricate carvings that made this place so special. The second time I came to Petra, it was through the…