Location: Jordan
Flyer:
cisa3_archaeologyfieldschool2012.pdf
Program Type
RPA certified
Affiliation:
Project Director:
Project Description
The 2012 season will focus on the investigation of the largest habitation site in this ancient copper ore resource zone. The site is Khirbat Faynan (Biblical Punon; Roman/Byzantine Phaino). Preliminary research in 2011 demonstrated important settlement phases during the Early Bronze II-III periods (ca. 2300 – 2000 BC), Iron Age (ca. 1200 – 500 BC), as well as Nabatean/Roman/Byzantine (350 BC – 638 AD). The working hypothesis is that Khirbat Faynan served as the political and economic center of copper production in Faynan during these periods. Advanced digital archaeology methods will be used to record the excavation process.
Period(s) of Occupation: Early Bronze Age, Iron Age, Nabataean Period, Roman Period, Byzantine Period, Early Islamic Period
Minimum Length of Stay for Volunteers: Full season
Room and Board Arrangements
Project participants will live in a tent camp outside of the village of al-Qurayqira. The tents are large enough for 10-12 people, but we generally only have 3-4 per tent. All meals are provided while participants are in camp, and cooking and cleanup are done by camp staff. Weekends are spent in cities, generally Aqaba or Amman (we also spend one long weekend in Petra) and transportation to the city is included in program fees. Students are responsible for their own room and board on weekends.
Academic Credit
Levy, Thomas E., Mohammad Najjar, and Thomas Higham
2010 Ancient texts and archaeology revisited - radiocarbon and Biblical dating in the southern Levant. Antiquity 84:834-847.
Levy, Thomas E., Thomas Higham, Christopher Bronk Ramsey, Neil G. Smith, Erez Ben-Yosef, Mark Robinson, Stefan Münger, Kyle Knabb, Jürgen P. Schulze, Mohammad Najjar, and Lisa Tauxe
2008 High-precision radiocarbon dating and historical biblical archaeology in southern Jordan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105(43):16460-16465.
Levy, Thomas E., and Mohammad Najjar
2006 Edom and Copper: The Emergence of Ancient Israel's Rival. Biblical Archaeology Review 32:24-35, 70.
Najjar, Mohammad, and Thomas E. Levy
2011 Condemned to the Mines: Copper Production & Christian Persecution. Biblical Archaeology Review 37(6):30-39, 71.