NEAF presents Pella @ 40

A celebration of 40 years of fieldwork and research at Pella in Jordan.

Organised by the Near Eastern Archaeological Foundation (NEAF)

Please RSVP by 8 July 2019

The University of Sydney’s Pella Excavation Project celebrates forty years of fieldwork in 2019. It is the longest running and arguably the most influential Near Eastern archaeological project in Australia’s post-war history. More than 20 PhD theses and upwards of 500 publications have so far resulted from research carried out at Pella.

Pella of the Decapolis, modern Tabaqat Fahl, is located in the eastern foothills of the central Jordan Valley of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Occupation on the central mound of Khirbet Fahl spans approximately 8000 years, stretching from initial occupation in the Neolithic through to early Ottoman times, featuring massive city fortifications, palaces and temples, elaborate housing complexes, and rich funerary installations across the ages.

In the hinterland of Pella , traces of occupation stretch back much further into the Lower Palaeolithic around half a million years ago, and feature the Natufian settlement of Wadi Hammeh 27. As well, forts and watchtowers, farms, roads and bridges, industrial and agricultural installations, and a variety of tomb monuments, dating from the Bronze Age to the recent past, populate the landscape.

PLEASE NOTE: Those attending the evening events will need to pay for their own food and drinks at a local venue yet to be decided. Lunch will need to be purchased or brought privately.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will be provided.

Day 1: Friday 19 July

• 10:00-10:30 Welcome
• 10:30-11:15 Phillip Edwards (Wadi Hammeh)

• 11:15-11:30 Morning Tea

• 11:30-12:15 Stephen Bourke (Bronze/Iron Ages)
• 12:15- 1:00 John Tidmarsh (Hellenistic/Early Roman)

• 1:00-2:00 Lunch (please bring your own or purchase at nearby outlets)

• 2:00-2:45 Pamela Watson (Byzantine/Husn)
• 2:45-3:30 Kate da Costa (Byzantine/Martyrium)
• 3:00-4:45 Alan Walmsley (Islamic/Khandaq)

• 5:00-7:00 drinks (attendees can purchase at their own expense)

• 7:00-8:00 Stephen Bourke (Pella @ 40: A Secret Country in the Ground)

Day 2: Saturday 20 July

• 9:30-10:00 Peta Seaton (Chalcolithic Sartaba/Husn)
• 10:00-10:30 Jaimie Lovell (Chalco el-Khawarij)
• 10:30-11:00 James Fraser (EBA Hinterland/Tombs)

• 11:00-11:15 Morning Tea

• 11:15-11:45 Samantha Gibbins (EBA Husn)
• 11:45-12:15 Melissa Kennedy (EBA Hammeh)
• 12:15-12:45 Anne Dighton (Botany/Olives)

• 12:45-1:30 Lunch (please bring your own or purchase at nearby outlets)

• 1:30-2:00 Holly Winter (Palace Function)
• 2:00-2:30 Ruth Ward (Temple Function)
• 2:30-3:00 Karyn Wesselingh (Bronze Age Zoology)
• 3:00-3:30 Karen Hendrix (Bronze/Iron Age Anthropology)

• 3:30-3:45 Afternoon tea

• 3:45-4:15 Wendy Reade (Late Antique Glass)
• 4:15-4:45 Bernadette Drabsch (Art/Drawing at Pella)
• 4:45-5:15 Sandra Gordon (Decapolis Coinage)

• 6:00-9:00 Pub dinner (attendees can purchase at their own expense)

Click here for full details and to download the full program