The 2018 ACOR Public Lecture Series and the Embassy of Australia in Amman present: “Pella @ 40: The 2019 Field Season at Pella in Jordan,” by Stephen Bourke. This lecture took place at ACOR in Amman on February 25, 2019.
About the Lecture
The lecture presents first impression of the results of the 2019 field season at Pella in Jordan, where new investigations progress on the Early Bronze Age (ca. 3500-3000 BCE) massive stone ‘platform and gateway’ complex, located on the high hill of Tell Husn, 500m south of Khirbet Fahl. Work on the tell itself will explore further the Bronze Age (ca. 1700-1500 BCE) Courtyard palace discovered in 2015, and continue to uncover the major Iron Age (ca. 950-850 BCE) civic building (of more than 45 rooms), under excavation for the past decade. More work on the industrial landscape of the Byzantine glass kiln manufacturing area, explores the sharply altered urban circumstances of the post-Justinianic (ca. 540-640 CE) settlement landscape. Finally, new investigations into the Mameluke (ca. 1250-1400 CE) Hospice/Administrative complex discovered last season, rounds out this season’s work on several of the many phases of vigorous urban life at Pella in Jordan through the ages.
About the Lecturer
Dr. Stephen Bourke has directed the University of Sydney’s Pella Excavation Project since 1992. He has nearly forty years of field experience in the Middle East, including the direction of the University of Sydney’s Ghassul excavations from 1994 until 1999. Dr. Bourke’s research interests span many periods, from the Palaeolithic through to the Late Antique world, although he considers himself primarily a Bronze and Iron Age specialist. He is the editor of The Middle East: The Cradle of Civilisation Revealed, and has authored nearly 100 research publications over the course of his academic career.
