About the Project
The preservation and promotion of a nation’s cultural heritage are crucial to maintaining its unique identity and fostering a sense of pride and belonging among its citizens. Recognizing this importance, the American Center of Research has created an initiative to bolster the safeguarding and management of Jordan’s rich cultural legacy. The project seeks to establish a national cultural heritage property inventory system for the Kingdom of Jordan, streamlining the process of cataloging and maintaining invaluable historical and archaeological assets, and ensuring their protection for generations to come.
The National Inventory of Jordan is an ongoing initiative dedicated to documenting and preserving the country’s rich cultural heritage. This work builds upon previous efforts, particularly those of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology (GPIA) and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (DoA) through the DOJAM project, which laid essential groundwork for large-scale heritage documentation (learn more).
With a commitment to advancing and expanding this work, the project continues in close collaboration with the DoA and GPIA, ensuring that Jordan’s archaeological and historical records are safeguarded and accessible for future generations.
This project supports the bilateral memorandum of understanding between the United States and Jordan that seeks to safeguard Jordan’s cultural property and prevent the illegal trafficking of this property. This project will contribute towards the fulfilment of this agreement by establishing the national inventory of all of the moveable cultural property in the country in cooperation with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. At the same time, this project will support the Prevention of Illicit Antiquities Project by providing a place for recording and tracking recovered artifacts.
The project was officially launched (see also: https://acorjordan.org/establishing-a-national-cultural-heritage-property-database-in-the-kingdom-of-jordan/) on October 13, 2022 by ACOR’s executive director, Pearce Paul Creasman and the director general of the Department of Antiquities, Fadi Bala’awi in the presence of the U.S. Ambassador, Henry T. Wooster and Deputy Assistant Secretary Jennifer Gavito at an event at the center. During the evening, the recently returned artifacts were displayed, illustrating the importance of the MOU and the project.
Jennifer Gavito (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State), Henry T. Wooster (U.S. Ambassador to Jordan), Prof. Fadi Bala’awi (Director General of the Department of Antiquities), and Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman (Executive Director of the American Center of Research) viewing trafficked artifacts repatriated to Jordan from the United States
Four of the Neolithic cattle figurines repatriated to Jordan by the United States
In this collaborative effort with the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, the American Center will provide several essentials necessary for success, including: the demonstrated capacity to implement such complex projects, critical expertise and staffing, technological know-how, oversight and accountability, and a plan for long-term sustainability. After establishing the system with robust safeguards on the entry and modification of data, the project will achieve significant progress in populating the database, training government employees to use and maintain the database, and encouraging its use by other stakeholders working in the country.
The project is made possible by the generous support of the American People through the United States Department of State. The content of this article is the responsibility of the American Center of Research and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of State or the United States Government.
This page was last updated on February 16, 2025.
