News and Events

22 August 2025 “I had the privilege of staying at the American Center of Research during the months of May, June, and July of 2025 and conducting research on depictions of Midian/Madyan in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur’an. Historically, Midian/Madyan is believed to have been located in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula, with its northernmost […]

13 August 2025 Advances in Archaeological Practice 13.1 has just been published, and ACOR is pleased to announce that the cover features one of our photographs. Congratulations to those who worked on this new issue, which we think will be of interest to members of our readership who follow anti-illicit trafficking of antiquities efforts in Jordan.  The

5 August 2025 (updated 6 August 2025) It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Patricia Maynor Bikai on August 5, 2025. Having earned a PhD in biblical studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, she undertook archaeological fieldwork that stretched from Lebanon, where she worked in the 1970s,

2 July 2022 We are pleased to share news of funding opportunities from the Getty Research Institute. Please note that these grants and fellowships are resident at the Getty in Los Angeles, California, and are not affiliated with the American Center of Research. Call for Applications The Getty Research Institute is pleased to announce that

23 June 2025 The American Center of Research seeks an operations and administration assistant. This full-time position requires residence in Amman, Jordan, and is primarily intended to assist the organization in facilitating operations and administrative work. The right candidate will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, a diploma or bachelor’s degree in a relevant field,

18 June 2025 When it comes to understanding religion in Iron Age Jordan (ca. 1200–550 BCE), terracotta figurines offer one of our most abundant and expressive forms of archaeological evidence. These three-dimensional artistic objects fit readily into one hand (typically 10–15 cm), apparently crafted for personal use. At the same time, they appear across a

30 May 2025 About the Lecture The royal pyramid necropolis at Abusir Center is one of the most significant archaeological sites in the region of ancient Egypt’s capital, Memphis, which was founded around 3100 BC at the dawn of the unified Egyptian state. The necropolis flourished during the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2435–2306 BC), when the

29 May 2025 We are pleased to announce the selection of our 2024–2025 fellowship awardees. Twenty fellows were chosen for both short- and long-term fellowships, at all levels from undergraduate to postdoctoral. For further details, please see our current fellows page.

11 May 2025 About the Lecture Desert kites are among the most enigmatic prehistoric structures in Jordan’s arid landscapes, forming vast hunting traps designed to capture wild gazelles and other game. Despite their abundance, the timing of their construction and use has long been debated due to the scarcity of direct dating evidence. Research employing

16 April 2025; updated 17 April 2025 Alois Musil (1864–1944) was a Czech explorer who travelled extensively in the Middle East from 1895 to 1917, including southern Jordan and the Negev between 1896 and 1902, just after the Ottomans reestablished government control of the region in 1894. He was the first explorer to travel systematically