Friends of ASOR presents a webinar on April 24, 2022 from 6:00pm to 7:30pm EDT, ” Preserving Cultural Heritage in Hisban and Umm al-Jimal, Jordan,” featuring Øystein LaBianca, Elizabeth Osinga, and Darrell Rohl. This special event will focus on current work in Jordan through two projects—Hisban (part of the Madaba Plains Project) and the Umm al-Jimal Archaeological Project (UJAP). The program will include two presentations covering introductions to each site and the focus of the 2022 fieldwork season, in particular each project’s efforts to preserve cultural heritage through community engagement. Join us as we explore two of the exciting projects that ASOR members are currently participating in across Jordan. Barbara Porter, former ACOR Director and current ACOR Ambassador, will moderate the program and conclude the webinar with a live Q&A session with the audience and panelists. The full program is below. The event will be recorded.

ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $6 | Public: $12

Program Schedule

SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2022

ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 | ASOR Members: $6 | Public: $12

To receive your ASOR member discount, log into the online store. If you are new to ASOR, please click on the “New Visitor Registration” link to register your e-mail address and choose a password for our online store. Once logged in, navigate to “Meeting and Event Registration” to register for the webinar and pay the fee. Each paid registrant will receive a confirmation e-mail when you pay for the webinar. If you do not receive this e-mail, then you are not registered. Please e-mail membership@asor.org with any questions or issues with registering.

You will be e-mailed the Zoom Webinar link in the week prior to the lecture on February 20, 2022. If you do not receive the link by the close of business on the Thursday before the webinar, please e-mail membership@asor.org immediately. This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.

All proceeds from this lecture are used to fund scholarships for members impacted by COVID-19 as well as increasing ASOR’s online resources, which are free to the public.

Øystein LaBianca is a Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Associate Director of the Institute of Archaeology at Andrews University. He is the Senior Director of the Hisban Cultural Heritage Project, a community archaeology project centered at Tall Hisban in Jordan. He holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and archaeology from Brandeis University. LaBianca’s research in Jordan began with studies of long-term human-animal-environment interactions as evidenced by changes over time in animal bone assemblages and related finds uncovered by his excavations and surveys at Tall Hisban. He has also been a leader in introducing community archaeology approaches to archaeological projects in Jordan. He is a long-time member of the boards of trustees of ASOR and ACOR in Amman, Jordan.

Elizabeth Osinga is currently working full-time as a co-director of the Umm al-Jimal Archaeological Project (UJAP). A former student of the late UJAP director Bert de Vries, she has worked with the project since 2012 and her graduate work focused on a socio-economic approach to ceramic analysis at the site (University of Southampton, MA, PhD). When not involved in excavations, grant writing, or other essential projects, she is immersed in Umm al-Jimal’s archive, analyzing the backlog of excavation reports and materials in preparation for long-overdue publication.

Darrell Rohl  is an Assistant Professor of Archaeology, History, and Digital Humanities at Calvin University and is a co-director of the Umm al-Jimal Archaeological Project. A graduate of Andrews University (BSc) and Durham University (MA, PhD), his research has primarily focused on Roman and Late Antique periods in England, Scotland, and Jordan, as well as the application of place theories in archaeological and heritage contexts. He has co-directed excavations with Dr. Elizabeth Osinga at the Hisban North Church (2018) and Umm al-Jimal (2019), and has further fieldwork and research experience in the UK, USA, and Italy.