Pella @ 40

A 2-day celebration of 40 years of fieldwork and research at Pella in Jordan

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 frominitial 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.

About the event

The two-day (19-20 July) mini-conference aims to showcase significant discoveries made at Pella over the last 40 years.

• The first day of the conference will feature lectures on all periods investigated at Pella by project co-directors most concerned with their archaeology, including Phillip Edwards (LaTrobe) on Natufian Wadi Hammeh 27, John Tidmarsh (USyd) on Hellenistic/Early Roman finds, Pamela Watson (UNE) and Kate da Costa (USyd) on aspects of Late Roman/Byzantine Pella, and Alan Walmsley (MacU) on Islamic period discoveries.The first day will culminate with a public lecture by Stephen Bourke on ‘Pella @ 40: Past Achievements and Future Goals’.
• The second day of the conference will include presentations by around 15 postdoctoral and postgraduate researchers on aspects of ongoing studies, featuring old and new work on Chalcolithic period farming villages, monumental Bronze Age fortifications, temple and palace complexes, on tombs and their contents, anthropology and zoology, and the excavation, conservation and illustration of key artifacts. The second day will end with a celebratory dinner at a nearby local hotel.

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Enquiries and RSVP:
The two-day celebration of work at Pella is free to all staff, students, volunteers and members of the general public who wish to attend. However, to aid in venue organization and catering, we ask that those wishing to attend all or part of the conference RSVP:

RSVP by Monday 8 July
Click here to register

Click here to download program (PDF) 832KB

Hosted by the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (NEAF)

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