I was not a happy camper, however. I had returned to Jordan in order to attend a conference sponsored by the Jordanian Ministry of Culture about Jerusalem after 1967 and give a presentation about the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. However, I had learned just a few days earlier that the conference had been cancelled. The conference had been cancelled a couple of weeks ago, but the organizers did not bother to tell me of this. I had long ago made my travel arrangements, so I came to Jordan anyway. On June 29, the day before I left Jordan for Germany, when I spoke with the conference organizer at length, the conference was alive and well, but in the meantime the Ministry of Culture decided to combine this July conference with another Jerusalem conference planned for October.
But I can not say that I am all that upset about not attending a Jerusalem after 1967 conference and have to write a publishable article on the topic. But had the conference not been scheduled in the first place, I would not have come to Jordan at all, but rather would have stayed in Germany for a few more days and flown directly to Saudi Arabia, saving me the cost of the Frankfurt-Amman airline ticket.
I was able to get a room at ACOR on short notice; otherwise the building is full for the summer with a large group of Arabic language students.
With my now available free days in Jordan, I took the opportunity to visit some archaeological sites. On Sunday July 19 I went with Zakariah Ben Badhann to visit the site of Shuqayrah in the south Kerak plateau, where he has been excavating with students from Muta University for the past few years. The site is a major early Islamic palatial structure that I had not been to before.
Their excavation has an easy-going schedule. They arrive at the site at 8:30 and work until 11:30, including a half-hour break in the middle.
But I can not say that I am all that upset about not attending a Jerusalem after 1967 conference and have to write a publishable article on the topic. But had the conference not been scheduled in the first place, I would not have come to Jordan at all, but rather would have stayed in Germany for a few more days and flown directly to Saudi Arabia, saving me the cost of the Frankfurt-Amman airline ticket.
I was able to get a room at ACOR on short notice; otherwise the building is full for the summer with a large group of Arabic language students.
With my now available free days in Jordan, I took the opportunity to visit some archaeological sites. On Sunday July 19 I went with Zakariah Ben Badhann to visit the site of Shuqayrah in the south Kerak plateau, where he has been excavating with students from Muta University for the past few years. The site is a major early Islamic palatial structure that I had not been to before.
Their excavation has an easy-going schedule. They arrive at the site at 8:30 and work until 11:30, including a half-hour break in the middle.
The excavations at Shuqayrah
On Tuesday July 21 I went with Ignacio Arce to the site of Qasr Hallabat, where I had not been in years. The day before he had given a talk for the Friends of Archaeology about the site with major occupation in the Byzantine and Umayyad periods. I was very glad to get to see the site, where Ignacio has been excavating and restoring for some years; he is also setting up a site museum. We also went the nearby Umayyad bath building at Hammam al-Sarah.
The visitors’ center at Hallabat with the site in the background
Ignacio at Hammam al-Sarah
On Monday July 20, I got my visa to Saudi Arabia, without any difficulties. So on July 22 I left with Gary Rollefson and Colin Shepley, two other participants in the Jurash excavation project, for the airport for our evening flight to Abha via Jeddah.
