The JORDAN Report -- 2013
17 June-10 July
Douglas Clark, Director
Center for Near Eastern Archaeology
La Sierra University

All productive working trips begin with an agenda, a script, a list of tasks to accomplish. Here was mine:

Tall al-`Umayri

• Continue to work toward a resolution of land-ownership issues in order to extend our work at the site.
• Mount a(n extremely) short survey season at `Umayri – five days of subsurface mapping with ground-penetrating radar and electro-magnetic induction technologies, with the help of David Wuchenich, physics major at La Sierra and Dr. Bilal Al-Khrisat of Hashemite University in Jordan.
• Work on affiliations of our excavations with the Department of Antiquities (DoA) and Hashemite University.
• O, yes, there are two major reports due to journals in Jordan and the U.S. on last summer’s excavations.

Amman

• Mount an exhibit of the `Umayri Late Bronze Age (ca. 1350 BC) temple sanctuary in the Citadel Museum in Amman.
• Collect, restore, and return `Umayri objects to the DoA.

Madaba

• Restart efforts to renovate and upgrade the DoA regional museum in the city of Madaba, where some of our artifacts are located.

Elsewhere in Jordan

• Spend some time with friends and charter supporters of the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology at La Sierra University, Drs. Danielle Wuchenich and Gary Wuchenich, aunt and uncle of David.

For La Sierra University

• Work on the 2013 Archaeology Discovery Weekend at La Sierra (16-17 November) with its focus on Jerusalem and speakers from Israel, the West Bank, and the US.
• Reconnect with several people, some MBA graduates of La Sierra.
• O, yes, there is completion of the ^&%$*# annual assessment report of the Divinity School for the university Assessment Committee.

Other

• Visit Jerusalem to visit and help (re)launch ACA (Adventist Colleges Abroad) Hebrew in Jerusalem, with Kent Bramlett as the teacher.
• Complete work on Divinity School newsletter still needing attention before release.
• O, yes, and there is planning to accomplish for a team-taught study tour (with Bev Beem of Walla Walla University) on the Judges and Jesus scheduled tentatively for 2015 in Jordan and Israel.

All productive trips should begin with realistic expectations. Not so much with mine.

What follows is a brief, illustrated report of expectations achieved, expectations exceeded, expectations dashed.