The reputation of the Tall al-`Umayri excavations precedes this adventure long before we take to the field. Known and respected widely around the world, the site typically attracts tour groups and scholars, to say nothing of the curious local population wondering why on earth (in the earth?) are they digging up these stones and bones?

While life among countries in Jordan’s rough neighborhood has been challenging to residents, it has also dampened enthusiasm among would-be tourists from coming to the region. So, the flow of visitors was rather underwhelming this season. Even so, Tall al-`Umayri played host to several groups and individuals.

Of course there was, first and foremost, an archaeological team on the premises for six weeks. Except for Talib and his Bedouin tent full of family and belongings along the lower eastern slopes of the tell, no one lives there during the time archaeologists are not present. Weekly Report 3E consists of a photo gallery picturing most dig participants, but here I want to show a group photo and, without identifying everyone in the photo, list all participants. Here they are:

MPP-`Umayri 2016
Excavation Staff

Foreigners

Betty	Adams	Graduate student in archaeology and Bible from Pasco, Washington
Malak	Alkadri	Undergraduate student in anthropology from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta
Christine	Asquith	Undergraduate student in anthropology from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta
Jaime	Bennett	Graduate student in archaeology from La Sierra University
Glorianne	Besana	Undergraduate student in history from Pacific Union College in Angwin, California
Mary	Boyd	Presbyterian pastor in Langley, Washington
Kent	Bramlett	Professor of archaeology and antiquity at La Sierra University
Owen	Chesnut	Almost finished with PhD in archaeology from Andrews University
Douglas	Clark	Director of the Center for Near Eastern Archaeology at La Sierra University
Shaun	Eccles	Undergraduate student in anthropology from Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta
Melissa	Hebein	Post-graduate pre-pharmacy student at La Sierra University
Amanda	Hopkins	Teacher in Falls Church, Virginia
David	Hopkins	Retired professor of archaeology and Hebrew Bible at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.
Regine	Hunziker-Rodewald	Professor of OT and the History of the ANE at the Universite de Strasbourg in Strasbourg, France
Ruth	Kent	Retired chaplain from Hurley, New York
Jillian	Logee	Professional photographer from Calgary, Alberta
Jose	Martini	Graduate student in religious studies at La Sierra University
Lawrence	Murrin	Registrar at Burman University in Lacombe, Alberta
Bernina	Ninow	Assistant Librarian in the CNEA Library at La Sierra University
Friedbert	Ninow	Dean of the HMS Richards Divinity School at La Sierra University
Colin	Pummel	Undergraduate student in history from Pacific Union College in Angwin, California
Kristina	Reed	Graduate student in archaeology at La Sierra University
Audrey	Shaffer	Retired nursing educator from Corona, California
Shayla	Shupe	Undergraduate student from Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington
Kristy	Swartz	Graduate student in anthropology at Washington State University, Vancouver, Washington campus
Satu	Terian	Office manager in Carmel, California
Marilyn	Thomsen	VP for Communications and Marketing at La Sierra University
Craig	Tyson	Professor of Hebrew Bible at D'Youville College in Buffalo, New York
Josephine	Verduci	Archaeologist at the Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia
Matthew	Vincent	PhD student at Murcia University in Spain
Monique	Vincent	Publications Manager for the CNEA at La Sierra University
Carolyn	Waldron	Food bank coordinator in Ridgefield, Washington

Jordanian archaeology student with MA

Niveen

Rashad Abu-Shawish

Graduate student in archaeology in Amman, Jordan

Ethnographic University of Jordan students

Omar	Ibrahim Eneizat	Graduate student in anthropology at the University of Jordan
Amira	Mohammad Eneizat	Graduate student in anthropology at the University of Jordan
Eslam	Mahmoud AlDawdieh	Graduate student in anthropology at the University of Jordan

Jordanian volunteers

Rakan	Omar Karborani	Son of tour guides in Jordan
Hanna	Omar Karborani	Son of tour guides in Jordan

DoA Representatives

Samia	Khouri	Department of Antiquities of Jordan
Muna	Hiari	Department of Antiquities of Jordan
Aktham	Oweidi	Department of Antiquities of Jordan
Salem	Diab	Department of Antiquities of Jordan

ATC

Saed	Ahmaru	Son of the steward at the Amman Training Center in Muqabalayn, Jordan
Ahmad	Ahmaru	Son of the steward at the Amman Training Center in Muqabalayn, Jordan

Bunayat

Abu Issa	Mohammad Taha Hamid Almarai	Labor boss from Bunayat, Jordan
Adel	Taha Hamid Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Ibrahim	Taha Hamid Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Yehyeh	Hamdan Taha Hamid Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Yousef	Omar Hamid Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Amjad	Omar Abd Al-Nahdi Almarai Al-Ajarmah	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Ibrahim	Burgess Ahmad Almesafa	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Bilal	Ahmed Abed Kareem Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Bilal	And-Alrahman And-Almahdi Almari	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Imad	Abdel Rahman Ab Al Mahdi Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Aboud	Al-Almahdi Othman Al-Almahdi Almarai	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Ahmad	Abdullah Mohammad Simarna	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Mohammad	Saleh Ahmad Almaras	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Mohammad		Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Abu	Kher	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Rakan	Talib	Worker from Tall al-`Umayri
Abdullah	Othman	Worker from Bunayat, Jordan
Abdulkarim		Worker from Bunayat, Jordan

So, one can see an extremely cosmopolitan group, totaling 62 adventurers. We were especially pleased to have so many Jordanians joining us. As under normal circumstances, these individuals included the DoA representatives (four this year!) and our labor force from the village of Bunayat, but also engaged a graduate archaeology student from Hashemite University (Nivin), three graduate students in anthropology from the University of Jordan (Omar, Amira, and Eslam), and four teenagers, two the sons of travel agents in Jordan (Rakan and Hanna) and two the sons of our Steward at ATC (Saed and Ahmad). They all made excellent contributions. We would invite the students and teenagers back any time.

Workers from Bunayat not only form our labor force; we are family. Bunayat is the fourth `Umayri constructed over the millennia around an ancient water source, even mentioned by Pharaoh Tutmosis III (`Umayri West, where we dig, from the Bronze and Iron Ages; `Umayri East, across the airport highway, represents the classical Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods; a small Islamic site not far to the north; and then Bunayat, likely going back to late Ottoman times). So, the fourth `Umayri is providing labor to help us understand the first one. In the process, Bunayat boys began work with us in 1984 when we started excavation here. We now employ some from the second generation and are close to the third.

Carolyn Waldron and Monique, with collaboration from Kent Bramlett and me, established the Community Ethnographic Project at `Umayri (CEPU) to record family histories and make this a part of our study of the ancient past at `Umayri. For more information, visit the CEPU website at: http://www.madabaplains.org/umayri/cepu.htm

Aside from the daily visits of the DoA representatives, which are required by law, we also enjoyed seeing Mr. Basem Mohamid, Director of the Madaba Regional office of the DoA. Since `Umayri is really in the Amman District, but also part of the Madaba Plains Project, our finds sometimes end up in the Amman storerooms and sometimes in the Madaba facility. Although living in the border region occasionally leaves us schizophrenic, perhaps not unlike border towns between ancient Ammon and Moab, it appears more and more like Madaba will be the repository of all things `Umayri. This means we work for Basem, as well as for the DoA headquartered in Amman, where his wife, Hanadi, works.

Basem is a great friend of archaeologists and is pressing several of us to expand our vision of the possible in Madaba. He is coordinator of a relatively new international initiative (American – La Sierra University and Gannon University – and Italian – Perugia University) to prepare for and construct a new archaeological museum virtually across the street from the famous St. George’s Church (Map Church), and to turn the current museum into a place for archaeological storage and research.

The Director of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in Amman (GPIA), Frauke Kenkel, brought three scholars with her for a visit in late July. While new to the position, Frauke is not new to Jordan and was part of the highly successful excavation team at Tall Zira’a in northern Jordan, a project with which we have compared finds because of similar occupation histories between our sites. The visit gave our field supervisors ample opportunity to update Frauke and to initiate her three colleagues on progress at `Umayri.