The Department of Antiquities is a
government department
Ministry or department (also less commonly used secretariat, office, or directorate) are designations used by first-level executive bodies in the machinery of governments that manage a specific sector of public administration." Энцикло ...
in the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Riv ...
with responsibility for
archaeological research and
cultural heritage management. It is part of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
The department was established in 1923 in what was then the
Emirate of Transjordan
The Emirate of Transjordan ( ar, إمارة شرق الأردن, Imārat Sharq al-Urdun, Emirate of East Jordan), officially known as the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921, , a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...
of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
. Its responsibilities are legislated for in laws no. 24 of 1934, no. 21 of 1988 and no. 22 of 2004.
The department has published an
academic journal
An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...
, the ''Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan'', since 1951, and has organised an international conference on the history and archaeology of Jordan every three years since 1980. It also maintains a comprehensive public
geographic information system and
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...
of
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
s in the country, developed in cooperation with the
Getty Conservation Institute
The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI), located in Los Angeles, California, is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust. It is headquartered at the Getty Center but also has facilities at the Getty Villa, and commenced operation in 1985.J. Paul Getty ...
, the Middle Eastern Geodatabase for Antiquities – Jordan (MEGA-J).
Publications
*Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (ADAJ)
Directors general
The department is headed by a director general.
* Ridha Tawfiq, 1923–1928
*
Tawfiq Abu al-Huda, 1929
[
* Ala Edein Toqan, 1931][
* Adeeb al-Kayed, 1933][
* Hisham Kair, 1933–1939][
* ]Gerald Lankester Harding
Gerald Lankester Harding (8 December 1901 – 11 February 1979) was a British archaeologist who was the director of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan from 1936 to 1956. His tenure spanned the period in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were disco ...
, 1939–1956. Harding's book "The Antiquities of Jordan" is still considered a reference to this day.[
* Abd el–Kareem Gharaybeh, 1956][
* Saeed al-Durrah, 1956–1959][
* Awni al-Dajani, 1959–1968. Al-Dajani is the first Jordanian holder of a Ph.D. in Archaeology.][
* Michael Jmaiaan, 1968][
* Yaacoub Ouais, 1968–1971 and 1972–1977][
* Mansour al-Bataineh, 1971–1972][
* Adnan al-Hadidi 1977–1989][
* Ghazi Bishah, 1989–1991 and 1994–1999][
* Safwan al-Tall, 1991–1994][
* Fawwaz al-Khraysheh, 1999–2010][
* Ziad al-Saad, 2010–2011][
* Faris al-Hmoud, 2011–2013][
* Monther Jamhawi, 2013–2018][
* Yazeed Alian, 2018-2021
* Ahmed Shami, (acting) Feb 2021-July 2021
* Hisham al-Abadi, since July 2021
]
See also
* Department of Antiquities
References
External links
Official website (English)
Official website (Arabic)
MEGA-J
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Jordan)
Jordan, Antiquities, Department of
Archaeology of Jordan
Government agencies established in 1923
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