Umm el-Jimal Project staff attended the 2016 American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, from November 16-19, 2016. ASOR, a scholarly association with over 90 affiliated institutions, is focused on encouraging and researching the history and cultures of the Near East and wider Mediterranean world, through an interdisciplinary effort including archaeologists, historians, and others.

Umm el-Jimal staff presented at the 2016 conference in two sessions. On Thursday, November 17, Bert de Vries and Jenna Morton presented “The Umm el-Jimal Interpretive and Hospitality Center: Heritage Preservation through Museum-Programmed and Community-Operated Visitor Services” in the a panel on Cultural Heritage Management. Their work reported on the project’s current work to develop and complete an interpretive center at the site.

The second session, Archaeologists Engaging Global Challenges, took place on Friday, November 18. It included a paper by Paul Christians, “Restoring Ancient Umm el-Jimal’s Reservoir System: Archaeology, Water, Resilience, and Community Building in Northern Jordan.” His paper focused on how the wider issue of available water is being approached through methods of archaeology in tandem with sustainable community development and is applicable to archaeologists working in living communities around the world.