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Several
interdependent researches were undertaken after leaving the field in August
1996, although work continued at the Great Temple for its consolidation
and restoration (infra). The activities that consume our homework can best
be itemized and include:
- All drawings of
the stratigraphy, site plans, and artifacts were drafted. Special artifact
drawings and reconstructions were undertaken by our Chief Draftsperson,
Jean Blackburn, of the Rhode Island School of Design. The 150 drawings
of plans and stratigraphy were inked by Ala H. Bedawi, our assistant
draftsperson. Once the final plans were found to be acceptable, they
were scanned by Laurel Bestock into the computer and labeled. All the
plans which we had stored in other computer files at Brown University
had to be brought together and in some cases had to be re-scanned so
that the site file was up-to-date.
- The update of the
Great Temple Home Page for the Internet was undertaken by Benjamin H.
Kleine of Brown University. This updated Home Page reflects the work
that had been carried out in the last year. The funding for this project
was donated by a Brown alumnus who has shown a keen interest in our
computer systems. We also submitted a Web Page for the American Schools
of Oriental Research: http://www.cobb.msstate.edu/asordigs/petra.html
- The program and
assignments for the five-year publication of the site was outlined.
All the contributors were given standard guidelines for reporting both
the 1997 results and their contributions for the five-year report. All
the trench reports were edited for consistency in format and reporting
to be readied for publication in our five-year report. The corrections
and their insertion into PageMaker was undertaken by Kirsten K. Hammann.
- Stephen V. Tracy,
Mellon Visiting Mellon Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study,
Princeton, translated, dated, and interpreted the partial inscription
found in 1996 in the west room of the 'Adyton'. He publicly reported
on these results at a lecture sponsored by the Brown University Classics
Department.
- Our data base for
artifact collections (bone, stone, ceramics, stucco, glass, shell, and
metal) was consolidated into File Maker Pro program. The total number
of artifacts in this data base now number 85,932 artifacts with pottery
numbering 69,477 sherds registered. These artifacts were then distributed
over the phases we have assigned to the Great Temple stratigraphy.
- The fine wares
were given intensive study by Stephan Schmid of the Ecole Suisse d'archeologie
en Grece, and once again Yvonne Gerber of the University of Basle, Switzerland,
analyzed our plain wares and dated them. Deirdre G. Barrett of Brown
University continued her analysis of the Great Temple lamps.
- The Petra coins
underwent continued study by Christian Augé of the University
of Paris I - Sorbonne and David Smart. Avi Mannis, for his Senior Honor
Thesis at Brown University instituted a digital archive project entitled:
"Coins of the Great Temple, Petra: A Multimedia Archaeological Site
Archive on CD-ROM." What Avi Mannis did was to integrate image, text,
and three-dimensional space to foster intuitive access to the archaeological
record. The current archive documents three years of coin recovery for
158 coins. The support for this research was given by a RAB grant. For
those interested, this project can be reached by e-mail at: [email protected]
- The 1996 site plan
was refined by Paul C. Zimmerman of the University of Pennsylvania who
"cleaned up" the 1996 plan for publication. This is an important task,
for our data files are so extensive that we have to constantly be aware
that they may be confusing to the first-time viewer.
- Great Temple signage
was designed in English and Arabic for visitor understanding of the
excavations. It is scheduled to be in place on site by the end of the
1997 summer.
- Graduate student,
Sara Karz, began a study of the glass found during the excavations,
"Succession of Glass in Form and Function at the Great Temple, Petra,
Jordan."
- Several scholarly
articles (see site bibliography) were submitted for publication, and
some 20 lectures were presented on the excavation.
- Regarding 1996-1997
site protection and consolidation, a final report entitled "Petra, Brown
University Excavations at The Great Temple," was submitted to the Samuel
H. Kress Foundation, World Monuments Watch, A Program of the World Monuments
Fund. A summary of these activities can be found under Site
Protection.
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