The Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) is a non-profit organisation that promotes

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

research in the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

. It consists of two research institutes, the

Kenyon Institute The Kenyon Institute, previously known as the British School of Archaeology at Jerusalem (BSAJ), is a British research institute supporting humanities and social science studies in Israel and Palestine. It is part of the Council for British Resear ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and the

British Institute in Amman The British Institute in Amman (BIA, ), formerly known as the British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History (BIAAH), is a research institute in Amman, Jordan. It is part of the Council for British Research in the Levant. The BIA's patron ...

(BIA) in

Amman Amman ( , ; , ) is the capital and the largest city of Jordan, and the country's economic, political, and cultural center. With a population of four million as of 2021, Amman is Jordan's primate city and is the largest city in the Levant ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

History

The CBRL was established in 1998 as an amalgamation of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (now the Kenyon Institute) and the British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History (now the British Institute in Amman). While its predecessors mainly existed to support archaeological research in their respective host countries, the newly formed CBRL, sponsored by the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

, broadened its remit to include research into the history, culture and society of the entire Levant. Plans to open a CBRL institute in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

have been suspended due to the ongoing Syrian Civil War.

Publications

''Levant''

''Levant'' (ISSN 1756-3801) is an

academic journal An academic journal (or scholarly journal or scientific journal) is a periodical publication in which Scholarly method, scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. They serve as permanent and transparent forums for the ...

of archaeological research in the Levant, first published in 1969 by the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem, and later by the CBRL. It is currently produced by

Maney Publishing Maney Publishing was an independent academic publishing company that was taken over by Taylor & Francis in 2015. Maney Publishing specialised in peer-reviewed academic journals in materials science and engineering, the humanities, and health sc ...

and publishes three issues per year. Since 2004 the CBRL has also published research monographs as the "Levant Supplementary Series".

''Contemporary Levant''

The CBRL launched a second journal, ''Contemporary Levant'' (), in 2016, covering research on contemporary politics, society and culture in the Levant.

''Bulletin of the Council for British Research in the Levant''

The CBRL also produces an annual ''Bulletin'' () as its document of record, which also contains reports on research sponsored by the CBRL in the previous year aimed at a general readership. It was formerly known as the CBRL Newsletter.

Directors

* Alison McQuitty (1998–1999) * Bill Finlayson (1999–2018) *

Carol Palmer Carol Palmer is a British anthropologist, environmental archaeologist and botanist. She is an Honorary Fellow at Bournemouth University, and a part of the Thimar collective. She is also a former Director of the British Institute in Amman. Her pr ...

(2018–2024) *

Jane Humphris Jane may refer to: * Jane (given name), a feminine given name including list of persons and characters with the name * Jane (surname), related to the given name including list of persons and characters with the name Film and television * ''Jan ...

(2024–)

References

External links

Council for British Research in the Levant''Levant'' at Maney Publishing
* Yucel, I.
The British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem in the wake of the WWI.
History Studies, 9/2, 2017. {{Authority control British overseas research institutes History organisations based in the United Kingdom Ancient Near East organizations Organizations established in 1998 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom