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 (government), executive bodies in the Machinery of government, machinery of governments that manage a specific se ...

in the

Hashemite Kingdom of 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 ...

with responsibility for archaeological research and

cultural heritage management Cultural heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. Ann Marie Sullivan, Cultural Heritage & New Media: A Future for the Past, 15 J. MARSHALL REV. INTELL. PROP. L. 604 (2016) https://repository.jmls.edu/cg ...

. 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 (), officially the Amirate of Trans-Jordan, was a British protectorate established on 11 April 1921,protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), 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 ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

. Its responsibilities are legislated for in laws no. 24 of 1934, no. 21 of 1988 and no. 22 of 2004. The Department has organised an international conference on the history and archaeology of Jordan every three years since 1980.

Historical background

Initially part of the Department of Palestinian Antiquities, the Department of Antiquities was formed to collect and safeguard antiquities scattered across Jordan. The legal framework governing its operations was established through Law No. 21 in 1988, which defines antiquities as any human-made object predating 1700 AD, encompassing a wide range of artifacts including sculptures, manuscripts, and architectural remains.

Structure and responsibilities

The Department is managed by a Director General who reports directly to the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities. Its responsibilities include: * Supervision of Archaeological Work: The Department oversees both local and foreign archaeological missions, ensuring compliance with Jordan's archaeological strategy * Approval of Excavation Requests: All requests for archaeological excavations or surveys must be submitted to the Department for evaluation and approval * Scientific Research and Documentation: The Directorate of Studies and Research within the Department publishes scientific reports and maintains comprehensive documentation related to Jordan's antiquities

Publications (print and online)

* Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan (ADAJ), 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 ...

published since 1951 * The Middle Eastern Geodatabase for Antiquities – Jordan (MEGA-J), a comprehensive public

geographic information system A geographic information system (GIS) consists of integrated computer hardware and Geographic information system software, software that store, manage, Spatial analysis, analyze, edit, output, and Cartographic design, visualize Geographic data ...

and

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

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 Gett ...

to replace the

Jordan Antiquities Database and Information System The Jordan Antiquities Database and Information System (JADIS) was a computer database of antiquities in Jordan, the first of its kind in the Arab world. It was established by the Department of Antiquities in 1990, in cooperation with the Amer ...

(JADIS)

Cultural heritage management

The Department plays a crucial role in preserving Jordan's cultural heritage, which includes several UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as

Petra Petra (; "Rock"), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu (Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: or , *''Raqēmō''), is an ancient city and archaeological site in southern Jordan. Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit systems, P ...

Wadi Rum Wadi Rum ( ''Wādī Ramm'', also ''Wādī al-Ramm''), known also as the Valley of the Moon ( ''Wādī al-Qamar''), is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan, near the border with Saudi Arabia and about to the east of ...

, and

Qusayr Amra Qusayr 'Amra or Quseir Amra, sometimes also named Qasr Amra (), is the best-known of the desert castles located in present-day eastern Jordan. It was built some time between 723 and 743, by Walid Ibn Yazid, the future Umayyad caliph Walid II, wh ...

. It collaborates with international organizations like UNESCO to enhance the protection and management of these sites.

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 CBE (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 ...

, 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, July 2021-October 2021 * Fadi A. Bala'awi, October 2021-present

References

External links

Official website (English)

Official website (Arabic)

MEGA-J
{{Authority control Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (Jordan) Jordan, Antiquities, Department of Archaeology of Jordan Government agencies established in 1923