Jaimie received her PhD in Archaeology from the University of Sydney, having spent half of her candidature as an associate student at the University of Oxford. Before taking up her post at the Kenyon she was based in Amman as the CBRL’s Amman Research Officer (2006-2008). She has directed two field projects in Jordan, the Wadi Rayyan Archaeological Project and, more recently, the Ritual Landscapes Project - a cave survey project.

Research Interests:

• The late prehistory of the southern Levant, specifically the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages
• Burial landscapes of the Chalcolithic period
• The transition to the Early Bronze Age

Research Projects:

• The Ritual Landscapes in the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages (4500 – 3000 BCE)
• Wadi Rayyan Archaeologial Project (WRAP)
  (Preliminary publications can be found in ADAJ 49 [2005], 50 [2006] and 51 [2007], as well as in Studies of the History and Archaeology of Jordan IX [2007].)

Selected Publications:

• (in press) Community is Cult, Cult is Community: Weaving the Web of Meanings for the Chalcolithic. Paléorient (to appear in vol. 36/1, 2010)
• (in press) with Meadows, J. and Jacobsen, G. Upland Olive Domestication in the Chalcolithic Period: New 14C Determinations from el-Khawarij (Ajlun), Jordan in McClure, M. (ed.) Proceedings of the 20th International Radiocarbon Conference, Hawaii (to be published 2010)
• (in press) Edited vol with Yorke Rowan Culture, Chronology and the Chalcolithic: theory and transition, Oxford: Oxbow (CBRL Monograph)
• (2009) Chalcolithic caves discovered east of the River Jordan. Antiquity Project Gallery Dec 2009.
• (2008) Horticulture, status and long-range trade in Chalcolithic southern Levant: early connections with Egypt. in B. Midant-Reynes and M.Y. Tristant (eds) Origins II: L’Egypt pré- et protodynastique. Les origins de l’Etat, Leuven : Peeters, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta, 741-762
• (2007) with G. Dollfus and Z. Kafafi, The Ceramics of the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic: Abu Hamid and the burnished tradition. Paléorient 33/1: 50-75
• (2004a) with S. J. Bourke, Ghassul, Chronology and Cultural Sequencing. Paléorient 30/1: 179-182
• (2004b) Granulated Gold Earring, in D.T.Potts and K.N.Sowada (eds) Treasures of the Nicholson Museum Sydney : Nicholson Museum, 22-23
• (2002) Shifting Subsistence Patterns: Some Ideas about the End of the Chalcolithic in the southern Levant Paléorient 28/1: 89-102
• (2001) The Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods in the southern Levant: New data from Teleilat Ghassul, Jordan. Oxford : Archaeopress, BAR Int. Ser. 974

Omar read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Peter’s College, Oxford where he was president of the Junior Common Room. He then moved to St Antony’s College, from which he graduated with an MPhil in Middle Eastern Studies.

His past research concerned the role of Palestinian intellectuals. His current project focuses on the history of civil society in Palestine. He is a dabka enthusiast and enjoys the occasional argileh.

Hussein Gheith (Abu Hani) was born in Jerusalem in 1942. After studying Commerce in Kalandia and Alexandria, he was soon poached by the UN and British Council to be sent on library training courses in Alexandria, Beirut, Amman and universities across England. In free afternoons between 1975 and 1980, Hussein completed a BA in English, and Diploma in Education at Bethlehem University; he is currently working on a PhD based at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen. In 1989, he was made supervisor of all the UN school libraries in the West Bank – responsible for over 100 collections. He has written nine books of Palestinian bibliographies, and has translated relevant parts of the Dewey Decimal classification system into Arabic for local librarians. Hussein, who joined the Kenyon Institute in 2003, is married to a retired English teacher and has four children. He is an expert basketball player.

On your arrival at the Kenyon, it is likely that you will have the good fortune of being greeted by Maida Smeir, the Administrator. A spirited daughter of Beit Hanina, Maida is as formidable in her business dealings as she is charming in the hospitality she conveys towards guests. After obtaining a BA from Bethlehem University in Hotel Management, Maida has enjoyed working for the British Council, a year sojourn in the US and the birth of her (now five year-old) Daniella. Since joining the Kenyon in 2005, Maida has remained a precious figure of stability in the dynamic landscape of an international research centre. In her limited free time, Maida expertly engages in the art of traditional Palestinian embroidery and on occasion, indulges her fondness for Chinese cuisine.

Sami Salah (Abu Saif) is a true Sheikh Jarrah man, having been born just down the hill from the Kenyon Institute in 1960. He briefly sought to study in Egypt, before returning to Jerusalem to complete a course in technical drawing. After the first Intifada, Sami began to work with metal – and his skills soon became known across the city. Sami came to the Kenyon Institute in 2002 to build a door; the end product wouldn’t look out of place in a Bank of England vault. He now looks after all aspects of the Institute’s infrastructure, from plumbing to computer networking. He also cooks a fantastic barbeque.

Renowned for her energetic daily injection of order into the occasionally eccentric workings of a ninety year old institution, Josephine is also highly prized for the exquisite coffee she makes for guests and staff every morning, heralded by the ringing of a small brass bell. Born and raised in the Christian Quarter of the Old City, the current Housekeeper at the Kenyon has enjoyed a varied career since obtaining a Diploma in Secretarial Skills from the YWCA, having worked as a secretary, teaching at St Joseph’s School and housekeeping at the Austrian Hospice, among other leading Jerusalem institutions. Josephine devotes most of her spare time to her husband, a prominent olive wood craftsman, and their three children. She also has a little-known passion for the music of Fadel Shaker.

Our most recent intern, Susannah Fishman (who came to us from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem and McGill University, Canada), tells us what it was like:

As an intern at The Kenyon Institute, I have been given the opportunity to learn about the inner workings of academia while contributing to its development. My two main activities while working in the Kenyon have been the development of the map collection and the Tel Jezreel project. The former involved researching how to properly preserve and organize a collection of 19th-20th century maps held in the Kenyon’s library, and then building an archive based on the knowledge I had gleaned from discussions with curators of existing archives. For the latter project I identified, organized, and packaged pottery and glass from the Bronze Age to 1948. This process gave me invaluable first hand knowledge of material variations and styles that changed over time, which would have been nearly impossible to learn from a book.

During my time at the Kenyon I have had the opportunity to meet with many experts in archaeology and the humanities and social sciences generally, which has provided me with many insights and ideas about the next steps in my own career. I have also been able to observe how an academic institution functions on a practical level, and the many tasks involved that go well beyond research. Finally, I was given chance to attend lectures and field trips with experts that would not have been available to me otherwise. The staff members at the Kenyon are incredibly warm and welcoming, and in total, my experience here has been both enjoyable and very educational.