BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Matthew J. Adams Appointed Dorot Director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research

Bible and archaeology news

On Sunday, June 1, 2014, Matthew J. Adams was appointed Dorot Director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (AIAR, or the Albright Institute), replacing Tel-Miqne/Ekron archaeologist Seymour (Sy) Gitin, who retired after directing the prestigious Jerusalem institute for the past 34 years.

Adams, whose most recent teaching position was with the Bucknell University Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies Department, has conducted research in Israel and Egypt, including excavations at Mendes and Megiddo. He is director of the Jezreel Valley Regional Project (JVRP), a long-term, multi-disciplinary survey and excavation project investigating the history of human activity in the Jezreel Valley from the Paleolithic through the Ottoman period. At present, the JVRP is engaged in excavations at the Early Bronze Age I site of Tel Megiddo East and the castra of the Roman VIth Legion at Legio, which Adams detailed in a Bible History Daily web-exclusive preliminary report with co-authors Jonathan David and Yotam Tepper.

The website of the Albright Institute (to be updated in June 2014) describes the history and mission of the institution:

The W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research was founded in 1900, as the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem. Its current mission is to develop and disseminate scholarly knowledge of the literature, history, and culture of the Near East, as well as the study of civilization from pre-history to the early Islamic period.

Located in an historic 1920’s-period building, now a Jerusalem landmark, the Albright maintains residential and research facilities including a 35,000 volume library, publication offices, and archaeological workshops. Annually, 65 fellows from diverse national, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, and including Israeli and Palestinians participate in AIAR’s international fellowship program. It offers a unique opportunity for interaction and the exchange of information and ideas, and promotes intellectual integrity and respect in a friendly and convivial atmosphere. This environment is not duplicated in any other similar institution in the region.

The Institute provides support for North American archaeological excavations and surveys; it also promotes working relationships with other local and foreign institutions in Israel and fosters friendly interaction with the neighboring community.

Adams joins a distinguished list of Albright directors, including Nelson Glueck, Paul W. Lapp, William Dever, Sy Gitin and William Foxwell Albright, after whom the institute was renamed in 1970. The Albright flourished under Gitin’s direction, and we at BAS look forward to a new stage of Biblical archaeology research at the Albright Institute under Adams’s direction.

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AIAR Dorot Director Matthew J. Adams will be the keynote speaker at the 17th Annual Bible and Archaeology Fest, to be held this November in San Diego, California.

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Read more about Adams’s Jezreel Valley Regional Project in Bible History Daily

Legio: Excavations at the Camp of the Roman Sixth Ferrata Legion in Israel

Early Bronze Age: Megiddo’s Great Temple and the Birth of Urban Culture in the Levant