Björn Anderson receives fellowship for research in Jordan
Art history professor Björn Anderson heads for Amman, Jordan, in January for a six-month fellowship at The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan.
Anderson plans to complete a manuscript about cultural identity in the kingdom of Nabataea, centered at Petra in Southern Jordan. “ACOR has one of the best libraries for archaeology and Middle Eastern studies in the region,” he says. The award from ACOR covers all expenses and provides a stipend.
Anderson, an archaeologist and faculty member in MSUM’s Art and Design Department, also plans to visit archaeological sites, museums and collections throughout Jordan. He has excavated several sites in Israel, and traveled widely in the Mediterranean and Middle East on previous visits. He began his current project during an earlier visit funded by ACOR to the area in 2004. Most of his research focuses on cultural transitions that occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman periods.
“I hope to see stored and unpublished material, especially coins, while in Amman,” he says. “I also plan to take short trips to countries in the region.”
(Photo at left is of Anderson in Wadi Farasa)
ACOR is a private, non-profit organization which promotes research and publication across disciplines, with a special emphasis on archaeology in the region. The organization’s main activities include a fellowship program for scholars, archaeological excavation and restoration projects, other academic programs and a summer intensive Arabic language institute.
For more information about Anderson’s work or the fellowship, contact him at (218) 477-2567 or andersonb@mnstate.edu.