Appointments
James A. Sauer will take up his duties as Associate Curator-in-charge of Syro-Palestinian Archaeology in July. He obtained his B.A. from Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1967, his Ph.D. (with distinction) from Harvard University in 1973, the subject of his Ph.D. dissertation being “The Stratification and Pottery of Tell Hesban.” In 1968 and 1970 he received ASOR Summer Travel Grants from the Zion Research Foundation and in 1971-72 an NEH Research Grant. He was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard in 1970-71, an Albright Fellow at the American Schools of Oriental Research in 1971-72, and since 1973 has held various teaching and administrative positions at the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan and in the University of Jordan. In 1975 he was appointed Director and Professor of Archaeology at the Center and Visiting Professor at the University. Dr. Sauer has done field work at Tell Deir ‘Alla, Tell Ta ‘annek, Tell Hesban, Khilda, Arâq el-Emir, and other sites in the Syria-Lebanon-Jordan areas. He was a co-director of the East Jordan Valley Survey in 1975 and 1976, director of the ACOR Archaeological Survey of Syria in 1977, and pottery specialist for the Central Moab Survey in 1978. Relevant scientific journals have carried numerous reports by Dr. Sauer on these and related projects, particularly on the pottery. In addition to further reports, he is presently preparing three books for publication—An Introduction to the Archaeology of Jordan, The Pottery from Tell er-Rumeith, and The Pottery from Tell Hesban.
Mary Elizabeth Ruwell, formerly an archivist with the National Archives and Records Service in Washington, D.C., has been appointed Museum Archivist. She began work on February 1 and is now engaged in implementing the archival programs for which the Following grants were received: $94,357 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, for the Museum’s Field Records; $18,500 from the National Historical Publications and Records Program, for the Museum’s Administrative Records; and $14,287 from the Women’s Committee as seed money for the whole project. The latter included a generous gift from Mrs. Francis Boyer who was Acting Director of the Museum between 1943 and 1947. Miss Ruwell holds degrees from Georgetown University and the University of Pennsylvania where she is currently working on her doctorate in American Civilization.
Barbara Wilson will continue to provide part-time reference service for the Archives.
Field Work
England. Earthwatch/The Centre for Field Research at Belmont, Massachusetts has agreed for the third year running to sponsor the excavation of the Anglo-Saxon church of St. Wystan and the Viking fortress at Repton, Derbyshire, under the direction of Martin Biddle, Births: Kjolbye-Biddle and Harold Taylor. A grant of $11,250 will be available if sixteen Earth watch volunteers agree to take part, as in previous years. University of Pennsylvania students and other American and United Kingdom students and volunteers, will make up the team of fifty-seven who will he working in Repton throughout the month of August. Museum visitors are very welcome at all times.
Jordan. The third season of the Baq ‘ah Valley Project, May 24–July 3, 1981, will concentrate on test soundings of magnetometer anomalies which probably represent Late Bronze and early Iron Age burial caves currently threatened by bulldozing and robbing. The project, which is sponsored by MASCA, is affiliated with the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, Besides Patrick McGovern of MASCA as field director, others from Philadelphia will be Pam Crabtree and William Glanzman of MASCA. Other participants will be two Australians and three Americans resident in Jordan. The 1981 Baq ‘ah Valley Project 1981 is funded by: a Harrison Fund grant of $8,350 from the University Museum; a National Geographic Society grant of $5,950; a grant of $3,000 from the Jordanian Department of Antiquities; and a private contribution of $3,000.
Libya. Donald White and his staff will return to Cyrene for the last of their study seasons there.
Turkey. Keith De Vries and his staff will hold a study season at Gordian. Also in Turkey, the Italian conservator Franca Callori di Vignale will do the anal cleaning and mending of an important set of fresco fragments from Gordian, that depict Phrygian diversions and court life at about 500 B.C. The style of the paintings is close to archaic Greek art. Ellen Kohler will continue the editorial work on the Gordian publications at The University Museum.
Other Grants
$4,000 from the Sun Oil Company to produce a poster which will make the Museum better known in the Philadelphia area. Three local artists will be asked to submit designs, one of which will be chosen for reproduction.
$500 from Western Savings Bank to help produce poster/flyers in support of the two Spring special exhibitions: “India at The University Museum” and “Japanese Armor.”