How the evidence from two major destructions illuminates the development of Pella in Late Antiquity (3rd–7th centuries CE)
Public Lecture
Dr Pamela Watson (University of New England)
Wednesday 13th August 2025 | 6.30pm
The public lecture will be held online on Zoom and in person at the Vere Gordon Childe Centre (VGCC) (previously CCANESA) (Level 4 Madsen Building F09 University of Sydney).
Forty-five years ago, Pam Watson, with classmates (and previous speakers in this series) Stephen Bourke and Phillip Edwards, arrived for the first time at Pella as fresh-faced undergraduate students of Professor Basil Hennessy and Dr Anthony McNicoll. And here they still are. They went on to specialise in widely different areas, as you may have gathered. Pam has concentrated on the Late Roman – Byzantine periods in the Levant, working at other sites in Jordan as well as brief stints in Egypt and Cyprus.
Archaeological work at Pella and in the Jordan Valley, invariably involves dealing with earthquake events through time, being located in the greater Rift Valley, at the junction of the Arabian and African tectonic plates. This presentation highlights
two major earthquakes, in the mid-4th and the mid-7th centuries CE, which have usefully captured life at Pella at these fixed moments, separated by the accumulated occupation phases between. Examination of the political, socio-economic and cultural changes evident at the site is supplemented by data collected in surveying the hinterland of Pella in the 1990s.
Dr Pamela Watson has co-directed a number of seasons at Pella over the years, as well as the Pella Hinterland Survey. She is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology, Classics and History at the University of New England.
Members: Zoom $20.00 / Room $40.00 | Non-members: Zoom $25.00 / Room $45.00| Students: free (Zoom & Room)
Please select your option and register by the 10th August 2025 on the payment page.