Teleilat Ghassul 1975 & Beyond

The University of Sydney has a long and fruitful association with the archaeological riches of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The first University of Sydney sponsored excavation in Jordan took place in September 1975, exploring the 20-hectare Chalcolithic period (ca. 5000-4000 BCE) type-site of Teleilat Ghassul on the north-eastern shore of the Dead Sea.

Fieldwork was directed by Professor J. Basil Hennessy, the second Edwin Cuthbert Hall Professor of Middle Eastern archaeology (1973-90). Hennessy had first encountered Ghassul in the 1950s, when working at Jericho with the legendary Kathleen Kenyon, and on her prompting led a first season of excavations in 1967, when Director of the British School in Jerusalem.

Hennessy’s huge ambition to renew fieldwork at Ghassul from Sydney in 1975 must be seen in the light of the fact that the vast majority of his team

had never left Australia before, far less excavated in the Middle East. Added to this, flights into the Middle East routed via Beirut, which descended into civil war as the team transited to Jordan. Hennessy’s achievements were made against considerable headwinds, rendering them all the more remarkable.

This first lecture in this 50th anniversary series will be given by Dr. Stephen Bourke, Director of the University of Sydney’s Pella Project. Stephen also directed four seasons of renewed excavation at Teleilat Ghassul in the 1990s. The lecture will treat the origins of the Ghassul project, and detail the main discoveries of the first (1975-77) phase of Sydney excavations. It will also touch on later work (1994-99) at the site, illustrating the rich legacy of Hennessy’s work. The 1975 excavations at Teleilat Ghassul marked the beginning of what has proved to be an enduring association between the University and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, now entering its 50th year.