The Department of Geography & Environment hosted an international workshop and honoured a respected emeritus professor at the same time.
The workshop, Canadian Contributions to the Study of Ancient Jordan, brought together scholars from across Canada, the United States and England who are working on the subject of ancient Jordan and related areas. A total of 18 papers were presented over the course of the weekend as researchers shared their work from a variety of perspectives.
The gathering was the first of what Kevin McGeough, professor in the department, describes as a broader program.
“This is intended as the first of many such workshops on archaeology and history we plan on hosting as part of what we are calling the W.E. Aufrecht Occasional Workshops in Archaeology,” says McGeough.
Recognizing Aufrecht’s long-standing contributions to the field of archaeology, both at the U of L and in the Middle East, the workshop series is intended to continue his active advocacy for archaeology at the U of L and his commitment to giving the U of L a prominent voice in the archaeology of Jordan and Israel.
“Wally was instrumental in establishing the archaeology program here and trained many, many U of L students in the field,” says McGeough. “Our hope is that this workshop will result in a volume that we will publish in honour of Wally.”
Dr. Chris Rollston, associate professor of Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures at George Washington University, was the guest speaker for the workshop. His appearance, and the workshop as a whole, was supported by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Canadian branch of the American Schools of Oriental Research.