Peder Mortensen

During six seasons (1992-1998) an intensive survey of the Mount Nebo was accomplished region under the auspices of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute at Mount Nebo and the Danish Palestine Foundation. It was followed by a brief reconnaissance in 2008. The survey was carried out in the eld by a small group of archaeologists, directed by Peder Mortensen. The group was occasionally joined by Michele Piccirillo and by Carmelo Pappalardo from the Franciscan Archaeological Institute. Centered around Mount Nebo, the survey covered an area of approximately 35 square kilometres varying in elevation from -100 to +800 metres above sea level. Within the surveyed region 748 sites and monuments – in time ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Otto- man periods – were located. This volume presents nds from the Early Bronze Age documented during the survey. Beside three settlements including the enigmatic Conder’s Circle a high number of megalithic structures were identi ed: 189 dolmens, 32 menhirs, and 35 lines of stone.

Peder Mortensens fotodokumentar Eyes on a Street in Cairo er en fotobog med omkring 80 s/h foto med forord, indledning om gaden Shari’ al-Mu’izz li Din Allah og billedtekster. Bogen formidler en egenartet dokumentation af én og samme gade under 10 dages konstante ophold i 1991. Bogen dokumenterer kulturmøder, som det også er tilfældet i vores udgivelse, i samme serie, Eyes on Syria. Under Peder Mortensens rejser og ophold i Mellemøsten, første gang som medlem af professor P. V. Globs arkæologiske ekspedition til Bahrain i 1956, har han altid søgt at dokumentere egne iagttagelser i tekst, tegning og fotografier, hvoraf mange er publiceret i forskellige sammenhænge. Under opholdet i 1991 studerede Peder Mortensen dagliglivet og de talrige moskeer, koranskoler og historiske bygninger, som præger den gamle hovedgade imellem byportene Bab al-Futuh og Bab Zuwaylah og området omkring Al-Husayn moskeen, et område der indgår i nobelpristageren Naquib Mafouz’ romaner. Undertiden stod han på samme sted fra tidlig morgen til sen aften med fotostativet og sit kamera for at registrere hvordan gadens liv og lyset på bygningernes ornamentale facader ændredes som tiden gik. Det blev til mere end 400 fotooptagelser og to lommebøger fyldt med tekster, som dokumenterer arkitekturen og livet i og omkring Kairo’s gamle hovedgade.

During six seasons (1992-1998) an intensive survey of the Mount Nebo region was accomplished under the auspices of the Franciscan Archaeological Institute at Mount Nebo and the Danish Palestine Foundation. It was followed by a brief reconnaissance in 2008. The survey was carried out in the field by a small group of archaeologists, directed by Peder Mortensen. The group was occasionally joined by Michele Piccirillo and by Carmelo Pappalardo from the Franciscan Archaeological Institute. Centered around Mount Nebo, the survey covered an area of approximately 35 square kilometres varying in elevation from -100 to 800 metres. Within the region 748 sites and monuments - in time ranging from the Lower Palaeolithic to the Late Ottoman periods - were located. The attention was primarily concentrated on the large number of megalithic monuments: 194 dolmens, 41 lines of stones and menhirs, and 316 circular megalithic tombs. Together with other finds from the Chalcolithic, Bronze- and Iron Ages, and from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods they will be published in two successive volumes. This volume, however, is dedicated to the description of 79 locations and single finds, which can be attributed to the Stone Age.

When editors of this volume began organizing a Festschrift in honor of Robert Braidwood, they hoped to interest scholars from a variety of different fields with a theme of the food-producing time range (10,000-4,000 B. C.). Many of the contributors have also incorporated in their discussions an important and controversial subject from Braidwood’s large corpus of research, the development of agriculture. The first part of the volume is devoted to articles under the general heading of Syro-Palestine. The theories of spatial analysis are applied in several articles in the Mesopotamian section. Genevieve Dollfus, using Iranian sites of the fifth millennium such as Choga Mish, tries to make comparisons with patterns of land use and settlements from more contemporary periods. This Festschrift is as diverse and interesting as the multifaceted Robert Braidwood. [From a review by Margaret C. Brandt in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies 47 (1988) 294-96]