Humanities and Social Sciences

Archaeology Program

Staff Directory

Dr Phillip Edwards

Senior Lecturer Room:Martin Building 161 Tel: (61 3) 9479 1978 Fax: (61 3) 9479 1881 Email: p.edwards@latrobe.edu.au Qualifications: BSc Monash, BA(Hons) Syd, PhD Syd

I am a Senior Lecturer in the Archaeology Program at La Trobe University. My major research interests include developments in the Levant during the Pleistocene and in the origins of food production and sedentism. I have specialised in the prehistory of the East Jordan Valley (in Jordan) for the past twenty years, working on a series of Lower, Middle, Upper and Epipalaeolithic, and Neolithic sites. I also hold a research interest in the archaeology of the very recent past (1960s to present), including excavations at Como House in Melbourne, and the ‘Historical Dunny’ in La Trobe University’s Wildlife Reserve.

>>Research Projects

• Archaeology and Environment of the Dead Sea Plain’ project: ZAD 2
  
• Excavations at Wadi Hammeh 27, near Pella in Jordan
  
• Epipalaeolithic sites in Wadi Hisban, Jordan
  
• Early geology and archaeology in the East Jordan Valley : Mashari'a 1

>>Research Publications

Recent publishing highlights include:

• EDWARDS, P.C. and G. SAYEJ n.d. Resolving contradictions: The PPNA - PPNB transition in the Southern Levant. In La diversité des systèmes techniques des communautés du Néolithique précéramique : vers la caractérisation des comportements sociaux. Cinquième Workshop sur les industries lithiques taillées PPN, Fréjus (Var), 1er- 5 Mars 2004 (in press).
• EDWARDS, P.C. and A. ARIOTTI n.d. Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ (PPNA Site: Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 2) and Roman/Nabatean Periods (Qasr Al-Buleida). Munjazat (in press).
  
  
• EDWARDS, P.C.  2005 Review of: Bellwood, P. 2005 First Farmers: the origins of agricultural societies, Blackwell: Malden. Rural Society 14(2): in press.
  
  
• EDWARDS, P.C, S. E. FALCONER, P. L. FALL, A. ARIOTTI and T. K. SWOVELAND 2004 Archaeology and Environment of the Dead Sea Plain: preliminary results of the third season of investigations by the joint La Trobe University/ Arizona State University Project.  Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 48 (in press).
  
  
• EDWARDS, P.C., J. MEADOWS, G. J. SAYEJ and M. WESTAWAY 2004 From the PPNA to the PPNB: new views from the southern Levant after excavations at Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 2 in Jordan. Paléorient 30/ 2: 21-60.

>>Graduate Supervision Areas and Topics

Opportunities exist for postgraduate study on various aspects of Middle Eastern archaeology or on broader methodological and theoretical issues.

>>Current Graduate Supervision

• Janine Major PhD A contextual analysis of figurative art in southwest Asia from the Epipalaeolithic to the Neolithic.
  
• David Thomas PhD The Ebb and Flow of Empires in 12th-13th century Afghanistan.

>>Research Collaboration

• Arizona State University, USA
  Collaborations with Dr Steven Falconer, Department of Anthropology and Dr Patricia Fall, Department of Geography on the co-direction of the ‘Archaeology and Environment of the Dead Sea Plain’ project. The project (1999-present) has so far resulted in the raising of significant research funding; has produced may publications (1 monograph, 8 book chapters, 14 journal articles); has produced many completed theses ( 3 doctorates [LTU], 5 MAs [ASU] and 2 Hons theses [LTU]); and has a fourth doctoral thesis in train [LTU].
• Department of Archaeology, University of Jordan
  Collaboration with Dr Maysoon an-Nahar on the spatial analysis of Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 2 artefacts
• Department of Antiquities of Jordan
  Collaboration with the Department of Antiquities Museum, Irbid, on a display of
  artefacts from Wadi Hammeh 27.
• Department of Archaeology, University of Sydney.
  Collaboration with Dr Louise Shewan on publication of the isotopic analysis of Wadi Hammeh 27 human skeletal remains
• Institute of Archaeology, University College, London, UK.
  Collaborations with Dr Louise Martin and Ms Rosa Campos-Blade on analysis of Wadi Hammeh 27 faunal remains
• Collaboration with Dr Susan Colledge on the publication of Wadi Hammeh 27 botanical remains.
• Institut de Préhistoire Orientale, CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche
  Scientifique), Jalès, France.
  Collaboration with Dr Daniel Helmer on the analysis of Zahrat adh-Dhra‘ 2 (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A site) faunal remains
• Maison Rene-Ginouves, Archaeologie and Ethnologie, Université de Paris (Paris X);
  Collaboration with Ms Gaëlle Le Dosseur on the technological analysis of Wadi Hammeh 27 faunal remains
• National Museum Jordan
  Collaboration with the National Museum, Jordan on a display of
  artefacts from Wadi Hammeh 27.

>>Full Profile (pdf 131kb)