Albright and ACOR Directors exchanged lectures this winter in each others’ respective centers as part of the Program of Exchange Lectures in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin. The program is sponsored by the American Schools of Oriental Research with the support of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers.

An overflowing crowd of Palestinians, Israelis and members of the foreign archaeological community attended the lecture, “ACOR’s Petra Church Excavations,” given by Barbara Porter, the Director of the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem on January 24, 2008.

Sy Gitin, Albright Director spoke at ACOR about “Ekron of the Philistines: From Sea Peoples to Olive Oil Industrialists.” Dr. Gitin’s lecture in Amman was attended by the Israeli and Australian ambassadors to Jordan. While in Amman, Dr. Gitin met with officials in the Department of Antiquities in Jordan and discussed having Department staff speak on the Archaeology of Jordan at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem as well as organizing a study tour of archaeological sites in Jordan for Albright Fellows.