What Happened when the Tall al-ʿUmayri Survey Met Fernand Braudel’s Temporal Hierarchy
Narrating Archaeological Sites and Places - Fifty Years of the Madaba Plains Project at Tall Hisban, Tall al-`Umayri, and Tall Jalul - Douglas R. Clark
Gary L. Christopherson [+]
University of Arizona
Gary Christopherson (PhD University of Arizona 2000) is Associate Professor of Practice in the School of Geography and Development at the University of Arizona. He earned a PhD in Near Eastern Archaeology at the University of Arizona, specializing in spatial analysis of archaeological data using Geographic Information Science. Gary has been involved in a variety of archaeological projects, including eight field seasons in Jordan at Tall al-ʿUmayri, Tall Jalūl, and Tall Ḥisbān, as well as projects in Israel, Tunisia, Georgia (USA), and in the American Southwest. He manages the GIS data for a number of archaeological projects, including Tall al- ʿUmayri, Tall Jalūl, Tall Ḥisbān, Shammakh to Ayl Archaeological Survey, and the Ayl to Rās an-Naqab Archaeological Survey in Jordan. He has been involved in a wide variety of research projects in such diverse fields as wildfire science, cultural anthropology, Native American studies, geography, public health, and archaeology.
Description
During the course of the Tall al-ʿUmayri Regional Survey, multi-temporal strands of data were recovered. Fernand Braudel’s temporal hierarchy provides a framework in which to situate temporal fragments ranging from geographic time to individual events/artifacts. This paper will revisit and evaluate the pros and cons of the multi-disciplinary approach to survey methodology utilized by the Madaba Plains Project and reflect on ways in which discoveries have impacted our understanding of Braudel’s temporal hierarchy—and how Braudel brought order to all those fragments.