Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World

Alexander Ahrens is a Senior Researcher with the Damascus Branch, Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute and recipient of a 2019 AIA/DAI Study in the U.S. Fellowship. His project, entitled “Connecting Lowlands and Highlands: The Trajectories and Dynamics of an ‘Archaeological Transit Zone’”, will use the Wadi Shu’aib in west central Jordan as a case study in modes of communication and interaction between the Jordan Valley and the Transjordanian Plateau during the Iron Age.  The focus of his research while at the Joukowsky Institute will especially be directed towards possible socio-political dynamics lying behind highland-lowland interactions. Besides excavating in Jordan, he has worked at several sites in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Turkey.