Umm Qais (mkes) is located 120km north of Amman, and its vicinity to Yarmouk River and the Sea of Galilee granted the site a unique significance amongst other Roman Decapolis cities on their Eastern Mediterranean region. The Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, and Ottomans left their own marks there. Remains of the city still show theatres, baths, vaulted shops, tombs, cardo and documanus. However, Umm Qais tangible heritage continues to suffer existential threats from a number of factors that affect its archaeological, physical features and morphological transformations and risk its enduring presence on the long-term. These include natural and human-made, such as environmental changes, earthquakes, and new settlement patterns that see the site as more of irrelevant remains of invading foreign cultures than the archaeological heritage of their ancestors. Such antagonizing relationship between community and heritage resulted in lack of knowledge and appreciation of the site's history, archaeological importance, attempts to destroy its elements for economic gains and the lack of economic engagement with tourism that would otherwise benefit hundreds of poor and unemployed community members. Such an antagonist relationship also had its impact on long-term preservation plans and development what requires a critical action of engagement that put the community socio-economic welfare at the heart of the site's preservation and future development. There is an international effort to implement a sustainable conservation strategy of the site. There is a need to document, record and analyse the multi-layered structures of Umm Qais by implementing an evidence-based strategy and action-plan to inform the sustainable preservation of the site using digital and virtual LiDAR technologies to accurately record its fragmented remains adding sub-layers of socio-cultural history, spatial and architectural transformations. The project will use archaeological and architectural research, state-of-the-art point-cloud laser scanning, virtual modelling, and crowdsourcing of social history to interrogate fragmented evidence of architectural remains and produce coherent narratives of the history of Umm Qais and its role as an important node of regional cultural and political routes. The project will produce a series of textual, visual and virtual outputs including publications, exhibitions, digitally - reconstructed history and virtual tours of the site to support public awareness and user engagement at the Jordan Museums and Umm Qais Museum and at international venues. This project will widely support a multidisciplinary collaboration between Jordan and the UK. The research team collectively has extensive experience in delivering scholarly research outputs and engaging with government institutions, policymakers and stakeholders. This innovative project will gather new evidence on the archaeological history of the site, its spatial layout, overlapping structures and help building new modes of public engagement with local communities as essential partners in the preservation and development strategy in Jordan. It is designed to challenge the current underuse of the site and develop the heritage of Umm Qais into a living experience that focuses on visitor and user interpretation of history. The project will revive and activate the social role of the archaeological site and museum and work with communities to establish forums for creating a sustainable community asset. The project will develop Integrated virtual environments that incorporate researched, archived and surveyed datasets to offer 3D & 4D interactive virtual environment supported by infographics, statistical data and Digitised archaeological database of the site. It will attempt to produce a credible layout of the Gadara's spatial structures, buildings' layout and infrastructure overlaying archaeological and spatial data and imaging of the site on a custom-designed ArcGIS model of the site.

The Neolithic in southwest Asia (c 11,700-7800 cal BP) is a critical period in human history; it was during this time, that people made the transition from living in small hunter-gatherer groups, occupying temporary camps, to fully fledged agriculturalists living in large sedentary communities. The reason why people made this transition is one of the great unanswered questions of our time. What is apparent, however, is that this development not only altered the way people interacted with their environment, but also the social structure within communities, ultimately leading to the development of complex societies. Despite the importance of the Neolithic in southwest Asia, archaeological sites, particularly those from the earlier Pre-Pottery Periods (c 11,700-8250 cal BP), often prove difficult to interpret due to their ephemeral nature and the scarcity of biological remains. In order to gain a greater understanding of such sites, we will develop and validate a method based on more durable forms of evidence that are often the result of human activities, i.e. phytoliths (bodies of silica that form in and around plant cells) and geochemical elements (traces of chemicals in soils, e.g. phosphorous, calcium and manganese). The aim is to determine if different areas have specific phytolith and geochemical signatures which can be used to recognise these same areas archaeologically. This will be achieved through ethnographic research using two settlement types: Bedouin tent sites and abandoned mud and stone constructed villages. These have been chosen because they provide the best available analogies for the Neolithic sites which will be analysed as part of this project. The Bedouin tent sites will be the ethnographic analogy for the small scale, ephemeral, pastoralist, and seasonally occupied sites of Wadi el-Jilat and Azraq, while the abandoned villages near Shawbak on the Jordanian plateau and the village of Shammakh, north of Wadi Mousa will be the comparison for the more substantial, stone and mud brick constructed sites of Ain Ghazal, Beidha, and WF16. Limited existing ethnographic research (conducted in other geographical regions) has focused either on phytoliths or geochemical elements but not both. They demonstrated that these methods are informative about the use of space within settlements. This project will be the first large scale ethnographic study to integrate these two types of analysis. It will also be the first to explore how much taphonomy (i.e. the processes assemblages go through from creation to analysis) affects the composition of phytolith and geochemical assemblages. As Principal investigator, Jenkins will be supported in this research by a number of eminent and experienced researchers, namely: Dr Carol Palmer (Director of the British Institute in Amman, Council for British Research in the Levant-CBRL), who will be a Project Partner. Palmer originally took the majority of the Bedouin camp samples, will assist with the ethnographic work and archaeological sampling and, as Amman Director of the CBRL, is in a unique position to arrange the fieldwork from within Jordan Prof John Grattan (Pro Vice Chancellor, Aberystwyth University) who will conduct the geochemical analysis and subsequently act as an advisor Dr Helen Smith, (Visiting Research Fellow, Bournemouth University) who carried out the Bedouin camp sampling with Palmer and will also advise on the ethnographic aspects of the project. This represents a strong and experienced multi-disciplinary team with an established history of conducting research in Jordan (although not previously together). This project is a natural culmination of the participants' interests and expertise. Furthermore, as much costly fieldwork has already been undertaken, and, as Palmer and Grattan are giving their time on a non-stipendiary basis, this research offers the AHRC excellent value for money.

The 'Archaeology to Business in Faynan' (ABIF) project will draw on the outcomes of AHRC funded research to support poverty alleviation and gender equality in the Bedouin community of Faynan/Greigra, southern Jordan. This area has a high level of economic deprivation, which is especially felt amongst the Bedouin women. The recent development of irrigation agriculture to grow tomatoes and melons is only benefiting a restricted number of families, this partly arising from the community being divided into five tribes with different levels of access to agricultural employment. Tourism is increasingly popular to Faynan, this being supported by a single hotel that caters for affluent westerners and is run by a company from Amman. While this hotel has brings income into Faynan, via employment and its supply chains, the majority of Bedouin, and especially the women, have been unable to benefit. As with agriculture, the distribution of benefits is inhibited by the tribal structure within Faynan. The recent development of the Faynan Museum, supported by AHRC funding awards, has attracted further tourists by promoting the archaeological sites and monuments in Faynan, to be further enhanced by a Faynan Heritage Walking Trail. During the course of this development, Bedouin Women have approached the PI and his colleagues to express their desire to produce handicrafts to sell to the tourists. The handicraft market in Jordan is substantial, but is increasingly flooded with cheap imports from China and India. Tourists, and especially the affluent tourists coming to Faynan, are looking for highly-distinctive and high-quality products, relating to the specific localities they have visited. Despite the presence of base-line handicraft skills, the Faynan women cannot at present, produce, market, and sell such products. As such, the ABIF project will support the development of a new range of handicrafts, combining traditional Bedouin skills in weaving and other techniques with designs inspired from the ancient art of Faynan to make locally distinctive products. That ancient art was discovered during the AHRC funded excavations at the Neolithic site of WF16 in Faynan. Excavations were undertaken between 2008 and 2010, producing a wealth of new information about this critical period of economic change in the southern Levant, one which saw the transition from mobile hunting & gathering to sedentary farming communities, 11,800-10,200 years ago. A key discovery at WF16 was a collection of engraved objects that provides the oldest collection of art objects from Jordan. These primarily have geometric patterns engraved onto stone and bone, with some human and animal depictions. This art can be readily translated into the design of new handicraft products, creating a unique line of products for Faynan. The ABIF project will involve collaboration between University-based archaeologists from Reading, UK, who excavated WF16, 'Future Pioneers for Empowering Communities (FPEC)', a Jordanian-based NGO committed to international development, and the Jordan-based Council for British Research in the Levant, that has expertise about traditional Bedouin culture and handicrafts. FPEC has extensive experience and an excellent track record in supporting local communities to develop their own sustainable business enterprises to alleviate poverty. These three bodies will work together with women from all five Bedouin tribes in Faynan to develop the 'Women's Cooperative of Faynan and Gregira'. This will produce, market and sell high-quality handicrafts inspired by the art from WF16. Training programs in handicraft design and production, and in a range of business skills including marketing, pricing and customer relations, will be delivered with a view to the development of a financially self-sustaining business at the completing of the funding period.

Faynan is located south of the Dead Sea on the eastern side of Wadi Araba in southern Jordan. This is an economically deprived area, with pastoralism and irrigation-based farming providing livelihood to members of four Bedouin tribes who live within Faynan: the 'Ammarin, Sa'idiyyin, Rashaydah and 'Azazmah. It has a remarkable archaeological landscape that has been discovered and explored by research teams from the UK, US and Germany over the last forty years, all with support from the Jordanian Department of Antiquities. While there have been many academic publications, this cultural heritage has not been sufficiently used to support eco-tourism into Faynan which could be a major source of income for sustainable economic growth. Neither has the cultural heritage been made accessible to the local community and used to support social cohesiveness, education and well-being. The establishment of the Faynan Museum by the Department of Antiquities has provided an opportunity to make progress on both of these matters. Between 2016 and 2018, an AHRC funded project (Discovering WF16) established the first displays within the museum and provided a small number of information boards at the archaeological sites. The success of that project demonstrated the value of further developing the museum. This new project will involve a close collaboration between UK and Jordanian academics, and the Faynan community. It has the full support of the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities will make a step change in the ability of the museum to support the local community for sustainable development. By raising awareness and understanding, the project will also help protect and conserve the cultural heritage of Faynan in the face of an expansion of irrigation farming, road and dam development. The project involves six sub-projects that will: 1. Co-create an enhanced gallery space to include representation of the last 100 years of Faynan's history within the musuem 2. Facilitate members of the local community to tell their own history and stories about Faynan in their own way, and represent this within the museum. 3. Support the six schools in Faynan to develop an awareness and understanding of Faynan's cultural heritage and embed this into the learning and teaching 4. Connect the museum to the landscape by installing information boards at a further 20 archaeological sites, 5. Make accessible the archaeological sites of Faynan to those who cannot visit Faynan or cannot access the sites in its remote areas by using photogrammetry to document and digitally represent the sites within the museum and on the Faynan heritage website 6. Enable the museum to become a community hub by designing social and play space for adults and children in its immediate vicinity. Each of these projects will be developed jointly with members of the local community in Faynan via workshops. The outcome will be a museum that will support eco-tourism in the region, provide the local community with a means to represent their own history in their own way, support education, social and individual well-being, and help to protect and conserve Faynan's cultural heritage.

Nahrein is the Arabic word for Mesopotamia - the ancient "land between two rivers", centred on modern-day Iraq and northern Syria. The literate, urban cultures of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria together represent the vital first half of history, millennia before Greece and Rome. Yet they are also a new antiquity, rediscovered archaeologically in the 19th and 20th centuries, irrevocably entangled in the region's messy politics of colonialism and dictatorship, and now threatened by the conflicts tearing the region apart. Millions of dollars of international aid are being pumped into the documentation, digitisation and conservation of threatened and war-damaged cultural heritage sites across the Middle East, with little thought for local interests and impacts. The Nahrein Network by contrast will enable local people to reclaim this heritage as local history, and to put it to constructive use for local communities and economies. It aims to harness interdisciplinary humanities research and education to help Middle Eastern universities, museums, archives and cultural heritage sites build their capacity to contribute to their countries' economic, cultural and social development in the years ahead. The wars in Iraq and Syria spread their deadly effects far beyond the immediate conflict zones. But much-needed emergency relief should not be at the expense of planning for longer-term economic and social regrowth. Network partner UNESCO Iraq identifies education and culture as two key Areas of Action, with gender equality and academic isolation as of particular concern, while UNAMI aims to aid social reconciliation though cultural dialogue. Centred initially on southern Iraq and Kurdistan, Nahrein will run a Research Centre directed by Dr Saad Eskander at the University of Kurdistan Hewler (Erbil) and two collaborative hubs at the University of Baghdad and Basrah Museum. In year 3 it will expand into Turkey, Lebanon and--if safe--Syria and Iran with help from the British Institute at Ankara, the Council for British Research in the Levant and, we hope, the British Institute of Persian Studies. With support from the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, in Strand 1 we will welcome humanities educators and researchers back into the international fold by offering varied options for international, interdisciplinary collaboration, training, mentoring and peer-group support, especially for women, minorities, and early career researchers. In Strand 2 we will issue six-monthly funding calls for interdisciplinary, collaborative projects open to academics, cultural heritage professionals, NGOs and community groups. Each call will address a different selection of five overall themes, related to the core team's own research, chosen to address the Network's five primary Aims (see Objectives). This sequencing will allow research projects to learn from and build on prior findings, and enable Network participants to respond flexibly to new developments in the region. We aim to strike a balance between providing appropriate support and expertise from the project team and allowing Network participants to take the lead on their own research and development. We will encourage a wide range of traditional and innovative methodologies and outputs, both theoretical and practice-based. However, the emphasis will be on open-access, peer-reviewed online publication, for instance via UCL Press and the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus (oracc.org). In this way we will maximise accessibility of the Network's findings while providing authors and readers with the reassurance of high academic quality. In Strand 3 we will set up five working groups, one for each Aim, to evaluate, share and embed good practice, and make policy recommendations across the network's full geographical range. With partners we will secure funding to develop a sustainable new generation of high quality humanities research in and for the benefit of the wider Middle East.