Dr Christopher Tuttle

Dr Christopher Tuttle, completed his B.A. in Classical & Medieval Studies summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts-Boston and completed his doctoral work in the Joukowsky Institute of Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University in 2008. Christopher is based in Amman, Jordan where he is the Associate Director of the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR). Chris frequently guides archaeology tours for groups of professional archaeologists, students, and diplomats, including Ambassadors and Cultural Attachés to Jordan and U.S. Congressional delegations. He has, for example, guided Mrs. Laura Bush, the former First Lady and Mr. Joseph Biden, the current Vice President of the United States.

Interested in ancient mystery cults from the Classical Hellenistic and Roman periods and heretical movements in Medieval Europe, Christopher has made his main area of research the period of transition between the end of the independent Hellenistic kingdoms and the rise of Roman hegemony in Syria and the Levantine region. His doctoral work focused on the Nabataeans at Petra, who were the last independent kingdom in the area to be absorbed by the Romans. He has travelled extensively in the MiddleEast exploring important archaeological sites from all periods of the region's long history and he has worked on a number of excavations and surveys, including the Petra Great Temple excavation. As you will discover, if you join his tours, there is hardly a Bedouin in Petra who does not know him! Chris first joined ASA in 2009 as a tour lecturer for Syria & Jordan: A Cultural Bridge Between East and West.

Current Tours

The Turquoise Coast: Rhodes & Southern Turkey (3 - 23 September 2011)

Syria & Jordan: A Cultural Bridge Between East and West (13 - 30 October 2012)

Past Tours

Syria & Jordan: A Cultural Bridge Between East and West (2009)

Affiliations

Visiting Scholar, Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

Member of the Archaeological Institute of America

Member of the Council for British Research in the Levant

Member of the CouncilAmerican Schools of Oriental Research

Publications include

'The Archaeology of Petra (Jordan),' entry for the new Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, World Archaeology Congress; book and online formats (in press).

With M. Sinibaldi, 'The Medieval/Islamic Village, Bayda, Jordan: Preliminary Report on the First Season of the Brown University Petra Archaeological Project Excavation,' Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 55 (in press).

'Nabataean Quarry Marks,' Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan 11. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on the History and Archaeology of Jordan—Paris, France, June 2010 (in press).

'Preserving and Presenting the Trajanic Inscription from Petra,' Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 54 (in press).

'The Petra Temple of the Winged Lions Cultural Resource Management Initiative: An Introduction,' Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 54 (in press).

With S.E. Alcock, M. Berenfeld, and I.B. Straughn, 'Preliminary Report, First Season of the Brown University Petra Upper Market Project,' Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 54 (in press).

With D.R. Keller, 'Archaeology in Jordan, 2008 and 2009 Seasons,' American Journal of Archaeology 114 (2010): 505–545

'Sculpture of a Seated Nude Male Figure (Possibly the God Bes)' and 'Nabataean Eye-Idol Stele' in Da Petra a Shawbak. Archeologia di una Frontiera; eds. G. Vannini and M. Nucciotti (Firenze: Giunti 2008): 53–54.

With S.H Savage & D.R. Keller, 'Archaeology in Jordan, 2007 Season' American Journal of Archaeology 112 (2008): 509-28