Alison McQuitty is an archaeologist with a particular interest in vernacular architecture, rural settlement and landscape in Jordan during the 6th – 20th centuries A.D. She has a B.A. in European Archaeology from the University of Durham and an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from SOAS, University of London. Alison lived and worked in Jordan and Syria for some 25 years, ultimately becoming Director of the Council for British Research in the Levant. She co-directed the excavations at Khirbat Faris, Southern Jordan with Professor Jeremy Johns, Director of the Khalili Research Centre, University of Oxford. Volume I of the excavation results is due to appear in 2019. Alison’s interests have developed in diverse ways ranging from leading the refurbishment of a local Jordanian museum to lecturing on heritage management to organising bespoke tours to the Middle East and North Africa. Through all of these activities has run the thread of Alison’s passion for encouraging public engagement with the heritage and landscape. Her academic publications include:
2014 “The Vocabulary of Rural Settlement: Beit Ras in Northern Jordan” in Z. Kafafi & M. Maraqten (eds.), A Pioneer of Arabia: The Archaeology & Epigraphy of the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula: Studies in Honor of Mo’awiyah Ibrahim, 198-213, Rome. Rosapat.
2009 “Khirbat Faris: a Rural Settlement on the Karak Plateau during the Late Antique – Early Islamic Transition” in Karin Bartl & Abd al-Razzaq Moaz (eds.) Residences, Castles, Settlements. Transformation Processes from Late Antiquity to Early Islam in Bilad al-Sham: Proceedings of the International Conference held at Damascus, 5-9 November 2006, Rahden/Westf. Orient-Archaeologie Band 24,
2008 “Ottoman Archaeology” in Russell B. Adams (ed.), The Archaeology of Jordan, 539-568, London. Equinox Publishing Ltd.
Jointly with Dr Ruba Kana’an: A. 1994 “The Architecture of al-Qasr on the Kerak Plateau: An Essay in the Chronology of Vernacular Architecture.” Palestine Exploration Quarterly 126:127-151.
