Crystal-M. Bennett
Crystal-Marie Bennett was born on the Channel Island of Alderney in 1918, read English at Bristol University, and in 1955-7 completed a postgraduate course on the archaeology of the Western Provinces of the Roman Empire at the Institute of Archaeology in London. Following field work in the UK, she joined K.M. Kenyon’s excavations at Jericho for the 1957/8 season, then worked with Peter Parr at Petra before commencing what was to become the principal archaeological project of her career, the study of Edomite settlement in modern south Jordan. Her first season of work was at Umm al-Biyara in Petra in November 1960. She continued to assist Peter Parr in subsequent field seasons at Petra, and also K.M. Kenyon in Jerusalem from 1961-1967.
She worked for
three seasons at Umm al-Biyara (1960, 1963, 1965); four seasons at Tawilan above
Wadi Musa (1968-1970, 1982) and for five seasons at Busaira (1971-74, 1980)
discovering settlements which she dated mainly from the late eighth and seventh
centuries BC, with finds including stamp seals and impressions naming Edomite
kings, and remains (architectural, ceramic) which she linked to the biblical
history of Edom. There were exceptional finds of earlier and later dates,
including the first cuneiform tablet to be discovered in Jordan, and a hoard of
fine jewellery, both from Tawilan. She provided the first sound archaeological
framework for the archaeology of southern Jordan during the Iron Age.
She was appointed Secretary-Librarian of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (1963-1965), director of that institution in 1970 and in the following years established an archaeological base in Amman, which she also managed. From these beginnings, she played a critical role in Jordan in establishing the British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History (now the British Institute in Amman), which was formally opened in 1975 when she was appointed full-time Director. In the same year she undertook the direction of the Department of Antiquities’ excavations on the citadel of Amman. In 1977 she was appointed OBE for her services to British archaeology in Jordan; in 1983 she retired from her post in Amman, and Trinity College Dublin conferred an honorary D.Litt. She died in England on August 12, 1987.
For more information, see:
Balderstone, S. Crystal Bennett Online Biography
Prag, K. (2010) Crystal-M. Bennett OBE, BA, D.LITT., FSA: A Memoir. PEQ 142, 43–63.
Talbot, G. (1987) Crystal-M. Bennett, O.B.E. D.Litt., F.S.A. An Appreciation. Levant 19, 1–2.
Selected publications on the excavations of Crystal-M. Bennett:
Busayra– Excavations by Crystal-M. Bennett 1971-1980 (2002)
Dr Piotr Bienkowski and contributors
Excavations at Tawilan in Southern Jordan (1995)
Bennett, C.M. and Dr P. Bienkowski, with contributors
Studies on Roman and Islamic ‘Amman: The Excavations of Mrs C.-M. Bennett and Other Investigations, Volume I: History, Site and Architecture (1992)
Northedge, A. with contributions by J. Bowsher et al.
Umm al Biyarra
Piotr Bienkowski and contributors
(publication currently in production for the Levant Supplementary Series)