Please note that views expressed at our lectures and events do not necessarily represent the views or policy of the PEF, but are the speaker's and audience's own.
PEF EVENT
Wednesday 10th May 2023, 6pm.
HOW TO BUY ANTIQUITIES IN 19th CENTURY PALESTINE
- Michael Press, University of Agder, Norway.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
About the Speaker
Michael Press is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. There he is part of the research project The Lying Pen of Scribes: Manuscript Forgeries, Digital Imaging, and Critical Provenance Research. His current research focuses on the development of the antiquities trade in Palestine over the course of the 19th century. He has also written on archaeology, cultural heritage, and their presentation to the public for the Times Literary Supplement, Aeon, Hyperallergic, the Tel Aviv Review of Books, History Today, and other outlets.
Poster Image: “Riding party, 1903” American Colony. LC-DIG-ppmsca-15830-00001
PEF EVENT
Thursday 4th May 2023, 6pm.
A SEA OF FRAGRANCES: The Sensory Experience of Jaffa in British Travel Writing
- Anne Caldwell, University of Aberdeen.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
About the Speaker
Anne Caldwell is a Teaching Fellow of Jewish History at the University of Aberdeen. Her research focuses on the way in which Zionist agriculture was portrayed within various forms of British cultural media.
Poster Image: The Port at Jaffa, November 1917. Photo by Captain Arthur Rhodes. PEF-P20-RHODES-85
ONLINE: JOINT ALBRIGHT INSTITUTE - PEF EVENT
Tuesday 2nd May 2023, 2:30pm BST / 4:30pm IDT
The Antiquities Trade in Israel and Palestine: Same as It Ever Was?
- Morag Kersel, DePaul University, and Michael Press, University of Agder, Norway.
- At the Albright Insitute Jerusalem and Online
- See poster for more details
About the Speakers
Morag Kersel is Associate Professor of Anthropology at DePaul University. In addition to participating in archaeological excavations and surveys in Israel, Jordan and Palestine, she is interested in the relationship between cultural heritage law, archaeological sites, and objects, and local interpretation. She also works on public display and interpretation of archaeological artifacts in institutional spaces. To learn more, visit: https://followthepotsproject.org/
Michael Press is a Postdoctoral Resarch Fellow at the University of Agder, where he is part of the research project The Lying Pen of Scribes: Manuscript Forgeries, Digital Imaging, and Critical Provenance Research. His current research focuses on the antiquities trade in19th century Palestine. He also writes on archaeology and cultural heritage for the Time Literary Supplement, Aon, Hyperallergic, and other outlets.
PEF EVENT
Wednesday 19th April 2023, 6pm.
MAPPING AND MALARIA: The PEF and the Seeds of Malaria Elimination in Palestine in the 20th Century
- Anton Alexander, Independent Research.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
About the Speaker
Anton Alexander is a retired solicitor conducting research into the history of malaria elimination in Palestine 100 years ago. The lessons learned from this malaria elimination are relevant today, and Anton now participates in many conferences, offering insights into how the disease was defeated in Palestine all those years ago.
Poster Image: The Kishon River near Carmel, Israel. Watercolour by Claude R. Conder, 1872. PEF-PI-112
PEF EVENT
Wednesday 5th April 2023, 6pm.
NINE QUARTERS OF JERUSALEM
- Matthew Teller, author and journalist.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
About the Speaker
Matthew Teller writes for the BBC, Guardian, Independent, Times, Financial Times and other global media. He has produced and presented documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and World Service, and has reported for Radio 4’s ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ from around the Middle East and beyond. His previous book was “Quite Alone: Journalism from the Middle East 2008–2019”.
Poster Image: Book cover of “Nine Quarters of Jerusalem” by Matthew Teller. (Profile Books, 2022). Original artwork by Shehab Kawasmi
PEF EVENT
Wednesday 22nd February 2023 6pm.
Exploring the Explorers: Curiosities and Peoples in the Ethnographic Collections of the Palestine Exploration Fund
- Omar J. Nasser-Khoury, Designer.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
In this talk Omar J. will reflect on his research and work on the ethnographic collection of the PEF. What can the objects in such a collection tell us? The collection is diverse, disparate and curious. The documentation is minimal, and often lacking, making it both frustrating and interesting to engage with. How can we read these objects and what do they tell us about the collectors themselves besides the usual information on their use, provenance and cultural context?
About the Speaker
PEF EVENT
Thursday 19th January 2023 6pm.
Ancient Landscapes of Zoara - Surveys and Excavations South of the Dead Sea.
- Konstantinos D. Politis, Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
The city of Zoara in the Ghor es Safi is situated at the southern end of the Dead Sea in Jordan. It is a unique landscape with a unique story of human occupation. Associated with the biblical stories of Sodom and Gomorrah and the ‘Cities of the Plain’, this site and its surrounding landscape has been excavated by Konstantinos D. Politis and his team from 1997 to 2018, with funding from the Palestine Exploration Fund, among others.
With the launch of his second PEF Annual on these excavations, Dr. Politis will talk about the project, the extraordinary finds they have discovered and what they can tell us about the history of humanity at this lowest place on earth.
About the Speaker
PEF EVENT
Thursday 12th January 2023 6pm.
130 Years of Archaeology in the Levant: The Site of Tell el Hesi from Petrie to the Present.
- Jeffrey Blakely, University of Wisconsin
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
In 1890, the Palestine Exploration Fund asked the famous Egyptologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie if he would conduct an excavation in Palestine under their auspices. This he did, with his assistant the American archaeologist Dr. Frederick Jones Bliss, at the impressive multi period ‘Tell’ site of Tel el Hesi, in the foothills of what is now Israel. These excavations established a scientific approach to archaeology in the region, and so formed a model for subsequent archaeological excavations. For the last 50 years, Dr. Jeffrey Blakely from the University of Wisconsin, has led extensive surveys and excavations of his own at the site and its environs, building on Petrie and Bliss’s pioneering work. In this lecture, Dr. Blakely will describe how his team’s research added to our knowledge not just of the site but of the surrounding area, from the 3rd millennium of the Early Bronze Age right up to the Ottoman era of the 19th century.
About the Speaker
PEF EVENT
Thursday 15th December 2022 6pm.
"You Can Always Tell a Jaffa by its Juice!" How Jaffa Oranges Conquered Britain
- Anne Caldwell, University of Aberdeen.
-
NOW ONLINE AT https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuduuorD8pE9SCE3NKpx5EizUFAMJUF_3F
AND ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQUegUpcDcOAQN7ou8qto4A -
Free, please click on the Zoom link to reserve your ticket/s
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcuduuorD8pE9SCE3NKpx5EizUFAMJUF_3F
The mid-19th century saw the birth of one of the most well-known oranges out there, the Jaffa orange. Not only was citrus the main export of the late Ottoman and Mandate periods, it became symbolic of the territory of the southern Levant and Palestine. In Britain, their popularity was seconded only by the Seville orange. In this talk, Anne Caldwell will reveal the fascinating tale of this “gold without alloy from the East” – hailed as everything from a cure for the ‘flu and general pick-me-up to put a “spring in your step”, to “the messengers of peace” after the Great War, and how they became part of British culture during the Mandate era between the two World Wars.
PEF EVENT
Now Tuesday 15th November 2022 6pm.
"The Oddest Archaeologists to Visit Jerusalem." The story of the notorious Parker expedition and the search for the Temple treasures.
- Graham Addison, Author.
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please email rsvppef@gmail.com to reserve your ticket/s
The mystery surrounding the Ark of the Covenant’s location is one of the world’s greatest and most enduring. One of the Bible’s most sacred and powerful objects has not been seen for over 2,500 years. The missing Ark has inspired quests, novels, and even a very famous film.
Of the quests to find the Ark, perhaps the most remarkable is the Parker expedition. Its story seems stranger than fiction and includes aristocrats, poets, psychics, secret cyphers in the Bible, a deadly curse, bribery, gun running, riots, and madness. It sounds unbelievable but the Parker expedition is real. Rudyard Kipling, who knew several of the expedition members, wrote ‘Talk of fiction! Fiction isn’t in it’.
Previously untold in its entirety, Graham Addison has uncovered many new details, which he skilfully weaves together in the amazing story of the individuals who in 1909 sailed on a private yacht bound for Jerusalem to retrieve the Ark.

PEF EVENT
Thursday 13th October 2022 6pm.
The Inheritance of Christ: Christian Pilgrimage in the Holy Land Before the Crusades, c.800 - 1c. 099
- Daniel Reynolds, University of Birmingham
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please phone 020 7935 5379 or email rsvppef@gmail.com

PEF EVENT
Thu 26th May 2022 (6pm BST)
Sacred Architecture: An exploration of al Aqsa Mosque's complex history and landmarks
- Bashar Tabbah, Historical photographer and author
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Free, please phone 020 7935 5379 or email rsvppef@gmail.com
Measuring in at 144 acres, the area contains hundreds of landmarks from raised prayer platforms, to water fountains, schools, shrines, tombs and gates, each a snapshot of a history that spans 14 centuries.

PEF/CBRL joint Webinar
Thu 17th June 2021 (4pm BST)
Olga Tufnell's 'Perfect Journey'
- Jack Green with Ros Henry
- Online Webinar (Zoom)
- Free, register at cbrl.ac.uk
Chaired by Felicity Cobbing (PEF) & Carol Palmer (CBRL)
Discussant Amara Thornton (UCL)
Please book here.
PEF/EGYPT EXPLORATION SOCIETY joint STUDY DAY
Sat 10th July 2021
Between Africa and Asia: New research from the Sinai Peninsula
- Dr Hesham M. Hussein, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Dr Ahmed Shams, Durham University and Sinai Peninsula Research (SPR), Dr Konstantinos D. Politis, Hellenic Society for Near Eastern Studies, Dr Jamie Fraser, British Museum
- Online Webinar
- Tickets are £15-£25, book online, limited attendance capacity
This online study day, organised in partnership by the Egypt Exploration Society and the Palestine Exploration Fund, will consider some of the latest research into the archaeology and history of this unique landscape from its position as a frontier zone, as a melting pot for early Christianity, through to its late antiquity and subsequent historical exploration and mapping. Please book here.
Banner image: Wadi el-Zuweitin and the plateau of Gebel Katharina in the horizon. © Sinai Peninsula Research (SPR)
PEF/CBRL joint Webinar
Thu 9th Sept 2020 (4pm)
Was Jordan's Black Desert Green During the Late Neolithic?
- Eastern Badia Archaeological Project team
- Online Webinar
- Free, book online
PEF/CBRL joint lecture
Wed 26th Feb 2020 (6pm) & Fri 28th Feb 2020 (5.30pm)
The Survey of Western Palestine Revisited: The Visible and the Hidden
- Salman Abu Sitta, Palestine Land Society (PLANDS)
- PEF, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Tickets free, but limited seats
Limited seats – please book by emailing collections@pef.org.uk
PEF Event
Thu 19th Mar 2020 (6pm) THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED DUE TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK. WE HOPE TO RESCHEDULE IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Excavating at Tel el Hesi, Past and Present
- Jeffrey Blakely, University of Wisconsin
- Palestine Exploration Fund, 5-6 Dreadnought Walk, Greenwich, London SE10 9FP
- Tickets free, but limited seats
Meet archaeologist & Director of the current excavations at Tel el Hesi, Jeffrey Blakely, and get a behind the scenes look at the PEF’s archaeological material from its own excavations at the same site nearly 140 years ago.
Limited seats – please book by emailing collections@pef.org.uk
PEF/BRITISH MUSEUM LECTURE
Thu 26th Mar 2020 (1.30–2.30pm)THIS EVENT IS CANCELLED DUE TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK. WE HOPE TO RESCHEDULE IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Workers, Overseers and Interpreters: finding Palestinians in the excavations of the PEF
- Sarah Irving, Edge Hill University, Lancashire
- British Museum BP Lecture Theatre
- Tickets are £5 (£4 for BM Members)
PEF/AIAS JOINT LECTURE
Wed 29th Apr 2020 (6pm)
Fishing on the Sea of Galilee in the Early Roman Period
- Richard Bauckham, St Andrews University
- Institute of Archaeology, Lecture Theatre G6, Ground Floor, University, College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPY
- Admission free. No ticket required.
All welcome. Admission free. No ticket required. Enquiries 020 8349 5754.
PEF/BRITISH MUSEUM LECTURE
Thu 4th Jun (4pm)
The Lost Fortress of Umm Tawabin, Jordan
- Alexandra Arriotti, PEF Grant Scholar
- British Museum BP Lecture Theatre
- Tickets are £5 (£4 for BM Members)
Measuring in at 144 acres, the area contains hundreds of landmarks from raised prayer platforms, to water fountains, schools, shrines, tombs and gates, each a snapshot of a history that spans 14 centuries.
Measuring in at 144 acres, the area contains hundreds of landmarks from raised prayer platforms, to water fountains, schools, shrines, tombs and gates, each a snapshot of a history that spans 14 centuries.