The Palestine Exploration Fund
The PEF was founded in 1865 and is the oldest organization in the world created specifically for the study of the Levant, the southern portion of which was conventionally known as ‘Palestine’.
PEF Office Hours: We are generally open to visitors Monday to Thursday 11am to 4pm, but please do ring 0207 935 5379 or email execsec@pef.org.uk / collections@pef.org.uk to confirm.
WATCH OUR VIDEOS
Watch our latest videos on our YouTube channel. Andrew Lawler’s lecture on Under Jerusalem, and Bashar Tabbah presenting Sacred Architecture: An exploration of Al-Aqsa Mosque’s complex history and landmark
Please note that views expressed at our lectures and events do not necessarily represent the views of the PEF, but are the speaker’s and/or audience’s own.
DR. ROSS IAN THOMAS, 1978 – 2022. Our friend and colleague, Dr. Ross Ian Thomas, has died suddenly at the age of 44. Ross was the Director of the British Museum’s Naucratis excavations in Egypt, and was a Curator in the BM’s Greek and Roman Department. He also served on the PEF’s Committee between 2013 and 2017. A Just Giving page has been set up to support the family. https://gofund.me/2e75d723. For more on Ross’s rich life and career, please click here Ross Thomas
LATEST NEWS & ARTICLES
The Petra Hinterland Social Landscapes Project. Launch of First Season in 2022
By Will M. Kennedy After some considerable delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first field season of the Petra Hinterland Social Landscapes Project (PHSLP)
Spadeologists: Australians and the Shellal Mosaic
By James Donaldson The Shellal mosaic is the floor of a 6th century church removed from high ground north of Wadi Ghuzze at Shellal by
Investigating changing socio-economic landscapes in the Early Bronze Age Levant through Zooarchaeology
By Gwendoline Maurer & Mariana Albuquerque UCL Institute of Archaeology. Back in February 2022, we received the great news in our inbox that The Palestine
‘‘Sacred Landscapes’’: the Umayyad Syro-Jordanian Hajj Roads to Mecca and their Pilgrim Camps
By Claudine Dauphin. 8th May 2022: after two Covid years I am back in Amman to investigate the Umayyad Hajj road to Mecca, after tracing
PEF event: “The Oddest Archaeologists to Visit Jerusalem.” The story of the notorious Parker expedition and the search for the Temple treasures.
Tuesday 15th November 2022 6pm The mystery surrounding the Ark of the Covenant’s location is one of the world’s greatest and most enduring. Of the quests
Researching Palestinian psychiatric patients at the Lebanon Hospital for Mental Diseases
By Chris Sandal-Wilson. Back in March 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic escalating and the first national lockdown beginning in the United Kingdom, a rare piece
Overlooked Archaeologists of Palestine
By Loay Abu Alsaud. Our endeavour was to bring to light early contributions made to archaeology in Palestine by key Palestinians who have been overlooked
PEF event: The Inheritance of Christ: Christian Pilgrimage in the Holy Land Before the Crusades, c.800 – c.1099
Thursday 13th October 2022 6pm Christian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the early Islamic period has received comparatively less attention than the Roman and
The 2022 survey at Khirbet al-Mudayna al-‘Aliya, Jordan
Diederik J. H. Halbertsma, University of Liverpool, Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egpytology. In May 2022 we conducted a survey season at the archaeological site