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View down the Dana gorge looking towards the Wadi Arabah from the Plateau near Tafileh, Jordan.
The Land of Canaan – Archaeology of the Southern Levant - Five talks by Dr Felicity Cobbing
Tickets from
£70
Book today with a deposit of
£11
30th April 2026 - 30th July 2026
This series will provide a broad view of the prehistory and early history of geographical Palestine (comprising modern day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, southern and coastal Syria, and the Sinai peninsula). Sitting at the crossroads of the ancient world, this region is fundamentally important for the telling of our human story. However, current events, polarised opinions and ideologies often overshadow this, leading to misconceptions and a lack of appreciation for the region’s importance for our shared cultural heritage.
With a focus on archaeological and historical evidence, the talks will offer a framework for understanding the distant past of the region from the Palaeolithic to the Assyrian invasions of the 7th century BCE with a clarity that is often absent.
Felicity Cobbing leads our Essential Jordan tour in April 2027.
Please note that there is no talk on Thursday 21st May.
Talks
We begin with a description of the geology, landscape and environment of the region, and outline the story of human habitation, from the hunter-gatherers of the Palaeolithic to the agricultural revolution of the Neolithic.
The Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Ages (spanning c.4,500–c.2,000 BCE) see huge technological and societal developments, which transform settled urban and rural occupation into a sustainable and successful way of life.
The Middle Bronze Age sees fully urban and rural society firmly established and flourishing, reaching new levels of sophistication and internationalism. This trend continues in the Late Bronze Age, but now Palestine is a part of the Egyptian Empire – until it all falls apart.
With the collapse of the Egyptian, Hittite and Mycenaean empires at the end of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1,125 BCE – 539 BCE), independent city states and ‘kingdoms’ begin to emerge. We look at these polities first in Phoenicia and then in Transjordan, until their absorption into the Assyrian Empire.
We follow the same story over the period c.1,150 – 587 BCE, but this time west of the river Jordan, seeing the rise of the ‘kingdoms’ of Israel and Judah, until once again, Assyrian domination brings this period of independence to a close.
Expert speaker
Ms Felicity Cobbing
Executive and Curator of the Palestine Exploration Fund in London. She has excavated in Jordan with the British Museum, and worked throughout the Middle East, particularly Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. Widely published on the archaeology and the history of archaeology in the Levant, she is co-author with Dr Raouf Sa’d Abujaber of Beyond the River – Ottoman Transjordan in Original Photographs, and with David M. Jacobson on Distant Views of the Holy Land. Twitter: @FelicityCobbing
More tours led by Ms Felicity Cobbing
Frequently asked questions
Payment can be made online using AMEX, Google Pay, MasterCard or Visa.
Dates & prices
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2026
Date
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Price
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