This series consists of fieldwork materials, data analysis, and publications related to Ortner's work with specimens from Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain, dated 1977 to 2010 and undated. The bulk of this series relates to Ortner's participation in fieldwork at a cemetery complex in Bab edh-Dhra, Jordan, a part of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain with Walter Rast and R. Thomas Schaub.
Subseries 3.1, Publications, dated 1977 to 2008 and undated, includes drafts, data, data analysis, research materials, notes, correspondence, photographs, a blueprint, and a map related to Ortner's publications on his work in Bab edh-Dhra. The computer disks in this series are digital copies of the paper manuscripts they are included with. Several folders in this subseries contain planning material related to the series of books: Reports of the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain. Bruno Frohlich and Ortner's 2008 book The Early Bronze Age I Tombs and Burials of Bab edh-Dhra, Jordan, also represented in this series, was volume 3 of the Reports.
Subseries 3.2, Bab edh-Dhra field seasons 1977 and 1979, dated 1977 to 2005, includes travel and finance documents, data analyses, correspondence, photographs, negatives, and maps. Of note are the sound recordings and transcripts of Ortner's audio journals in 1977 and 1979; as well as an interview, interpreted by Muhammed Darwish, conducted by between Ortner and Mahmoud Mustafa about burial practices of people living in El Mazra. Recordings are on 9 sound cassettes.
Subseries 3.3, Bab edh-Dhra field season 1981, dated 1980 to 1990, includes mostly financial and planning materials because Ortner did not travel to the site for this field season.
Subseries 3.4 Other projects and events, 1980 to 1983 and undated, includes files from other projects Ortner was involved with in Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain unrelated to the Expedition to the Dead Sea Plain. This includes a proposal for a Near Eastern Skeletal Biology Program with Smithsonian archaeologist Bruno Frohlich in collaboration with Yarmouk University in Bahrain. There is not much information on the Early Islamic Project in Egypt, the Yemen mummy project, or the Abydos study.
The series maintains Ortner's original arrangement with some changes for clarity.
This series is arranged in 4 subseries: 3.1 Publications, 1977-2008; 3.2 Bab edh-Dhra field seasons 1977 and 1979, 1977-2005; 3.3 Bab edh-Dhra field season 1981, 1980-1990; 3.4 Other projects and events, 1980-1983, undated
Restrictions:
The CD-Roms and floppy disks are unavailable for research due to preservation concerns.
Collection Rights:
Contact the repository for terms of use.
Collection Citation:
Donald J. Ortner Papers, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The papers of Donald J. Ortner were processed with the assistance
of the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund.
