Edward Banning

Dr. Edward Banning is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology. His research on the beginnings of village life and political-economic inequality in southwest Asia concentrates on the southern Levant. He has been on the staff of excavations at Neolithic ‘Ain Ghazal in Jordan, and directed the Wadi Ziqlab Project and Wadi Quseiba Project in northern Jordan, which both involved survey and excavation at several Epipalaeolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age sites.

His research interests include ways that the spatial organization of the built environment can inform us about changes in Neolithic and Chalcolithic social systems, the evolution of the agricultural economy from the Neolithic onward, and theoretical aspects of archaeological survey and evaluation of survey results. He also focuses on method and theory related to archaeological laboratory analyses, including measurement theory, sampling, micro-archaeology, experimental archaeology, and dating methods.