Teleilat Ghassul excavations

On 24 November 1929 the Jesuit Fathers of the Pontifical Biblical Institute began their excavations at Teleilat Ghassul, on the east bank of the Jordan just north of the Dead Sea.

Fr Alexis Mallon and the excavation team seated at a table in front of a tent at Teleilat GhassulPhoto: PBI Jerusalem

On 24 November 1929, the Jesuit Fathers of the Pontifical Biblical Institute started their excavations at the site of Teleilat Ghassul, on the east bank of the Jordan just north of the Dead Sea. Over nine seasons (1929–38, 1959–60), the excavation yielded not only a significant amount of archaeological material — mostly still part of our archaeological collection — but also a very significant excavation archive.

As we marked 90 years from the beginning of the excavations, we started a project to make these resources ever more accessible to researchers, so that this legacy may be better known and better appreciated, and that the work initiated by the PBI in 1929 may continue to help uncover the fascinating site of Teleilat Ghassul.

The expedition at Teleilat GhassulThe campaigns, 1929–1960, and the staff
Excavation reports of Teleilat GhassulThe final and the preliminary reports
Ongoing research on Teleilat GhassulRecent studies of the collection, and how to work on it
Fr Alexis Mallon SJThe first director of the excavation, and his bibliography
Archive of Teleilat GhassulPhotographs, registers, plans and watercolours
The Teleilat Ghassul collection in the Museum