Barbara A. Porter is an independent scholar who lives in Washington D.C. She resided in Jordan from 2006 to 2020 when she was the Director of the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR, now called the American Center of Research). In this position, she was integrally involved with the heritage of Jordan and particularly Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabataeans. Barbara’s interest in the archaeology of the Middle East started when she lived in Lebanon with her family from 1965 to 1970. She received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and her graduate degrees (M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.) from Columbia University. From 1978 to 1983, she was on the curatorial staff of the Egyptian Department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and from 1983 to 1986 she was an assistant curator in Ancient Near Eastern art there. In the ten years before she moved to Jordan, Barbara led tours from Algeria to Iran for a number of organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. In her years as ACOR Director, she was involved in films on Petra and responsible for the publication of several major monographs on the site. Since leaving Jordan in 2020, she has led several tours to Saudi Arabia and many of her photos are included in this brochure.
