Professor Roger Matthews and Professor Wendy Matthews

Forming part of the Being Human Festival, this richly-illustrated lecture delivered by Roger and Wendy Matthews will present the latest discoveries from their ongoing excavations at the World Heritage Tentative List site of Bestansur, dating to the Neolithic site of Sheikh-e Abad, 10,000-7,500 BC. Bestansur and Sheikh-e Abad were among the first farming settlements of the Middle East, and excavations there are investigating all aspects of life during the transition from hunting to farming, and from mobile to settled life-ways. A special feature of Bestansur is a large building with more than 70 human individuals buried under the floors, providing a wealth of new information about ancient life and and death during this period. Roger and Wendy will discuss the special experiences, opportunities and pleasures of working in Iraq and Iran with their Iraqi and Iranian colleagues.

Roger and Wendy have co-directed archaeological projects in the Middle East for over 30 years, in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.