ARCHAEOLOGY TO BUSINESS IN FAYNAN: EMPOWERING AND ALLEVIATING THE POVERTY OF BEDOUIN WOMEN IN SOUTHERN JORDAN

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The 'Archaeology to Business in Faynan' (ABIF) project will draw on the outcomes of AHRC funded research to support poverty alleviation and gender equality in the Bedouin community of Faynan/Greigra, southern Jordan. This area has a high level of economic deprivation, which is especially felt amongst the Bedouin women. The recent development of irrigation agriculture to grow tomatoes and melons is only benefiting a restricted number of families, this partly arising from the community being divided into five tribes with different levels of access to agricultural employment. Tourism is increasingly popular to Faynan, this being supported by a single hotel that caters for affluent westerners and is run by a company from Amman. While this hotel has brings income into Faynan, via employment and its supply chains, the majority of Bedouin, and especially the women, have been unable to benefit. As with agriculture, the distribution of benefits is inhibited by the tribal structure within Faynan. The recent development of the Faynan Museum, supported by AHRC funding awards, has attracted further tourists by promoting the archaeological sites and monuments in Faynan, to be further enhanced by a Faynan Heritage Walking Trail. During the course of this development, Bedouin Women have approached the PI and his colleagues to express their desire to produce handicrafts to sell to the tourists.The handicraft market in Jordan is substantial, but is increasingly flooded with cheap imports from China and India. Tourists, and especially the affluent tourists coming to Faynan, are looking for highly-distinctive and high-quality products, relating to the specific localities they have visited. Despite the presence of base-line handicraft skills, the Faynan women cannot at present, produce, market, and sell such products. As such, the ABIF project will support the development of a new range of handicrafts, combining traditional Bedouin skills in weaving and other techniques with designs inspired from the ancient art of Faynan to make locally distinctive products. That ancient art was discovered during the AHRC funded excavations at the Neolithic site of WF16 in Faynan. Excavations were undertaken between 2008 and 2010, producing a wealth of new information about this critical period of economic change in the southern Levant, one which saw the transition from mobile hunting & gathering to sedentary farming communities, 11,800-10,200 years ago. A key discovery at WF16 was a collection of engraved objects that provides the oldest collection of art objects from Jordan. These primarily have geometric patterns engraved onto stone and bone, with some human and animal depictions. This art can be readily translated into the design of new handicraft products, creating a unique line of products for Faynan.The ABIF project will involve collaboration between University-based archaeologists from Reading, UK, who excavated WF16, 'Future Pioneers for Empowering Communities (FPEC)', a Jordanian-based NGO committed to international development, and the Jordan-based Council for British Research in the Levant, that has expertise about traditional Bedouin culture and handicrafts. FPEC has extensive experience and an excellent track record in supporting local communities to develop their own sustainable business enterprises to alleviate poverty. These three bodies will work together with women from all five Bedouin tribes in Faynan to develop the 'Women's Cooperative of Faynan and Gregira'. This will produce, market and sell high-quality handicrafts inspired by the art from WF16. Training programs in handicraft design and production, and in a range of business skills including marketing, pricing and customer relations, will be delivered with a view to the development of a financially self-sustaining business at the completing of the funding period.