Milestones, People

Near Eastern Studies’ Ben Porter named Hearst Museum acting director

By Public Affairs

Benjamin Porter, a Near Eastern archaeologist at UC Berkeley, has been appointed acting director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

Ben Porter

Benjamin Porter

The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research selected Porter, an assistant professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies and curator of Near Eastern archaeology at the Hearst Museum since 2008.

“Anthropology museums like the Hearst offer rich resources where all people — students, researchers and descendent communities — can explore humanity’s fundamental questions, challenges and opportunities,” said Porter in a statement on the museum’s website.

As an archaeologist, Porter investigates how past Middle Eastern and Mediterranean societies built resilient communities and institutions in arid and semi-arid zones. He directs field archaeology projects in Jordan at the Iron Age capitals of Dhiban and Busayra, as well as a Hearst Museum collections project researching evidence from Peter B. Cornwall’s 1941 expedition to Bahrain and Eastern Saudi Arabia.

Read more online about Porter and what’s happening at the Hearst.