Jonathan trained in Levantine archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology in London, and began his field career in Syria in the 1970’s, serving for eight years as assistant director of the Institute’s excavations at Qadesh on the Orontes. In 1984 he began directing excavations in Jordan on behalf of the British Museum, first at the Early Bronze Age site of Tiwal esh-Sharqi in the Jordan Valley and then, in 1985, at the nearby major site of Tell es-Sa’idiyeh, a project which is continuing to this day. An expert on the Canaanites and Phoenicians, he is particularly interested in the Bronze and Iron Ages (c. 3400-300 BC), and is a leading authority on the pottery and metalwork of these periods. One of his special interests is the rise of historical Israel, and the historicity of the biblical narratives.