Henk Franken contributed much to the archaeology of the Levant. He directed excavations, in the 1960s and 1970s, at the Bronze and Iron Age site of Tell Deir 'Alla, and was later involved in the excavations at the nearby Mamluk site of Tell Abu Sarbut. This volume, dedicated to his memory, is about these two sites in the Jordan Valley, the region to which Franken devoted so much of his time and energy, and about the interaction between the land and its people. Several students and colleagues contributed to it. It also contains Franken's last article on the religion of Deir 'Alla.