Symposium - Life, Death, and Disease: Insights from Petra’s Tombs and Cemeteries
Join us for a free talk on Wednesday, January 21, at 6 PM. This in-person Symposium is free and open to the public, RSVP on Eventbrite required. It will take place in the Naos on Level 2.
rsvp HERE.
Sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America, this archaeology talk is titled “Life, Death, and Disease: Insights from Petra’s Tombs and Cemeteries.”
ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM:
Life, Death, and Disease: Insights from Petra’s Tombs and Cemeteries
Ensconced within the sandstone hills of southern Jordan, evidence from mortuary structures in the ancient Nabataean city of Petra tells powerful stories about life, illness, death, and commemoration of its residents. This talk will focus on their experiences across the life course through bioarchaeological evidence of disease, diet, and immigration from the skeletal remains recovered from tombs within the city. In addition, evidence of mortuary behaviors within these tombs will reveal the rich and varied forms of remembrance after their deaths. This integrated approach, shifting away from Petra’s temples and monuments, offers new perspectives on resilience, identity, and memory in a dynamic ancient city.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Dr. Megan Perry is a Professor of Biological Anthropology and has been at East Carolina University since 2003. She teaches courses on human osteology, death and disease in Classical antiquity, and human diseases and ancient environments. Most of her research focuses on 1st century BCE–7th century CE Jordan, but she supervises graduate students interested in numerous aspects of bioarchaeology including analyses of a late 17th/early 18th century CE family cemetery in North Carolina, isotopic analysis to understand diet in ancient Petra, and paleopathological analysis of metabolic disease in 19th century Jordan.
She has been working on archaeological projects in Jordan for 30 years and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Center of Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan. She is currently the Director of the Petra North Ridge Project, which focuses on the excavation of 1st century CE tombs and 1st–4th century domestic structures.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? CHECK OUT THESE RESOURCES:
Petra’s rarely-excavated tombs still hold answers to area’s ancient burial practices — The Jordan Times
Perry, M. A. et al. 2020. Using dental enamel to uncover the impact of childhood diet on mortality in Petra, Jordan. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 29: 102181.
Perry, M. A. et al. 2018. Le Petra North Ridge Project. Les tombes reflets des conditions de vie a Petra. Dossiers d’ Archeologie 386:50-51.
Perry, M. A. et al. 2017. Sensing the Dead: Mortuary Ritual and Tomb Visitation at Nabataean Petra. Syria 94:99-106.
SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS:
Archaeological Institute of America- Nashville Society
Centennial Park Conservancy
Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation
NEXT SYMPOSIUM:
February 9 - “Goddess in Progress: The making of Nashville’s Athena” by Alan LeQuire - RSVP