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2024 Women’s History Month at the Institute

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On March 20, 2024

In News and Events

This Women’s History Month, the Institute celebrates and highlights the invaluable contributions women have made to the field of archaeology, both past and present. In the past, the Institute has created a variety of online and physical exhibits that center the experiences of women in the field of ancient archaeology. This blog post provides a list of these past exhibitions, as well as highlighting current female faculty’s research and role in making the Institute what it is today. 

Past Exhibits, Online Archives, and Interest Groups

Breaking Ground: Women in Old World Archaeology 

This online database of women in Old World Archaeology was created by the Institute’s founder and namesake, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, alongside former professor and friend Barbra S. Lesko. The database extends across time periods, countries, and continents, highlighting the often overlooked contributions of women archaeologists. 

Hidden Figures

Scattered throughout Rhode Island Hall – anywhere from ceilings, to kitchens, to corners of our second floor library – are framed portraits of female archaeologists from the 19th century to the present. Often, these portraits are inaccessible, whether due to timing (e.g., lectures) or permissions (e.g., the Vault) – this was done to highlight how traditional narratives of the discipline enforce marginalized voices to remain ‘hidden.’ Each portrait and label recognizes the women who have often been ‘hidden’ from view in the history of archaeology, and challenges viewers to look for the missing voices in the field

Trowelblazers@Brown

Inspired by the project “Trowelblazers” created by Brenna Hassett, Tori Herridge, Suzanne Pilaar Birch, and Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Trowelblazers@Brown is a group of early career researchers from historically underrepresented communities and their allies coming together in solidarity to reflect on experiences in the field and academia and engage in meaningful exchanges related to gender issues and accessibility. Anyone who resonates with this message is invited to join the group! 

“Picturing Femininity” | Exhibit by Erynn Bentley (Ph.D. expected May 2025) 

This exhibit created by Ph.D. candidate Erynn Bentley explores how individuals in the ancient world conceived of and constructed gender through material culture. With artifacts from across the world, both ancient and modern, this exhibit highlights three themes in which women are center stage: Women as Objects, In the Hands of Women, and Feminine Ideals. 

The Women of the Institute

Laurel Bestock | Associate Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World and Egyptology and Assyriology

Dr. Laurel Bestock researches the material culture of the Nile Valley as it relates to kingship, monumentality, and the contexts and audiences for art and architecture. She is the co-director of an excavation at Uronarti, Sudan, and is developing a universal tablet-based archaeological recording system called Kiosk Archaeological Recording Platform. She was most recently featured in a WIRED “Tech Support” video: “Egyptologist Answers Ancient Egyptian Questions from Twitter.” 

Sheila Bonde | Professor of Archaeology, and Christopher Chan and Michelle Ma Professor of History of Art and Architecture

Dr. Sheila Bonde specializes in the study of medieval sites and their representation in the archaeological record. She is the current director of the MonArch excavation project located in northern France at the Augstinian abbey of Saint-Jean-des-Vignes in Soissons, the Carthusian house at Bourffontaine, the Cistercian monastery at Notre-Dame d’Ourscamp, and the motherhouse at Tiron. 

Kathleen Forste | Postdoctoral Research Associate in Archaeology and the Ancient World

Dr. Kathleen M. Forste is an anthropological archaeologist with research exploring agricultural systems and human-plant relationships of the 4th-13th centuries CE. Her dissertation was on the Levant agricultural economy of the Early Islamic era (c. 636-1100 CE) and was completed at Boston University. She is currently involved in fieldwork at the Tel Shimron Excavations in Israel, and the Menorca Archaeology Project in Spain. 

Robyn Price | Postdoctoral Research Associate in Archaeology and the Ancient World

Dr. Robyn Price studies ancient sensory experience and its role in establishing asymmetrical power relationships in the past. Her dissertation examined the value of scent in New Kingdom Egypt (ca. 1550-1050 BCE), and was completed at the University of California, Los Angeles. 

Candace Rice | Assistant Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World and Classics

Dr. Candace Rice’s research focuses on Mediterranean maritime trade and economic development in the Roman period. She is the current co-director of the Upper Sabina Tiberina Project, excavating a late Republican to mid Imperial villa in the Sabina. She has done fieldwork at Etruscan, Samnite, Roman, and Medieval sites in Italy, France, and Tunisia. 

Sarah Bell | Ph.D. expected, May 2025

Sarah Bell researches cross-cultural conventions through the identification of “vocabularies” of spatial arrangement, the etymologies of spatial language, and the architecture associated with religious or cult worship in Minoan palaces. 

Erynn Bentley | Ph.D. expected, May 2025

Erynn Bentley researches the art and archaeology of late antiquity and the early medieval period in the Mediterranean and Europe, performativity of objects and places, cultural exchange and mobility, and public archaeology and its relationship to museum curation. 

Emily Booker | Ph.D. Expected, May 2024

Dr. Emily Booker successfully defended her dissertation this March, entitled, “Contextual Clay Bodies: Figurine Use and Meaning in Late Bronze Age Cypress.” Her research interests are in international ties, trade, and communication in the eastern Mediterranean during the Late bronze and Early Iron Age. 

Elizabeth “Liza” Davis | Ph.D. expected, May 2025

Liza Davis researches the mechanics and effects of the spread of Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean during Late Antiquity. She is interested in network analysis, spatial statistics, GIS, and geoarchaeology. 

Grace Hermes | Ph.D. expected, May 2029

Grace Hermes researches the lived experiences of women in the ancient Mediterranean, with special attention to the body as a locus of gendered experience. She is interested in anatomical votives in the 5th century healing cult of Askelepios at Corinth. 

Julia Hurley | Ph.D. expected, October 2024

Julia Hurley researches foodways in the ancient world, with an emphasis on Roman social and economic history in the western provinces of the Roman Empire. She is interested in digital approaches to studying the ancient world. 

Rachel Kalisher | Ph.D. expected, May 2024

Rachel Kalisher researches reproductive physiology through bone histology and the treatment of women in the ancient world, with much of her present research carried out  in present-day Israel. She is also pursuing a Sc.M. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology through the Open Graduate Education Program at Brown University. 

Jennifer “Jen” McLish | Ph.D. expected, May 2029

Jen McLish researches knowledge transmission and craft production in the ancient world, with a focus on the maintenance of revival or craft traditions and its relation to social memory and identity. She is also interested in the impacts of social and political marginalization, environmental disaster, or economic turmoil’s impact on craft production. 

Leah Neiman | Ph.D. expected, May 2026

Leah Neiman researches systems of sex and gender expression, medical archaeology, museum education, and public-facing scholarship. She has done fieldwork in Samothrace, Greece, and at the Turkana Basin Institute Field School in Kenya. 

Gerasimoula “Mina” Nikolovieni | Ph.D. expected, May 2025

Mina Nikolovieni researches Greek prehistory, with an emphasis on the archaeology of space, craftsmanship, textiles, and objects of domestic life. She has past experience in museum work and cultural resources management. 

Ana González San Martín | Ph.D. expected, May 2025

Ana G. San Martín researches landscapes of rural labor, seasonality, and social complexity during the second millennium BC, and specializes in the landscape of the Cypriot hinterland. She is also interested in mobility, temporality, and social memory as it appears in the archaeological record. 

Anna Soifer | Ph.D. expected, May 2024

Anna Soifer researches ancient craft and industry, knowledge transfer, and ceramic analysis in Pre-Roman Italy. She has past experience in archaeology museums and collections, and the digital illustration of artifacts and architecture from Umm el-Marra, Syria. 

Many women have made archaeology what it is today, and the Institute extends our gratitude to those who have yet to be ‘rediscovered.’ We hope this month may be a time for reflection on how the field of archaeology can better support, represent, uplift, and honor women both in the ancient world and in the present. The Institute wishes you a Happy Women’s History Month.

*Written by Christina Miles (`25), Records and Collections Assistant at the JIAAW, and student of Anthropological Archaeology (A.B.) at Brown University. Christina studies mortuary landscapes and placemaking in Freedom Colonies of the Southwestern United States. 

AIA Narragansett Society Annual Lecture

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On March 15, 2023

In News and Events

On Wednesday, March 22nd at 5:30 pm in Room 108 of Rhode Island Hall, Brown University, Dr. William Fitzhugh (Smithsonian Institution) will deliver a talk entitled:

“Climate Change in the Arctic: It’s Happening Fast, and It’s Happened Before.”

Arctic archaeology reveals how patterns of climate change have both facilitated migrations and extinguished cultures and animals beginning when humans first began to live in Arctic regions 40,000 years ago. We follow these developments in northern Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland as environments and cultures changed, new technology and adaptations developed, and Arctic peoples interacted with each other and with southerners. The story of the Greenland Norse serves as an example of how humans have failed to observe signals of their impending disaster, what they could have done to avoid it, and what we should do now to avoid a similar, but global, fate.

The talk is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a brief reception. Additionally, Dr. Fitzhugh and the AIA Narragansett Society board will be going out to dinner following the lecture – members are welcome to join!

If you are planning to attend the lecture/reception, and if you are interested in joining the dinner, please fill out this RSVP form by Friday, March 17th.

Black History Month Display

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On February 27, 2023

In Exhibits, News and Events

The Joukowsky Institute recognizes the invaluable contribution that Black and African American archaeologist have made to the field, and the world at large. This February, we highlighted the work of six Black anthropologists, archaeologists, and explorers that have revolutionized how we study and practice archaeology.

The display can be found in the alcove nearest to the East entrance, surrounding the portrait of John Wesley Gilbert, known as the first Black anthropologist and the first African American to graduate with advanced degree from Brown University. It was created by Christina Miles (`25) with contributions from Erynn Bentley (Ph.D, expected May 2025).

John Wesley Gilbert (1864-1923)
John Wesley Gilbert is considered the first African American archaeologist. He earned a BA (1888) and an MA (1891) from Brown University. The topic of his MA thesis was “The Demes of Attica”. He was the first African American to earn an MA from Brown. He also conducted fieldwork in Eretria, Greece, and spent the 1890-91 academic year at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, on a scholarship awarded by Brown. He subsequently became a Professor of Greek and English at Paine Institute, Augusta, Georgia, a historically black, liberal arts college.

Dr. William Montague Cobb (1904-1990)
Born in October of 1902 in Washington D.C., Cobb was the first ever African American to receive a PhD in anthropology from Case Western Reserve University, becoming a renowned physical and medical anthropologist. He spent much of his career dispelling myths of racial pseudo-science, as well as highlighting the medical racism that Black Americans faced. He was one of the first “activist scholars” of anthropology who used the tools of the field to dismantle white supremacy, and became the first African American President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Over his career he would publish thousands of articles in academic journals and teach over 6,000 African American anatomy students at Howard University, changing the face of medical anthropology and medicine.

Matthew Henson (1866 – 1955)
Born in Maryland one year after the end of the Civil War to two freeborn sharecroppers, Henson would become one of America’s most famous Arctic explorers, totaling 7 expeditions over the course of 23 years. In 1909, he and Robert Peary worked alongside Inuit men, women, and children in an attempt to reach the Geographic North Pole. While later explorers would reveal that they had missed their mark by 10 miles, it was still an impressive feat, and Henson was rewarded with a Congressional Medal of Honor in 1936. In 1912 he would publish the book A Negro Explorer at the North Pole, chronicling his expedition as well as the moment he, a Black man, placed the American flag down on what was widely thought as the top of the Earth.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891 – 1960)
Born in Notasulga Alabama in 1891, Hurston was an anthropologist, filmmaker, and author. Her anthropological research started at Barnard College in New York (where she was the only Black student), conducting ethnographic research on African American and Caribbean folklore. She studied under famed linguistic anthropologist Franz Boas, whom she would later study with as a graduate student at Columbia. Her work explored themes of racial identity, sexual violence against Black women in north Flordia lumber camps, and Jamaican and Haitian folk culture. She was also a famous literary author during the Harlem Renaissance, publishing revolutionary work such as the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Her literary and anthropological talents combined in the nonfiction book Barracoon: The Story of the Last black Cargo, where she chronicled the life of Oluale Kossola (later named Cudjoe Lewis) from the Middle Passage to freedom.

Alicia Odewale
Dr. Alicia Odewale is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. As the first person to graduate from the University of Tulsa with a PhD in anthropology, her work specializes in African Diaspora archaeology as it appears throughout the Afro-Caribbean and Southeastern United States. Her most recent project discusses resilience of the Greenwood community in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where she analyzes historical evidence excavated from the 1921 Tulsa Race massacre. She continues to advocate for increased diversity and accessibility in the field, leading her to co-found the Estate Little Princes Archaeological Field School in St. Croix, which gives students the opportunity to train in archaeological methods for free.

Pearl Primus (1919 – 1994)
Born in Trinidad in November 1919, she emigrated with her parents to New York City in 1921. Originally having a passion for the sciences, she received a BA in biology and pre-medical sciences in 1940, only to be unable to find lab technician work due to racial discrimination. This led her to work backstage in the wardrobing department for America Dances, where she found her love for dance as well as her natural talent. She studied formally at the New Dance School in New York City, where she was the first Black student to do so—it was here that she ignited her love for artistic activism that would eventually lead to a career in anthropology. Having received her PhD in anthropology in 1978, she would go on to meld ethnographic research and dance to interpret the lives of African Americans and Liberians. In 1991, she received the National Medal of Arts for her contribution to American dance.

Theresa A. Singleton (1952)
Born in April of 1952 in Charleston, South Carolina, Singleton is currently a professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University, where she focuses on historical archaeology and museology. Her debut into the field of archaeology was groundbreaking, with a complex study on the Gullah-Geechee people of Coastal Georgia, who are descendants of enslaved Africans. A trailblazer, Singleton was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in historical archaeology and African American history and culture from the University of Florida. She is currently a curator for the National Museum of Natural History.

Mark Hanna Watkins (1903 – 1976)
Born in Huntsville, Texas as the youngest of fourteen children, Watkins quickly found a love for language. As there were no linguistic departments at the time, he would pursue a Masters in anthropology from the University of Chicago under Edward Sapir, writing about language exchange across indigenous Mexican language groups such as Zapotecan and Tarascan. For his PhD he turned his attention to African languages, writing A Grammar of Chichewa: A Bantu Language of British Central Africa between 1930-1932, one of the only complete grammars of the language, and the first grammar of an African language written by an American. He would later become a professor of anthropology at Fisk University, a Historically Black College, where he was one of 6 faculty members in the first ever African Studies program in the United States. Prior to his retirement in 1972, he worked at Howard University promoting language exchange programs between African and American students.

Postdoctoral Fellowships in Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University

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On January 13, 2023

In Funding & Fellowships, News and Events, Position Announcements

The Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University invites applications to our postdoctoral fellow positions in Archaeology and the Ancient World. Exceptional junior scholars who can enhance and strengthen our commitment to inclusive education and research and to equality and social justice are encouraged to apply. We especially welcome applicants from underrepresented groups.

We seek candidates who have demonstrated a capacity for innovative research, engaged scholarship, and cross-disciplinary thinking. We are interested in individuals whose work focuses on archaeology of the Mediterranean, Egypt, and/or surrounding regions of the Middle East and North Africa, all broadly defined, and including research focused on recent periods; we are equally interested in applications from archaeologists, whose methodological and interdisciplinary expertise clearly transcends regional specializations, and whose research complements that of existing faculty. Applicants must have normally received their doctorate within the last five years, and the Ph.D. must be in hand prior to July 1, 2023.

We fully understand and appreciate the impact that the current pandemic has had and may continue to exert on our lives, personally and professionally, and we will read ongoing research efforts and publication records in that light.

In addition to pursuing their research, successful candidates will be expected to teach one course per semester.  Teaching may be at both the undergraduate and graduate levels; interdisciplinary offerings are desirable. Successful candidates will be expected to make substantive contributions to the ongoing development of the Joukowsky Institute, through the organization of reading or working groups, a topical symposium, or another project intended to foster a stimulating intellectual environment in which to pursue research and to develop new interdisciplinary or community connections. 

These will be two-year positions, with confirmation after one year, beginning on July 1, 2023.

Application Instructions
All candidates should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, short descriptions of 3-4 proposed courses (150-300 words each), a statement (150-300 words) of their experience and/or ideas for prioritizing diversity and inclusion in their teaching and research, and contact information for three references by February 15, 2023. Applications received by this date will receive full consideration, but the search will remain open until the position is closed or filled.

Please submit application materials online at  apply.interfolio.com/118818. There is no need to provide hard copies of application materials for those that have already been submitted electronically.

As an EEO/AA employer, Brown University provides equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law, and caste, which is protected by our University policies.


For further information: 

Professor Peter van Dommelen, Chair, Search Committee
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Joukowsky_Institute@brown.edu

Application Deadline for Ph.D. program in Archaeology and the Ancient World: January 3, 2023

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On December 20, 2022

In Funding & Fellowships

This year’s deadline for applications to Brown University’s doctoral program in Archaeology and the Ancient World is January 3, 2023. To learn more about the program and application process, visit our website’s Information for Prospective Students page, at https://brown.edu/academics/archaeology/graduate/info.

All admitted students receive six years’ guaranteed funding. Fee waivers for applying are available by application at: http://tinyurl.com/4xzn3bt5.

Applications to Ph.D. programs at Brown University are submitted to, and managed through, the Graduate School. For general information on the process of applying and to access the online application system, explore the Application Information section of the Graduate School website. The specific requirements for applications to Archaeology and the Ancient World can be viewed on the Graduate School’s program page. 

New Publication by Felipe Rojas

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On December 13, 2022

In News and Events

Felipe Rojas, Associate Professor of Archaeology and Assyriology, has just published a new coedited book now available for download from the website of the Museo Archaeologico (MUSA), in Bogata. 

Otros pasados: ontologías alternativas y el estudio de lo que ha sido deals with clashes, conflicts, and convergences in the many ways humans have used material remains to explore and explain their pasts. Can a living bird be an archaeological trace? How do endangered languages provide insight into the historical and archaeological imagination? Why was a Mesopotamian queen connected to material remains in both Late Antique Armenia and early Colonial Mexico? This book brings together archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians to tackle questions about what the past is and has been in places as diverse as Inca Peru, Renaissance Italy, and contemporary Colombia.

Otros pasados: ontologías alternativas y el estudio de lo que ha sido
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