PALHIP is a long-term program of research designed to elucidate aspects of the life history of Roman material culture in the town of Pompeii and at some of the sites in its environs through the detailed characterization of sets of artifacts recovered in the course of previously completed excavations in contexts that promise to be particularly informative in this regard.
There has been little large scale study of the biological signatures of growth, aging, and disease patterns in Medieval Italian skeletal remains from peasant communities, or how these signatures of everyday life intersect with aspects of social identity such as gender or status.
The Nemea Center for Classical Archaeology excavated, in the 2018 season, at the Late Bronze Age site of Aidonia in Greece, in collaboration with Dr. Konstantinos Kissas of the Korinthian Ephorate of Antiquites. Kim Shelton and her team of graduate and undergraduate students completed excavation of one Mycenaean chamber tomb and explored several graves and domestic features dating to the Late Roman and Byzantine periods.
I excavate the prehistoric site of Mycenae and the classical sanctuary of Nemea, both in Greece. As a specialist in ceramics, I work with material culture and involve many students in my research, here and abroad. Currently I am working on the earliest manifestations of Greek religious ritual through permanent architectural establishments and recognized paraphernalia - such as figurines.
Education
B.A. 1987 University of Texas at Austin
M.A. 1989, Ph.D. 1993 University of Pennsylvania
Benjamin W. Porter a associate professor of Near Eastern Archaeology in the University of California, Berkeley's Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures. Porter is an archaeologist who 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. He also co-directs a museum collections project at the Hearst Museum that is researching evidence from Peter B.
B.A. 1978 Wesleyan University
M.A. 1981, Ph.D. 1987 University of Michigan
Research Interests: Roman archaeology, ancient economy, material culture studies, text-based archaeology, pottery analysis
My research focuses on the history of the Roman empire.
