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ISAW NEWSLETTER 7 Fall 2012

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ISAW NEWSLETTER 7 Fall 2012 ISAW NEWSLETTER 7 Fall 2012 INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD New York University FROM THE DIRECTOR Five years is a major milestone in the life of a young institution, and we duly celebrated at the end of the spring semester (see page 7). This fall we have two additional major steps in the development of ISAW, more substantive than chronological, to celebrate. One is the comple- tion of the recruitment of our faculty, with the appointments of Robert Hoyland (who arrived at the beginning of September) and Daniel Potts (who will join us on January 1, see page 4). Between them they both stretch our chronological dimensions and solidify our position in the middle of the vast geographical domain we try to cover. The other milestone is the completion of the comprehensive examinations of our first cohort of doctoral students, who matriculated in the fall of 2009 and now begin work on their dissertation prospectuses. The approach of the latter milestone prompted some thinking. Our faculty, students, and ad- visory committee spent a good deal of time during the last academic year taking stock of our doctoral program. How were things going? Should we be making changes? Although the third year of a degree program might seem in some respects a rather early moment for such reflec- tions, it has to be remembered that when the structure of the program was invented it was largely my creation in collaboration with the advisory committee; hardly any of the faculty had yet been appointed, let alone had any chance to work with the program. So I thought it was time to talk about it. Somewhat to my surprise, most people didn’t want significant changes; the students were particularly vocal in liking the program and the balance of freedom and INSIDE direction it gives them. For the faculty, a major question was how to make sure that all ISAW students emerge with some sense of the broad intellectual terrain that the Institute represents, not just with their own selections from the menu, no matter how diverse that selection. The ISAW Community News students thought that was a fine idea in principle, but they were wary of the potential for mis- New Faculty/Incoming Graduate Students 4 sion creep, with time-consuming new requirements. Research Scholars 5 What we have done is to create a biweekly colloquium, at which faculty and other members Staff News/Alumni Updates 6 of the community, including some of our Senior Fellows, will present to the second-year stu- dents (with only light advance reading required) some aspect of their research area. It may, 5th Anniversary Celebration 7 of course, turn out that the faculty learn the most from the opportunity to hear what their col- Research & Teaching leagues are up to (see page 8 for a faculty research report), but that side benefit will also be most acceptable. Faculty/Scholar Research 8 Libraries 10 Digital Programs 11 Exhibitions Roger S. Bagnall Current Exhibition 12 Leon Levy Director Exhibition Lecture Series 13 Lectures and Conferences 14 Photo Credits This page: ISAW’s 5th anniversary celebration. See pg. 7. Cover: Kneeling Winged Monster. Xiangtangshan: Northern Group, North Cave, below perimeter wall niches, 550- 559 CE. Limestone Relief, 86.4 x 68.6 x 25.4 cm. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust (35-276). Photo: Jamison Miller. Part of ISAW’s Echoes of the Past exhibit. See pg. 12. 2 ISAW Newsletter 7, Fall 2012 ISAW COMMUNITY NEWS Visiting Research Scholars, 2012-13 Victor Alonso Emily Hammer New Faculty Professor, Universidad de La Coruña Ph.D., Harvard University Daniel T. Potts the transition from pre-history to the Bronze Age Ph.D., Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Research Interest: Near Eastern Archaeology Professor of Ancient Near Eastern in Mesopotamia and Iran, especially the 3rd mil- Research Interest: Ancient Greek History George Hatke Archaeology and History lennium BCE. Jan Bremmer Ph.D., Princeton University Dr. Potts has led and participated in numerous Professor Emeritus, University of Groningen Research Interest: Arabia and Horn of Africa The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World is excavation projects in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ph.D., Free University, Amsterdam pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Dan- and the United Arab Emirates. He is the found- Research Interest: Classical Religion, Social History Sarah Laursen iel T. Potts as Professor of Ancient Near Eastern ing editor-in-chief of the journal Arabian Archae- Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Archaeology and History, effective January 2013. ology & Epigraphy, a corresponding member of Tosha Dupras Research Interest: Chinese Art History Dr. Potts comes to us from the the German Archaeological Insti- Associate Professor, Univ. of Central Florida University of Sydney, where he tute and a fellow of the Austra- Ph.D., McMaster University Richard Payne was Edwin Cuthbert Hall Chair lian Academy of the Humanities. Research Interest: Anthropology, Bioarchaeology Assistant Professor, Mount Holyoke College of Middle Eastern Archaeology He is the author of the books In Research Fellow, Cambridge University for over twenty years. Dr. Potts the Land of the Emirates: The Dorota Dzierzbicka Ph.D., Princeton University received his Ph.D. in anthro- Archaeology and History of the Archaeologist, NYU Excavations at Amheida Research Interest: Iran in Late Antiquity pology from Harvard Univer- UAE (2012), Mesopotamia, Iran Ph.D., University of Warsaw sity in 1980 and then taught at and Arabia from the Seleucids Research Interest: Greco-Roman Egypt Marja Vierros the Freie Universität Berlin and to the Sasanians (2010), Meso- Postdoctoral Researcher, Academy of Finland the University of Copenhagen, potamian Civilization: The mate- Michael Frachetti Ph.D., University of Helsinki where he completed his Habili- rial foundations (1997), and The Associate Professor, Washington Univ., St. Louis Research Interest: Papyrology, Greek Language, tation in 1991. Archaeology of Elam (1999), Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania and Linguistics among others, and has authored Research Interest: Bronze Age Eurasian Although his research interests and edited a vast number of other Archaeology and Anthropology Li Zhang are wide-ranging, the majority of books, volumes, chapters, and Ph.D., Peking University his scholarly work has focused articles. Most recently he was the Hallie Franks Research Interest: Eurasian Interactions in the on the cultural developments Dr. Potts editor of the forthcoming Oxford Assistant Professor, Gallatin School of Chinese Bronze Age in Iran, Mesopotamia and the Handbook of Ancient Iran (2013). Individualized Study (NYU) Arabian Peninsula, as well as relations between Ph.D., Harvard University these regions and their neighbors. Chronologi- Dr. Potts will begin offering seminars in the Spring Research Interest: Classical Art History and cally his span is far-reaching–– from the Neolithic 2013 semester. Please join us in welcoming him Archaeology to late antiquity–– but his main focus has been on into the ISAW community. Incoming Graduate Students Maria Americo further her study not only of ancient science and Apart from music performance and ritual, Sam is Yan Zhang Maria earned her B.A. in Latin from Hunter Col- mathematics, but also of medieval preservation also interested in related topics such as orality, Yan Zhang received her B.A. in archaeology lege of the City University of New York in 2012. of classical texts and of the effect of the classical textual transmission, and Sumerian literature. from Peking University, China in 2009, and re- Her research on the Antikythera Mechanism at heritage on medieval Islamic thought. She also ceived her M.A. in archaeology from the same the Summer Program at the American School of hopes to gain training in Latin, Greek, and Arabic Jonathan Valk university in 2012. She is interested in archaeol- Classical Studies at Athens solidified her interest paleography. Jonathan Valk holds a First Class B.A. in Orien- ogy and zooarchaeology in the ancient world. In in ancient science, particularly astronomy and tal studies from the University of Oxford and an her Master’s thesis and other projects, she fo- mechanics. As a student of Arabic, she developed Sam Mirelman MA in Middle Eastern studies from the University cuses mainly on the use of animals after Paleo- an interest in the cultural and intellectual links be- After a career in the field of music and musicology, of Chicago. At ISAW, Jonathan intends to inves- lithic and early Neolithic societies in China, when tween the Greco-Roman world and the medieval Sam studied Assyriology at the School of Oriental tigate processes of identity formation in the An- more complex societies appeared. At ISAW, she Islamic world, especially in the realms of science and African Studies (London) and Ludwig-Maxi- cient Near East in general and the Neo-Assyrian will further study the anthropology, archaeology and philosophy. Her undergraduate theses fo- milians Universität (Munich). Sam is particularly Empire in particular. He is especially interested in and zooarchaeology of the complex societies cused, respectively, on the progression of the sci- interested in the area of music and musicians in the relationship between the self-definition of the of East Asia. Additionally, she hopes to spread ence of alchemy from the classical period to the the ancient Near East. At ISAW, Sam will expand Neo-Assyrian state and the self-perception of the knowledge of Chinese culture and Chinese ar- medieval Islamic period and an analytical over- his research focus to encompass not only musi- people it ruled. By studying questions of social chaeology to promote international and intercul- view of literary descriptions of the astrolabe and cal thought and activity, but also all aspects of belonging and identity in the Ancient Near East, tural research and education. similar astronomical devices from approximately performance and ritual in the ancient Near East.
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