Graduate Conference

The Center for Ancient Studies 2016 Graduate Conference — Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations

Robert Bryant Graduate Conference

February 26 – 27, 2016

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Tentative Program: Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations : Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations

Center for Ancient Studies
University of Pennsylvania

Ancient Technologies:
Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations

Friday, February 26

Registration and Guided Technologies Tours, Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology:
Kamin Entrance, Penn Museum

2:00 – 4:00 Registration – Kamin Lobby
2:15 – 3:00 Technology Tours in the Galleries
“The Materiality of Plants as Food and Drink,” Chantel White,
Archaeobotanist, CAAM
“Horses at the Penn Museum: Identity, Power and Technology,” Katherine
Moore, Archaeozoologist, CAAM
“Highlights from Ancient Ur: a metallurgical point of view,” Moritz Jansen,
Archaeometallurgist, CAAM
“Woven Worlds: Textiles and Fiber Technologies in the Penn Museum
Galleries,” Anne Tiballi, Andean textile specialist
3:10 – 3:40 Tour of the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, Marie-Claude
Boileau, Ceramic specialist and laboratory coordinator (meet in Trescher
Lobby)

Session 1 – “Between Object and Subject: Material Agencies and Materialities,” Chair: Tiffany
Cain (Penn)
Widener Lecture Room, Penn Museum

4:00 – 4:10 Welcome – Phillip Webster (Penn), Anne Tiballi (Penn Museum)
4:10 – 4:30 “Maya Ruins in the Modern Imagination: Mayan Revival Architecture and the
Failure of Technology in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Los Angeles Projects,”
Elizabeth Miller (UCSD)
4:30 – 4:40 Q&A
4:40 – 5:00 “Material Culture, Exchange, and Social Groups: Reflections upon the
Mediation of Communities,” Kyle Olson (Penn)
5:00 – 5:10 Q&A
5:10 – 5:30 “Material Agency and the Congresso degli Arguti from 1500 to Today,” Dillon
Gisch (Stanford)
5:30 – 5:40 Q&A
Break


Tentative Program: Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations : Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations

5:40 – 6:00

Session 2 – Keynote Address, “Stuff that Matters: New Materialisms meet Old Materialisms”
Widener Lecture Room, Penn Museum

6:00 – 6:10 Introduction, Robert Ousterhout (Center for Ancient Studies, Penn), Annette
Y. Reed (Penn)
6:10 – 6:55 Keynote Address, Denise Kimber Buell (Williams)
6:55 – 7:15 Questions and Discussion
Cocktail Reception and Tour of “The Golden Age of King Midas Exhibition”
Kintner-Dietrich Galleries, Penn Museum

7:15– 8:45 Wine and hors d’oeuvres

7:30 Guided Tour of “The Golden Age of King Midas,” Janelle Sadarananda,
Graduate Student in Art & Archaeology of the Mediterranean World (meet in
Kamin Lobby)
The real King Midas lived in the prosperous city of Gordion, the political and
cultural capital of the Phrygians nearly 3,000 years ago. In 1957, the Penn
Museum excavated a spectacular tomb believed to be the final resting place
of King Midas’ father Gordios. Dated to about 740 BCE, it was a treasure
trove of spectacular objects from the time of Midas. This world premiere
exhibition, developed by the Penn Museum, includes over 120 of those
objects from Turkish museums in Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, and Gordion.

Saturday, February 27

Coffee & Light Snacks
Meyerson Conference Center, Van Pelt Library

10:00 – 10:15

Session 3 – Technologies of Control, Chair: Katherine Burge (Penn)
Meyerson Conference Center, Van Pelt Library

10:15 – 10:35 “Nurture and Control: Sennacherib’s Great Relief at Khinnis,” Breton
Langendorfer (Penn)
10:35 – 10:45 Q&A
10:45 – 11:05 “Extending the Mind with Security Technology in the Roman Empire,”
Kilian Mallon (Stanford)
11:05 – 11:15 Q&A

Tentative Program: Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations : Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations

11:15 – 11:35 “Weakness to Icons: Shifting Heresiological Technologies of Control Between
Epiphanius and John of Damascus,” Matt Chalmers (Penn)
11:35 – 11:45 Q&A
11:45 – 12:05 “Healing Matters: The Materialization of Medicine and Medical Experts in
the Mesopotamian Symbolic System,” Irene Plantholt (Penn)
12:05 – 12:15 Q&A
Lunch 12:15-1:15

Session 4 – Technologies Between Mind and Matter, Chair: Patricia Kim (Penn)

Meyerson Conference Center, Van Pelt Library

1:15 – 1:35 “A Beautiful Failure: Assessing Technological Choice in a pre-Roman Pottery
Production Facility in Pompeii, Italy,” Gina Tibbott (Temple)
1:35 – 1:45 Q&A
1:45 – 2:05 “Picturing a Rhinoceros Horn Cup in Late Imperial China,” Tom Kelly
(Chicago)
2:05 – 2:15 Q&A
Coffee 2:15 – 2:30

Session 5 – Technology’s Material Power, Chair: Jane Sancinito (Penn)
Meyerson Conference Center, Van Pelt Library

2:30 – 2:50 “Materializing Magic: The Production of Ritual Affect in Neo-Assyrian
Lamaštu Amulets,” Miriam Said (Berkeley)
2:50 – 3:00 Q&A
3:00 – 3:20 “Sumerian Figurines: Ancient Technology of Presence and Identity,” Lauren
McCormick (Syracuse)
3:20 – 3:30 Q&A
Special Session – Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books, and Manuscripts,
Meyerson Conference Center, Van Pelt Library

3:30 – 4:30 “Books on Technology and Books as Technology,” Timothy Clifford (Penn),
John Pollack (Kislak Center, Penn)
Coffee 4:30 -4:45

Session 6 – Technologies of Material Knowledge, Chair: Phillip Webster (Penn)
Meyerson Conference Center, Van Pelt Library

4:45 – 5:05 “The Materiality of a Late Antique Proverb,” Zachary Domach (Columbia)

Tentative Program: Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations : Ancient Technologies: Their Matter, Materiality, and Materializations

5:05 – 5:15 Q&A
5:15 – 5:35 “The Archaeology of Measurement and the Naturalization of Reality,” Scott
Schwartz (CUNY)
5:35 – 5:45 Q&A
5:45 – 6:05 “‘The Lord is our Mirror’: Composition and Performance of Odes as
Technology of Transformation,” Jae Han (Penn)
6:05 – 6:15 Q&A
Dinner
Second Floor Lounge, Cohen Hall
6:30 – 8:00