Nerd Nite 35: Pompeiian Society, Bio-archaeology, and Volcanoes off the Jersey Coast
Yo Nerds,
Are you ready for a special edition Nerd Nite? On Wednesday, March 12, we’re teaming up with the Franklin Institute to bring you some special talks highlighting life and death in that storied ancient city of Pompeii PLUS a talk by a local geologist who will talk about current volcanic research to tie everything into the 21st century. To shake things up a little bit, we’ll be trying out some nerdy quizzo in between speakers with special prizes from the Franklin and Frankford Hall. Without further ado, the talks at hand:
Dr. Brian Rose: Dining and Lovemaking in Pompeii
The destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE allows us to reconstruct extensively the nature of daily life in an Early Imperial Roman town, especially the residents’ attitudes toward food and sex. Dr. Rose presents an overview of those attitudes by examining the archaeological discoveries in both cities, including the wall paintings, mosaics, dining rooms, and food remains. The discussion also includes cookbooks and dinner parties as well as prostitution and same-sex relationships.
Bio: Brian Rose is the James B. Pritchard Professor of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania and Deputy Director of the University’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He has been excavating at Troy since 1988, where he has been Head of Post-Bronze Age Excavations at the site for nearly two decades, and is also co-director of the Gordion Excavations in central Turkey. He excavated at Aphrodisias for five years, and his survey project in the Granicus River Valley focused on recording and mapping the Greco-Persian tombs that dominate the area.
Dr. Janet Monge: Herculaneum: The Archaeology of Catastrophe—Life and Death in a Roman Resort Town
On a hot summer day in the bustling Bay of Naples, Mt. Vesuvius explodes and rains down superheated gas and lava onto the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Some inhabitants of Herculaneum escaped into beach caves used to store boats for the heavy marine traffic into the cove. Their deaths by heat shock, which instantly killed its victims by vaporizing their soft tissues while preserving their hard bony skeletons under layers of volcanic ash, affords a unique opportunity to study life and death among the ancient Romans in ways that are truly unique in the study of the bioarchaeology of the ancient world.
Bio: Janet Monge has done fieldwork in many locations in Europe, Kenya and Australia. Her primary interest is in the development of methodologies to preserve and broadcast datasets to the physical anthropology community using Computed Tomography, traditional radiology, and human dental micro-anatomy as well as in the distribution of the highest quality castings of human fossils to Universities and Museums all over the world. She teaches courses in Forensic Anthropology and has been engaged in many forensic case studies involving skeletal, burned, mutilated and mummified human remain.
Laura Guertin: How Volcanoes Make Our Lives Exciting – Even on the East Coast
Come hear about the latest volcanic activity in Hawaii and Iceland, the volcanic threat of Yellowstone and the Canary Islands, and the future models of volcanoes forming along the Jersey Shore, and see how well you sleep tonight…
Bio: Laura Guertin, or “Dr. G” as her students refer to her, is a marine geologist and teaches at Penn State Brandywine. She is a passionate educator that cares deeply about increasing the scientific and geographic literacy of students pursuing non-science degrees. Dr. G loves the outdoors, visiting natural National Parks, geocaching/Earthcaching, and is a #NASASocial alum. Find her on Twitter @guertin and on the web http://about.me/drlauraguertin
Plus! Quizzo with prizes from Frankford Hall, the Franklin Institute, the Penn Museum, and the Philadelphia Science Festival
The details:
Wednesday, March 12
Doors at 7:00PM, show starts at 7:30pm
$5 cover gets you admission plus happy hour specials all evening
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I wish it would be recorded and aired somewhere, as I have class tonight! :/