FRIENDS OF ASOR WEBINARS
Sensing the Past: Sensorial Experiences in Ancient Mesopotamia
Friends of ASOR present the next webinar in the 2023-2024 season on May 9, 2024, at 3:00 pm EDT, presented by Dr. Allison Thomason.
We are all sensing people, and the basic physical structure of our sensing organs has not changed for many thousands of years. But how did ancient humans perceive and experience sensory stimuli in their environment differently than we do today? Dr. Thomason sets out to explore this topic for the ancient Mesopotamians in particular. The history of the senses and explorations of sensory experiences in the ancient world have been increasingly the focus of scholarly research. Archaeologists, art historians and textual scholars have tried to recreate past sensory environments and experiences by using evidence from images, artifacts and ancient texts of all kinds.
​​​​​​​In this lecture, Dr. Thomason, a specialist in ancient Mesopotamian material culture, explores how ancient Mesopotamian perceptions of sensory experiences can be compared to our own modern ones, by trying to understand the way that Mesopotamians sensed their environment and material culture and what perceptions they had of certain types of objects, such as metal bowls, wooden gates, and textiles.
This webinar will be recorded and all paid registrants will be sent a link to view the recording.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
​​​​​​​Dr. Allison Thomason is Professor and Chair of the history department at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and serves as their ancient historian. She received her PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University in 1999 and has taught at SIUE ever since. Her first book, Luxury and Legitimation: Royal Collecting in Ancient Mesopotamia (2005) is still available in print and as an e-book from Routledge Press. She has contributed numerous articles and chapters in books, lectures, and presentations on the material culture of Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East. Recent research interests include dress in the Ancient Near East and she has co-edited (with Kiersten Neumann) an extensive anthology, A Handbook of Senses in the Ancient Near East (Routledge Press 2022). Dr. Thomason is also the co-chair of ASOR’s Program Committee, which plans the Annual Meeting.
READY FOR A WEBINAR SEASON PASS?
Buy a season pass for all the webinars* of the 2023-2024 FOA Webinar Season! With a season pass, you will automatically be registered for every webinar in the season, and you will receive the recording of each webinar automatically after the event.
If you have missed webinars earlier in the season and still want to buy the pass, you will receive the links to the recordings of the webinars you missed in your automatic confirmation email after you buy the pass.
*Special symposiums may be excluded from the season pass price.
No more registering for a year if you buy your pass today!
Pricing:
ASOR Sustaining Members: $0 (automatic registration for each webinar)
Members: $75
Public: $150
Not a member yet? and receive the 50% off a season pass!
Please e-mail membership@asor.org if you have any questions or issues.