The Division of Social Sciences Fall 2024 Luncheon Seminar Series (Brown Bags) Presents:

September 12th- 12-1pm in 111 Alumni Hall

Hanna Erftenbeck (SOAN) 

Visiting Assistant Professor of Anthropology

• Title: Feeding Ancient Cities – What we can learn about early urbanism by studying ancient foodways in Jordan
• Description: More than 5000 years ago, people in West Asia started to experiment with urban lifeways. For the first time in the region, humans lived in larger, more densely populated settlements that were characterized by a distinct built environment. Neighborhoods, streets, fortification walls, temples, and residences of different sizes created new social, political, and economic dynamics that people navigated every day. Archaeologists use the material remains of these early cities to investigate how people created and maintained urban lifeways. In my talk I will explore early urbanism in what today is Jordan and the southern Levant more broadly through the lens of daily food practices. Food is central to daily life, connecting to both the larger economy of communities, as well as traditions and identity, and people’s food practices can tell us a lot about their relationship with each other and the landscape. By investigating early urban foodways we can gain nuanced insights into how people’s daily practices and actions built urbanism from the ground up.

Lunch provided, while supplies last.

The next talk in this series is on September 26th with Jeremy Fortier, Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science.