statue of zeus and harmodius

The George E. Mylonas Lecture in Classical Art and Archaeology
The Birth of Democracy in Ancient Athens: A View from the Graves

Jane Ellen Buikstra, Regents' Professor of Anthropology and Founding Director of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research, Arizona State University

Sunday, October 4, 2020

Webcast begins at 2 p.m.

on Zoom and YouTube.

In use during the Archaic and early Classical period from the 8th to the 4th centuries B.C., Phaleron is one of the largest ancient cemeteries ever unearthed on the Greek mainland. More than a thousand burials have yielded the remains of working-class Athenian families, including a large number of individuals who met violent ends. Bringing together a wide array of cutting-edge analytical methods, this study will open a new window on the lives of everyday Athenians, who lived and died during the turbulent period in Greek history that saw the development of the Athenian city-state and the birth of democracy.

Jane Ellen Buikstra is Regents’ Professor of Anthropology and Founding Director of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research at Arizona State University. She is a pioneer in the field of bioarchaeology, the application of biological methods to the study of archaeology. Her work has defined the field and her research encompasses bioarchaeology, paleopathology, forensic anthropology and paleodemography. She has published more than 20 books and is presently investigating the evolutionary history of ancient tuberculosis in the Americas via archaeologically-recovered pathogen DNA. She is currently Project Director for the Phaleron Bioarchaeological Project in Athens, Greece.

Jane Ellen Buikstra, Regents' Professor of Anthropology and Founding Director of the Center for Bioarchaeological Research
The event is co-sponsored by The Hellenic Government-Karakas Foundation Professorship in Greek Studies at the University of Missouri-Saint Louis, The Department of Classics and the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Classical Club of St. Louis.