Dr. Jason Herrmann: Space and Identity at Ancient Motya Project

The urban plan documented through the Space and Identity at Ancient Motya project comprises a new line of evidence for understanding society at ancient Motya, an important polity in western Sicily that was a major node of Punic influence in the central Mediterranean. This project, a partnership between the Penn Museum and the University of Palermo, has taken a landscape approach to examining the ancient city, integrating extensive archaeogeophysical surveys, surface collection, and test excavations to track how space was shaped and re-shaped over time. This presentation will review the accretion and reorganization of Motya’s urban elements from its establishment as a Phoenician colony in the 7th century BCE through its apogee in the 5th century BCE and past its destruction in 397 BCE. The data generated by this research permit us to reconsider the cultural and political influences that informed urban organization at Motya and how they reflect the perspectives of the city’s architects as well as the people who lived there.

Jason Herrmann is the Kowalski Family Teaching Specialist for Digital Archaeology in the Center for Analysis of Archaeological Materials (CAAM) at the Penn Museum and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Herrmann is part of ongoing research projects around the Mediterranean and Middle East as well as in Philadelphia, where he runs the Community-Oriented Digital Archaeology Program.