UNCA to Host Talk on Roman Cemetery Food Offerings in Africa

UNC Asheville will host a talk on ancient cemetery food offerings by Lea Stirling, president of the Archaeological Institute of America-Canada, at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, in UNCA’s Owen Conference Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Stirling’s talk, "Dinners for the Dead: Food Offerings in Roman Cemeteries of North Africa," will explore how funerary food offerings can indicate religious, social and regional identities. She will also discuss the kinds of foods given as offerings and how those offerings changed over time. A survey of food offerings from the Roman empire, with an emphasis on North Africa, will be presented.

Stirling is the Canada Research Chair in Roman Archaeology at the University of Manitoba. She participated in excavation projects in Italy and Libya and served as co-director of the Leptiminus Archaeological Project in Tunisia from 1995-2000. Her research focuses primarily on late-antique statuary, ancient collections of statuary and Roman cemeteries and kilns. She holds a doctorate from the University of Michigan.

Stirling’s talk is sponsored by UNCA’s Classics Department and the Archaeological Institute of America.

For more information, call Laurel Taylor, UNCA adjunct professor of classics, at 828/251-6290.

Media Contacts:

• Dr. Laurel Taylor, UNCA Adjunct Professor of Classics, 828/251-6290
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526