Jenny R. Kreiger - Studio

Jenny R. Kreiger

Emeline Hill Richardson/Samuel H. Kress Foundation/Helen M. Woodruff Fellowship of the Archaeological Institute of America Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize (year two of a two-year fellowship)
12 settembre 2016–28 luglio 2017
Professione
Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology, University of Michigan
Titolo del progetto
The Business of Commemoration: A Comparative Study of Italian Catacombs
Descrizione del progetto

My dissertation seeks to shed light on the funerary industry in late antique urban contexts in Italy, specifically the influence of funerary laborers on commemorative art and epigraphy. Working with three major catacomb complexes developed between the second to sixth centuries CE (Domitilla, Rome; San Gennaro, Naples; San Giovanni, Syracuse), I examine inscribed burial plaques, painted decoration, and architecture in each complex, employing a range of archaeological, art historical, and philological methods. I argue that catacomb material makes it possible to reconstruct some aspects of the late antique funerary industry, such as workshop organization, labor specialization, the balancing of customization and mass production, and the development and application of site-specific commemorative habits. The Rome Prize will allow me to study archival and archaeological material available only in Rome and to complete a draft of my dissertation in an interdisciplinary environment.