PhD: Bryn Mawr College 1978

Title: Professor; Chairman, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology: Aegean prehistory and Greek archaeology, spatial theory, archaeological theory and method.

Office: Thomas Hall 227

Office hours:
Tuesday 4-5pm
Wednesday 10am-12pm


Phone: 610-526-5340

Email: jwright@brynmawr.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests:
Pre- and protohistoric Aegean; Greek architecture and urbanism; land-use and settlement; method and theory, GIS and cultural geography

Courses:
Aegean Pre- and Protohistory, Ancient Greek Cities and Sanctuaries, The Early Bronze Age, Early and Middle Minoan Crete, The Mycenaeans, The Origins of the Polis, Greek architecture

Recent Publications:

• Comparative Settlement Patterns During the Bronze Age in the Peloponnesos, J. Cherry and S.Alcock, eds. Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Regional Studies in the Mediterranean, (Proceedings of a Conference at the University of Michigan, April 4-7, 2002). Oxford: David Brown, 2004.
• Mycenaean Drinking Service and Standards of Etiquette, in P. Halstead and J. eds. Food, Cuisine and Society in Prehistoric Greece. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2004.
• General editor, The Mycenaean Feast, Papers of a colloquium at the General Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, Philadelphia, January 2001. Hesperia, summer 2004.
• Introduction, in The Mycenaean Feast, Hesperia, summer 2004.
• The Iconographic and Artifactual Evidence for Mycenaean Feasting, in The Mycenaean Feast, Hesperia, summer 2004.
• The Emergence of Leadership and the Origins of Civilisation in the Aegean , in P. Halstead, ed. The Emergence of Civilisation in the Bronze Age Aegean : Retrospect and Prospect. Sheffield Academic Press, forthcoming 2004.
• Factions and the Origins of Leadership and Identity in Mycenaean Society. abstract. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, University of London. 45 (1999), p. 182.
• A Marble Figurine from Tsoungiza. In P. P. Betancourt and R. Laffineur. (Eds.). Meletemata, Studies in Aegean Archaeology presented to Malcolm H. Wiener as he Enters his 65th Year. Aegaeum, 20 . Liège, (1999), pp. 945-951.
• Mary K. Dabney, James C. Wright, and Donald H. Sanders. Virtual Reality and the Future of Publishing Archaeological Excavations: the multimedia publication of the prehistoric settlements on Tsoungiza at Ancient Nemea. In David Bearman and Jennifer Trant. (Eds.). Cultural Heritage Informatics 1999: selected papers from ichim99. Pittsburgh : Archives and Museum Informatics. Pittsburgh, (1999), pp. 125-132.
• The Place of Troy Among the Civilizations of the Bronze Age. Classical World, 91 (1998), pp. 356-368.
• Thugs or Heroes? The Early Mycenaeans and Their Graves of Gold". In Richard H. Howland, (ed.). A Mycenaean Treasure Trove: Repatriated Jewelry Goes Home. (Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Society for the Preservation of the Greek Heritage and held at the Smithsonian Institution, January 26, 1996), Washington, D.C. (1997), pp. 5-17.

Personal Statement:
My primary interest is in the evolution of complex societies in the Aegean basin, and this leads to interests in architecture and urbanism, the social aspects of socio-political integration, the use of the landscape by humans. I have always been interested in ancient Greek architecture, especially as it informs us about the development of the polis, of Greek sanctuaries, of regionalism and of the spread of Hellenism. I am currently coordinating with Greek colleagues the excavation of Mycenaean cemeteries in the vicinity of ancient Nemea, Greece.