| NEW FACULTY: MEHMET-ALI ATAÇ
Over the next several weeks, Bryn Mawr Now will present a series of brief profiles of new tenure-track faculty members. The series opens with archaeologist Mehmet-Ali AtaçOther profiles in the series:
Last fall, the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology welcomed Mehmet-Ali Ataç. Born and raised in Ankara, Turkey, Ataç graduated from the Middle East Technical University in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in architecture. He came to the United States about a decade ago as a Fulbright Scholar and studied at the Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard University, where he completed his Ph.D. in History of Art and Architecture in June 2003. Having made his first plunge into the Bryn Mawr classroom with Near Eastern and Egyptian Archaeology 101 and a graduate seminar in related matters last semester, Ataç is spending his spring teaching a graduate seminar on Assyrian archaeology, an upper-level course in the history and archaeology of ancient Egypt, and a senior conference on aspects of ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian religion.
Ataç says his interest in archaeology emerged gradually, stemming from his desire to be an architect. "When I was younger I wanted to become an architect, but once in the school of architecture, I noticed that I was more interested in historic buildings and scholarship than modern ones and praxis, and gradually shifted to archaeology. I was lucky in that the school of architecture that I attended provided this flexibility."
Ataç describes himself as "more interested in the visual and intellectual traditions of the ancient world than field archaeology proper," and says his new position here should afford him ample opportunity to further his research. Among other things, he is preparing a version of his Ph.D. for publication. Ataç's research focuses on the Neo-Assyrian empire, which existed from 883-612 B.C.E. in what is now northern Iraq . A militaristic people, the Assyrians were constantly at war with their neighbors, and they are mentioned in the Bible as the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh and the sackers of Zion. Monumental reliefs carved on the walls of Neo-Assyrian palaces often represent the king in his various roles, and widely accepted theory holds that this is an early form of political propaganda. Ataç proposes that the palace reliefs merit a subtler, more complex reading. His book, tentatively titled "Cracking the Code: The Lost Semiotic of Neo-Assyrian Art," is currently in preparation for release by the Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project based at the University of Helsinki.
— Allison Siegenthaler '07
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