Brown University hosts a number of informal groups whose members meet regularly to read and discuss an ancient language.  Some of these groups have met for years, or even decades, while new groups also frequently emerge based on shared interests among faculty and students.

Language-based groups of relevance to scholarship in early cultures include:

• Classical Chinese
  Contact Jason_Protass@Brown.edu
• Cuneiform
  Contact Matthew_Rutz@Brown.edu
• Syriac
  Contact Susan_Harvey@Brown.edu

Faculty and graduate students at Brown University frequently convene discussion groups around topics of mutual interest. Some of these groups are finite in duration, focused around a particular conference or event, while others may continue for years or even decades. Currently, the Brown campus is host to the following groups meeting to read and discuss topics relevant to early cultures:

The PEC Pedagogy Roundtable Series is a series of workshops dedicated to the discussion of current pedagogical theory related to the teaching of ancient languages. 

Contact Maggie Danaher or Sonja Hansen. 

The Brown Late Antiquity Group (BLAG) meets monthly for interdisciplinary discussion of scholarship related to the late antique Mediterranean, both east and west. 

Contact Mikail Berg.

The Bioarchaeology Reading Group at Brown is a gathering of bioarchaeologists across Brown’s departments, where we meet to interpret data, workshop projects, and hone our methods in the study of ancient human skeletal remains. On occassion, we also invite experts from outside universities to share their theories of practice, and host these as events open to all interested community members. 

Contact Rachel Kalisher. 

The East Asia Colloquium invites scholars working across a wide range of disciplines to present talks or lead seminars on the latest research on East Asia and on transregional “crossings” to East Asia. 

Contact Beverly Bossler.

The Brown Digital Archaeology Laboratory, based in the Brown University Department of Anthropology, is a community of scholars working at the intersections of archaeology and digital practice. The lab was founded in 2016 as a center for teaching and research in archaeology and Geographic Information Systems, and we maintain core interests in that area, as well as a collection of GIS workstations that are available for students and faculty to use. Lab members’ activities also extend to a broad range of other digital domains, including mobile technologies, digital photogrammetry, remote sensing, machine learning, 3d visualization and digital collaboration. Across these domains, we maintain a strong commitment to critical approaches and ethical practice. 

Contact Parker VanValkenburgh.

Are you a Brown graduate student whose research deals with pre-modern history, society, or culture, from any disciplinary perspective, and focusing on any geographical region? If so, the Program in Early Cultures invites you to participate in our PEC Graduate Student Forum: a space for graduate student community, interaction, and exchange, between and across our scholarly specializations.

We will meet with programs designed around your requests, led by panels of you and your colleagues. 

Contact Jonathan Conant.

The Brown University seminar on Cultures and Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean (CRAM) serves as a gathering to promote high-level, interdisciplinary dialogue among faculty and graduate students who deal with religion and culture in the ancient Mediterranean basin and west Asia in the broadest terms. CRAM meets monthly during the academic year. Each meeting lasts about an hour, and typically is centered on a pre-circulated paper by one of our participants.  We are especially interested in work in progress; CRAM is a great context for working on new ideas and thinking through new problems.

Contact Jae Han, Susan Harvey or Lauren Arsenault,  Administrative Coordinator for the Program in Early Cultures.

Below is the CRAM schedule for the 2024-5 academic year. Please note that all meetings will take place on Tuesdays, 12:00-12:55 p.m in Rhode Island Hall, Room 008. Papers will be distributed by e-mail approximately ten days prior to the date indicated for your preparation. Newcomers are always welcome!

CRAM Schedule AY 2024 - 2025

Fall 2024

September 17- Jonathan Conant, History, Classics, Medieval Studies: "The World in a Coin"

October 15- Robyn Price, JIAAW: "On Sensory Archaeology"

November 12- Mac Carley, Classics: "The Italic Theater- Temple and Ethnic Identity: A Comparative Reappraisal"

December 10- Johan Lundberg (Oxford University): "Preserving the voices of the masters: new divisions and changing concepts of scripture in late antiquity"

Spring 2025

February 11- Michael Satlow, Judaic Studies & Religious Studies

March 11- Gretel Rodriguez, HIAA

April 8- Kathleen Forste, JIAAW

May 6- Liza Davis, JIAAW