Susan E. Alcock
Director, Artemis A.W. and Martha Sharp Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Joukowsky Family Professor in Archaeology
Professor of Classics
Phone: (401) 863-3710
Phone 2: (401) 863-3188
Susan_Alcock@brown.edu
Sue Alcock is a classical archaeologist, with interests in the material culture of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia, particularly in Hellenistic and Roman times. Much of her research to date has revolved around themes of landscape, imperialism, sacred space, and memory. Her fieldwork has, until recently, taken the form of regional investigations in Greece, but she is now involved with the Vorotan Project, an international collaborative effort in southern Armenia.
Interests
Sue Alcock was trained, at Yale and at the University of Cambridge, in the field of classical archaeology — that is the archaeology of the circum-Mediterranean world. Her research interests chiefly target the material culture of the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia, particularly in Hellenistic and Roman times. She has also worked on the long-term history of Messenia (southern Greece), the homeland of the famed 'helots' of antiquity. Much of her research to date has revolved around themes of landscape, imperialism, sacred space, and memory. Her work attempts to straddle the usual divide of 'historian' and 'archaeologist.'
For most of her career, Alcock's fieldwork was located in Greece, and typically has taken the form of regional investigations. She is a proponent of the relatively new methodology of systematic pedestrian survey, and has pioneered the employment of this type of archaeological evidence to answer historical questions. Her fieldwork includes the urban survey of Phlius in the northeast Peloponnese (as part of the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project) and co-directorship of the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project (in Messenia, southwestern Greece).
Most recently, she has moved in new directions, establishing in 2005 the Vorotan Project, an international collaborative effort in southern Armenia. Co-directors include John Cherry (Brown University) and Mkrtich Zardarian and Armen Tonikian (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan). The goals of the project include exploring the topography and long-term trajectory of the Vorotan River watershed; archaeological techniques deployed include satellite analysis, excavation, regional survey, mortuary analyses and lithic studies.
Awards
Fellowships:
2006:
Senior Fellow, Center for Hellenic Studies
2004-05:
Senior Fellow, Michigan Society of Fellows
2001-06:
MacArthur Fellowship, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
2002-03:
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, CA
2000, 2002:
Invited Professor, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (May-June)
1993-94:
A. Bartlett Giamatti Faculty Fellowship, Institute for the Humanities, The University of Michigan
1988-90:
Junior Research Fellowship, Clare College, University of Cambridge
1985-88:
Churchill College Research Studentship, University of Cambridge
1983-85:
Yale University Clare-Mellon Fellowship, University of Cambridge
Honors and Awards:
2004:
Spiro Kostof Award, Society of Architectural Historians
2003:
Hyde Visitor, Group in Ancient History, University of Pennsylvania
1998:
Henry Russel Award, The University of Michigan
1998:
Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, Archaeological Institute of America
1996-97:
College of Literature, Science and the Arts Excellence in Education Award, The University of Michigan
1996:
Distinguished Faculty Member, Michigan Association of Governing Boards
1995:
1923 Literary and Education Class Memorial Teaching Award, The University of Michigan
1992-93
College of Literature, Science and the Arts Excellence in Education Award, The University of Michigan
1985
Wace Medal for Classical Archaeology; Walston Studentship, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge Owst Prize, Clare College, University of Cambridge
1984:
Henry Arthur Thomas Travel Exhibition; Koumoulides Award, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge
1983:
Saybrook College Marshal, Yale University
1982:
Phi Beta Kappa, New Haven Chapter; Julian Biddle Award, Yale University
Affiliations
American Association of Museums
European Association of Archaeologists
Society for American Archaeology
American Anthropological Association
Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
The Classical Association
Cambridge Philological Society
Archaeological Institute of America
Funded Research
2006:
National Geographic Committee for Research and Exploration (#8052-06; $19,909)
2005:
Office of the Vice President of Research, Preliminary and Small Scale Projects, The University of Michigan ($15,000)
2005:
Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund ($8,000)
2004:
Rackham Discretionary Funds; Department of Classical Studies Discretionary Funds; Office of the Vice President of Research Small Grants for Major Conference Research, The University of Michigan for support of "The Edge of Roman Dining: A Symposium in Honor of John H. D'Arms"
2004:
Kelsey Fieldwork Fund, The University of Michigan ($2,500)
2001-02:
Office of the Vice President of Research Small Grants for Major Conference Research; Rackham Discretionary Funds, Kelsey Museum Discretionary Fund, Department of Classical Studies, The University of Michigan, for support of an international workshop, "Side-by-Side Survey: Comparative Perspectives in Mediterranean Regional Studies"
2000-02:
Co-Principal Investigator, "Spatial Analysis and the Archaeology of Old World Civilizations," Spatial Analyses and GIS Initiative, The University of Michigan (ca. $65,000)
1998-99:
Michigan Humanities Award (one-term of sabbatical support), The University of Michigan
1999:
College of Literature, Science and the Arts Faculty Assistance Fund, The University of Michigan ($1,600)
1999:
Fieldwork Fund Grant, The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, The University of Michigan ($2,000)
1997:
College of Literature, Science and the Arts Faculty Assistance Fund, The University of Michigan ($700; $300)
1996:
Career Development Award, The University of Michigan ($5,000)
1996:
Office of the Vice President for Research Discretionary Funds, The University of Michigan ($1,500)
1995-96:
Rackham Grant and Fellowship Program, The University of Michigan ($5,400)
1995-96:
Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Faculty Development Fund, The University of Michigan ($3,500)
1995:
Excavation Fund Grant, The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, The University of Michigan ($7,400)
1994:
Excavation Fund Grant, The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, The University of Michigan ($7,200)
1993-94:
Rackham Grant and Fellowship Program, The University of Michigan ($1,450) (declined)
1992-93:
Office of the Vice President for Research Discretionary Funds (grant for UNIX Workstation; ca. $21,000), The University of Michigan
1992-93:
College of Literature, Science and the Arts Faculty Assistance Fund, The University of Michigan ($500)
1991-92:
Research Grant, The Society of Antiquaries of London (ca. $2,000)
1991-92:
British Academy Major Research Grant: Archaeology (ca. $10,000)
1991-92:
Personal research assistant, University of Reading Research Endowment (ca. $30,000)
1984-89:
Travel grants from the Faculty of Classics, Clare College and Churchill College, University of Cambridge
Curriculum Vitae
