Abstract

Archaeologists Tate Paulette, Ph.D. and Kathryn Grossman, Ph.D. describe the stories of the first settlements and cities and the circumstances that spawned many of the diseases we still battle today. Dr. Tate Paulette’s research focuses on food, hygiene, and beer. Dr. Kate Grossman’s research focuses on the domestic animals humans relied on.

Kate Grossman is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that cover world prehistory, the archaeology of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, archaeological theory, and the archaeology of animals. Her research focuses on human-animal interactions, early cities, and the development of complex societies. She has participated in archaeological excavations in Egypt, Syria, Cyprus, and Iraq, and is currently co-editing the final report on excavations at the site of Tell Qarqur, in Syria, where she worked from 2006 to 2010. She directs the Makounta-Voules Archaeological Project, an excavation project that studies the politics of village life in prehistoric Cyprus. NC State students accompany her to Cyprus each summer for a Study Abroad course that teaches undergraduate students the basics of archaeological research.

Tate Paulette is an assistant professor in the Department of History, where he teaches courses in the history of agriculture, ancient history, and archaeology. A native of Hickory, NC, he has conducted archaeological fieldwork in Cyprus, Syria, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Scotland, and the southeastern United States. He currently co-directs an excavation project and field school at the site of Makounta-Voules-Mersinoudia on the island of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean (Makounta-Voules Archaeological Project). His research explores agriculture, food, fermentation, and political life in the world’s first cities and states, with a focus on Bronze Age (c. 3000–1200 BCE) Mesopotamia. He has spearheaded a collaborative effort to recreate Sumerian beer using authentic ingredients, equipment, and brewing techniques, and he is currently working on a book about the history of beer in Mesopotamia

TRANSCRIPT

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

1. The plague at Athens, Greece (429 BCE)

   • History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides

2. The plague prayers of Mursili II (c. 1321–1295 BCE)

   • “Contagion and Recovery in the Hittite Empire,” Eva von Dassow

   • The plague prayers of Mursili II

3. Beer in ancient Mesopotamia

   • “Fermentation in ancient Mesopotamia,” Tate Paulette

   • “Fermentation in Ancient Mesopotamia,” Tate Paulette | Fermentology mini-seminars

   • “Potent potables of the past: Beer and brewing in Mesopotamia,” Tate Paulette and Michael Fisher

4. Trash, toilets, and disease in ancient Mesopotamia

   • “Trash and toilets in Mesopotamia: Sanitation and early urbanism,” Augusta McMahon

   • “Waste management in early urban southern Mesopotamia,” Augusta McMahon

5. Archaeological field school in Cyprus

   • Makounta-Voules Archaeological Project