Classical archaeologist and historian of ancient technology
John Peter Oleson (born 1946) is a Canadian classical archaeologist and historian of ancient technology. His main interests are the Roman Near East, maritime archaeology (particularly Roman harbours), and ancient technology, especially hydraulic technology, water-lifting devices, and Roman concrete construction.
Life.
Born in 1946 in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, Oleson was schooled at the Loomis School in Windsor, Connecticut (1960–64). He received his BA in Classics at Harvard University in 1967, where he studied with Herbert Bloch. Oleson received his MA (1971) and PhD (1973) in Classical Archaeology at Harvard University, working in particular with George M.A. Hanfmann and David Mitten.
From 1973–1976 Oleson taught in the Classics Department of Florida State University, Tallahassee. Since 1976 he has been a member of the Greek and Roman Studies Department of the University of Victoria, Canada, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor in 2003. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1994. From 1997 to 2001 he was a member of Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. From 1999–2002 he was a Trustee of the Board of the Royal British Columbia Museum. He was appointed a Killam Research Fellow for 2000–2002. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Board of the American Center of Research in Amman.
Between 1970 and 1975 Oleson worked with Anna McCann Taggart on the archaeological excavation of the Etruscan and Roman harbours at Cosa, Pyrgi, and Populonia, and from 1980 to 1985 he was a co-director of the Caesarea Ancient Harbour Excavation Project. In 1997, along with McCann Taggart, he was a project archaeologist at the Skerki Bank Deep Water Shipwreck Survey, directed by Robert Ballard. From 1986 until 2005 he directed survey and excavation at the site of Hawara (modern Humayma), a Nabataean, Roman, and Early Islamic centre in the Hisma Desert of southern Jordan. Since 2001 he has co-directed the Roman Maritime Concrete Study with Christopher J. Brandon and Robert L. Hohlfelder.
As of 2010[ [update]] Oleson has published ten books and more than 95 articles concerning ancient technology, marine archaeology, the Nabataeans, and the Roman Near East. He has presented more than 150 refereed public papers and invited lectures since 1976. Oleson has also been active as an editor: His "Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World" was awarded the Eugene Ferguson book award by the Society for the History of Technology in 2009. In 2010 the Royal Society of Canada awarded Oleson the Pierre Chauveau Medal for "distinguished contribution to knowledge in the humanities."
References.
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