A woman’s richest ornament: Hairstyles and hair products in Roman Egypt

UCF Anthropology Assistant Professor Dr. Lana Williams is presenting “A woman’s richest ornament: Hairstyles and hair products in Roman Egypt” on Feb. 8 as part of the “In the Dirt” Lecture Series.

Williams is a bioarchaeologist specializing in the analysis of human health and diet through material and tissue analysis, human osteology and mortuary archaeology. She have been part of the Dakhleh Oasis research project in Egypt since 2002, and joined a second expedition at Dayr al-Barsha in Egypt in 2006. Williams specializes in residue and isotopic analysis of human tissues to better understand connections among biological, social and physical environments, as they existed in the past.

She is especially interested in physiological responses to seasonality, adolescence and pregnancy, and placement of the dead in the physical and social landscapes. Her current research focuses on hair and organ tissue analysis of ancient populations from Egypt and the Near East to evaluate parasite load and general health among ancient communities, and refining isotopic and compound-specific methods of analysis when working with preserved archaeological tissues.

Below you fill find a full list of the speakers and their topics. Click on the image for a larger version of it.