Participant Info

First Name
Pinar
Last Name
Durgun
Country
United States
State
NY New York
Affiliation
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Website URL
https://pinardurgunpd.wixsite.com/pinardurgun
Keywords
Archaeology, Ancient Art, Death and Burial, Feasting and Foodways, Prehistory, Bronze Age, the Hittites, Ancient Materials and Technologies, Cultural Heritage, Museums.
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I am an art historically trained archaeologist with a background in anthropology and museum studies, fascinated by the diversity of human reactions to death and dying. My research focuses on Anatolia (ancient Turkey) and on the wider ancient Middle East, Egypt, and Aegean. I look at how perceptions of death were expressed in the form of objects, images, texts, and architecture. With an anthropological framework, I use this information to think about how we react to death and dying today and how we present ancient people and display objects in museums.

I am also interested in how museums help us understand, protect, and engage with the past. I have worked at several museums including Anatolian Civilizations Museum, University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology on archaeological, ethnographic, and archival materials. I have worked on collections from Turkey, Egypt, Mediterranean, and North America. At the moment, I am a fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art conducting research on the ancient Anatolian collection.

​As I am dedicated to education and public scholarship, I am always looking for accessible, inclusive, and exciting ways to communicate academic knowledge and information about the ancient world to larger audiences. You can find me on Youtube,  EnCompass, SASA and Mainly Museums. I am now working on a “Handbook for Teaching about the Ancient World” that will enable educators to access and exchange teaching activities.

I am the founder of Project Visiting Scholar, a non-profit database project that aims to lower accommodation costs and increase inclusivity at academic conferences.

When I am not in the classroom or in a museum, I am at a historical cemetery somewhere in New England admiring gravestones.

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Recent Publications

2020. Why We Need to Talk About Death Right Now.

https://nursingclio.org/2020/05/13/why-we-need-to-talk-about-death-right-now/

Media Coverage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN7PV3hm4hk&t=1396s
Country Focus
ancient Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Mediterranean and Middle East
Expertise by Geography
Mediterranean, Middle East
Expertise by Chronology
Ancient, 21st century
Expertise by Topic
Art & Architectural History, Colonialism, Food History, Material Culture, Museums, Pedagogy