Clare Rasmussen

Clare Rasmussen is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College. She holds a BA in anthropology and classical archaeology from the University of Michigan and a MA in Classics from the University of Arizona. She is primarily interested in Roman archaeology with a particular focus on water studies, city planning, architecture, landscape, and cultural identity. While she is a resident at ACOR, Clare will be working on her PhD dissertation project “Water Consumption in the Decapolis: Examining Water Use in Gerasa, Philadelphia, Gadara, and Pella during the Roman Period.” Her dissertation aims to explore the social, cultural, and religious implications of water supply systems in select cities of the historical Decapolis region of Northern Jordan in order to understand how and why local inhabitants adapted, adopted, and modified hydrological structures into the urban armature of their cities. Her project seeks to address an understudied region within Roman water studies, encourage a deeper discussion on the influence of cultural and social diversity on water consumption, and examine the widespread perception of homogenous water consumption in the Roman Empire.