Sarah Wenner

Sarah E. Wenner holds a PhD from the University of Cincinnati in classical archaeology; her dissertation examined the role of discarded materials in shaping urban spaces throughout the Roman empire, with case studies from Petra, Pompeii, and Segedunum (UK).  She has worked on many Roman sites and projects in Jordan, including Petra, Udhruh, Wadi Ramm, and Aqaba, and is assistant director of the Petra Garden and Pool Complex excavation, ceramicist for the Khirbet al-Khalde project, and co-editor of the Petra North Ridge Project’s final report.  

Wenner’s NEH fellowship expands on her dissertation research for her first book project, which considers how southern Jordan’s ancient ceramic tradition contributed to the site formation processes of Petra and surrounding sites from the 1^st century BCE through the 5^th century CE, using materials from the surveys and excavations of the Petra Garden and Pool complex, Khirbet al-Khalde, Brown University’s Petra Archaeological Project and Petra Terraces Archaeological Project, and Humayma. The book will investigate how ancient residents of Petra and southern Jordan curated different types of ceramic materials for use in routine construction and deconstruction activity, in order to address understandings of ancient urban habits as well as post-excavation interpretations of the archaeological record.