An Exhibition for the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East
Much like today, ancient “consumers” were connected to distant markets. Both basic and precious goods from faraway lands “shipped” to royal palaces, elite estates—sometimes even rural households—and technological advances in craftsmanship and commerce transcended boundaries of language, religion, or culture to spread rapidly. Mediterranean Marketplaces: Connecting the Ancient World explores how the movement of goods, peoples, and ideas around the ancient Mediterranean transformed the lives and livelihoods of people at all levels of society, driving innovations that had lasting impacts—even on the modern world.
Over eighty objects in Mediterranean Marketplaces have interactive 3D models—including the cat model seen in the short video below—which can be 3D-printed with the proper equipment. Watch Chief Curator Adam Aja describe six of the objects from this exhibition and how they represent ancient Mediterranean trade.
The videos below discuss food storage, harvest seasons, and yarn dyeing.
My Role: Exhibit Developer/Media Producer
Learn about traditional wool yarn dyeing with fiber artist Linda Whiting.
Think of transport amphoras (storage jars) as the cardboard boxes of the ancient world.
Staple crops like wheat, barley, grapes, and olives set the rhythm for the agricultural year in the ancient Mediterranean.
This coin depicting Alexander the Great was a standard form of currency from Greece to India.
Chief Curator Adam Aja shows this fine stone statue.
This tablet records the delivery of 32 high-end sandals and boots.
This statue may represent a prisoner of war.
This boat model was one of many objects depicting daily life in ancient Egypt.
This bronze cat is from Ptolemaic Egypt.
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