An expert on classical archaeology will present an illustrated lecture Nov. 19 at Mississippi State University on religious figurines found in ancient Cyprus.
Nancy Serwint, director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, will lead a discussion of "Craft and Cult in the Ancient City Kingdom of Marion: The Terracotta Votive Tradition." In addition to serving as assistant director of the excavations at the Marion site, she is an associate art professor at Arizona State University.
The research institute she heads is located in Nicosia, capital of the large Mediterranean island nation located off the coast of Turkey.
Her lecture revolves around thousands of religious votive figurines--some standing more than six feet tall--collected from sacred deposits outside a temple that dates to about the 5th century B.C. The collection represents a major find and is the source of important archaeological information about religious practices both on the island and throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.
Serwint holds master's and doctoral degrees in classical archaeology from Princeton University. She received a bachelor's degree in classical Greek from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master's in art history from the University of Chicago.
The hour-long public lecture begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Colvard Union small auditorium.
For more information, contact Kathy Elliott of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology at (601) 325-3826.