Skype A Scientist Live

This webinar presents evidence for the late Roman/early Byzantine leprosy epidemic that affected Thebes, and probably a much wider area of Greece. It  also will look at individuals who were buried in two mass graves, suggesting that they died in a catastrophic event, such as an epidemic disease. The Justinianic plague, known to be the first wave of bubonic plague to sweep through Europe, was ravaging the Mediterranean world during the centuries this cemetery was in use.  We anticipate that DNA analysis will identify the disease that killed the individuals in these mass graves, but we know already that many of them also were suffering from leprosy when they died. Maria Liston received a BA and MA in Classics a BA and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee.  She is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Waterloo, ON, and a 2020-2021 Honorary Research Associate in the Malcom H. Wiener Laboratory of Archaeological Sciences at the American School of Classical Stud