People in the past lived among the remains of earlier generations and engaged with
them in different ways. One example is the reuse of tombs. This talk explores how
reusing old tombs in Bronze and Iron Age southeastern Arabia may have helped
communities make sense of the present, navigate periods of change, and shape
cultural identities. It asks how engaging with the past could strengthen social
cohesion, reinforce group identities, and legitimise social elites.
Stephanie Döpper is a Junior Professor of Digital Humanities for Near Eastern
Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Würzburg,
Germany. After receiving her doctoral degree from the University of Tübingen in
2015, she conducted postdoctoral research at the universities of Leiden and
Frankfurt, focusing on the reuse of tombs in Eastern Arabia and settlement systems
in central Oman. Her research interests include digital archaeology, landscape
archaeology, the archaeology of mobility, pottery studies, and mortuary practices.
Since 2010, she has conducted fieldwork in the Sultanate of Oman, excavating
Bronze Age and Islamic sites in Bat, Al-Ayn, Al-Khashbah, and other locations in the
North Al Sharqiyah Governorate.
