Education John P. Nielsen 6363 St. Charles Avenue Bobet Hall 420 New Orleans, LA 70118 jpnielse@loyno.edu, (504) 865-2567 Ph.D. The University of Chicago, Ancient Near-Eastern History. 2008 M.A. The University of Chicago, Ancient Near-Eastern History. 2001 B.A. Augsburg College, History. 1995 Dissertation Sons and Descendants: A Social History of Kin Groups and Family Names in the Early Neo-Babylonian Period, 747-626 B.C. The dissertation employs legal and administrative documents from the eighth and seventh centuries to outline the form of large kin groups in Babylonia and surmise what roles they played in urban society. A marked increase in documentation from Babylonia during these centuries makes them the earliest period in which such kin groups can be studied in detail. The dissertation also considers the origins of these kin groups in the second millennium by drawing upon the sparse evidence from the previous centuries. Anthropological perspectives on kinship and family were utilized in this study, but the primary thrust is historical. Advisors: Matthew W. Stolper (Near-Eastern Languages and Civilizations: Chicago), Martha T. Roth (Near-Eastern Languages and Civilizations: Chicago), and Danilyn Rutherford (Anthropology: Chicago) Awards and Fellowships Marquette Fellowship, 2009 Fellowship was awarded by Loyola University of New Orleans to pursue research and the publication of my dissertation. Division of the Humanities Travel Grant, 2006 This award was used to study unpublished tablets relevant to my dissertation in the Yale Babylonian Collection. The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq, 2005 This award was used to study the approximately 200 Neo-Babylonian legal and administrative tablets in the collections of The British Museum, The Ashmolean Museum, The Royal Cornwall Museum, and The Royal Scottish Museum that are relevant to the dissertation between September and December of 2005. Published tablets were collated and unpublished tablets copied and transliterated for future publication. Oppenheim Fellowship for Dissertation Research in Assyriology, 2001-2006
2002 Missouri Valley History Conference Award for Best Paper Presented by a Graduate Student. Century Fellowship, 1997-2001 Teaching Experience Loyola University of New Orleans: Assistant Professor, History World Civilizations I: Antiquity to 1650 (Fall 2008 and 2009) World Civilizations II: 1650 to Present (Spring 2009 and 2010) The Ancient Near East and Greece (Fall 2008) Hellenistic Greece and Rome (Spring 2009) Business in the Ancient World (Fall 2009) Greece and the Orient: Honors Seminar (Spring 2010) Columbia College: Adjunct Professor, Department of Liberal Education Middle East History: Prehistory to Muhammad (Fall 2006 to Spring 2008) University of Chicago: Instructor, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Introduction to Akkadian III (Spring 2006) University of Chicago: Teaching Assistant, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Mesopotamian History and Civilizations (Winter 2002) Augsburg College: Teaching Assistant, History The Modern Non-Western World (Spring 1994 ) Scholarly Activities Publications: Books: Early Neo-Babylonian Personal Names from Legal and Administrative Documents. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilizations. In preparation. Sons and Descendants: A Social History of Kin Groups and Family Names in the Early Neo-Babylonian Period, 747-626 B.C. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East. Leiden: Brill, under contract. Articles: The Origins of the æanåû Land Organization in the Early Neo-Babylonian Period. in preparation. A Small Early Neo-Babylonian Archive Belonging to BËl-Ëøir of the Miœiraya Kin Group. Journal of Cuneiform Studies 62 (2010): in press.
Trading on Knowledge: The Iddin-Papsukkal Kin Group in Southern Babylonia in the 7 th and 6 th Centuries B.C. Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions 9/2 (2009): 171-182. Adbi ilu: An Arab at Babylon (BM 78912). Antiguo Oriente 7 (2009): 199-205. Four Ur III Administrative Tablets in the Possession of Professor Francis Carroll, University of Manitoba. Antiguo Oriente 6 (2008): 105-110. Additions to Michael Jursa s Neo-Babylonian Legal and Administrative Documents (GMTR 1). Nouvelles Assyriologiques Brèves et Utilitaires 2006/2 No. 44. Reviews: Review of Gershon Galil, The Lower Stratum Families in the Neo-Assyrian Period. In Journal of Near Eastern Studies forthcoming. Review of Benjamin R. Foster and Karen Polinger Foster, The Civilizations of Ancient Iraq. In The History Teacher, in press. Contributor to: The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire vol. 2/2, L-N, Helsinki, Finland: Neo- Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2002. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire vol. 2/1 H-K, Helsinki, Finland: Neo- Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 2000. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire vol. 1/2 B-G, Helsinki, Finland: Neo- Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1999. Papers Presented: 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, March Some Comments on æanåû Land Divisions in Light of Evidence from the Miœiraya Archive 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, March 13-16 Changing Family Names at Babylon and Borsippa 2007 Missouri Valley History Conference, March 1-3 Masculating Ancestry: The Curious History of the Family Name Arrabtu 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, March 18-21 Trading on Knowledge: The Iddin-Papsukkal Kin Group in Southern Babylonia in the 7 th and 6 th Centuries 2004 Missouri Valley History Conference, March 4-6 The Descendants of Tappû a: An Early Branch of the Sin-leqe-unninni Kin Group 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society, April 4-7 The Arad-Sibitti Kudurru: Kin-groups and Land Alienation in Tenth-Century Babylonia
2002 Northern Great Planes History Conference, October 11-12 The Return of Marduk: Assyrian Imperial Propaganda and Babylonian Historical Tradition 2002 Missouri Valley History Conference, March 7-9 The Arad-Sibitti Kudurru: Kin-groups and Land Alienation in Tenth-Century Babylonia Works Edited and Researched: 2008 Edited the forthcoming 3 rd edition of Danny P. Jackson s translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh published by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers. 2006 Edited references to historical texts and Neo-Babylonian legal and administrative documents for the U/W volume of The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. 2005 Researched occupational titles in Akkadian lexical lists and administrative texts from Babylonian temples for a paper presented by Dr. Richard Saller on economic growth and diversity in the Classical World. 2002 Edited a web-based curriculum designed, in part, by Chicago Public Schools for the Oriental Institute Museum s education office. Academic Service: 2009/10 Served on the search committee to find an Asianist for the history department at Loyola University of New Orleans. 2009/10 Faculty Senate, Loyola University of New Orleans 2009/10 Course Development and Faculty Development Committee, Loyola University of New Orleans. This panel evaluates proposals and allocates money to faculty to support course releases or additional training. 2008/09 Served on the search committee to find an Africanist for the history department at Loyola University of New Orleans. Community Service: 2009/10 Higher Education Community Partnership, Lusher Charter School. This committee discusses ways to prepare students in the New Orleans Charter School System for college. Professional Experience The Persepolis Fortification Archive Project: Digital Imaging Specialist, Chicago, IL Recorded the contents of the Persepolis Fortification Archive by generating highresolution digital scans and 3D images using polynomial texturing technology. Catalogued these images in a database and made them available on a server for use by scholars at USC, Vanderbilt, and Chicago. Summer 2007 Spring 2008
The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary: Research Assistant, Chicago, IL Researched, edited, and wrote entries for the U/W volume of The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary. Spring 2006 Spring 2007 Oriental Institute: Cuneiform Photographer, Chicago, IL Took digital photographs of cuneiform tablets in the Persepolis Fortification collection for Professor Matthew W. Stolper prior to their return to Iran by the Oriental Institute. Fall 2004 Spring 2005 University of Chicago Housing System: Resident Head, Chicago, IL Lived in and supervised one of the residential units known as a house in the University of Chicago s system of dormitories. In this capacity I tended to the social and educational well being of 97 undergraduates. Responsibilities included facilitating house community, organizing the house council, planning and implementing house outings and functions, and serving as a friend and councilor. Fall 1998 Spring 2004 Oriental Institute: Research Assistant, Chicago, IL Assisted Professor J. A. Brinkman in various research projects by indexing Babylonian royal inscriptions, maintaining catalogues and bibliographies, and by serving as a general aid for research projects. Fall 1997 - Spring 1998 Languages Latin, ability to teach introductory courses Coptic, ability to teach introductory courses Akkadian, reading expertise with understanding of the various dialects; ability to teach graduate-level courses Sumerian, ability to teach introductory courses Hittite, ability to teach introductory courses French, reading ability German, reading ability