University of Chicago

Graduate Student, Anthropology

Lecturer, Ph.D Candidate

University of Chicago

Thesis Title: Social Death of Things: Rituals of Solidarity, Production, and Circulation in the Bronze Age, Oman

About

Royal Omar Ghazal is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago He has been a lecturer there in the Social Sciences Common Core since 2007. In addition, he has taught Introductory Archaeology and World History at DePaul University, as well as Human Origins and Prehistory at Indiana University Northwest. His undergraduate education was at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned degrees in anthropology and history. His research interests are primarily in archaeology of the ancient Near East and South Asian, where he studies systems of trade and exchange and how these factors contribute to changes in political economy and ecology in the Bronze Age. Forthcoming publications on his research include "Use of ossuary pits during the Umm an-Nar period: New insights on the complexity of burial practices from the site of Ra’s al-Jinz (RJ-1), Oman", which was written with his co-authors Olivia Munoz and Hérve Guy and has been submitted to J. Giraud, G. Gernez to be published in Aux marges de l'archéologie. Hommage à Serge Cleuziou (2012). Ghazal and Munoz are also preparing a manuscript for “The Social Death of Things: Exploring the Implications of Ritualized Modes of Consumption in Early Bronze Age Oman (3000-2000 B.C.)”, which will appear in Bodies in Motion: Archaeological Insights on the Circulation of Subjects and Objects, edited by David Peterson and John Dungeon.

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