John Peter Oleson (born 1946) is aCanadianclassical archaeologist and historian ofancient technology. His main interests are theRomanNear East,maritime archaeology (particularly Roman harbours), and ancient technology, especiallyhydraulic technology, water-lifting devices, andRoman concrete construction.^[1]

Born in 1946 inHackensack, New Jersey, United States, Oleson was schooled at theLoomis School inWindsor, Connecticut (1960–64). He received hisBA inClassics atHarvard University in 1967, where he studied withHerbert Bloch. Oleson received hisMA (1971) andPhD (1973) inClassical Archaeology at Harvard University, working in particular withGeorge M.A. Hanfmann and David Mitten.

From 1973–1976 Oleson taught in the Classics Department ofFlorida State University,Tallahassee. Since 1976 he has been a member of the Greek and Roman Studies Department of theUniversity of Victoria, Canada, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor in 2003. He was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Canada in 1994. From 1997 to 2001 he was a member of Council of theSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. From 1999–2002 he was a Trustee of the Board of theRoyal British Columbia Museum. He was appointed aKillam Research Fellow for 2000–2002. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Board of theAmerican Center of Research inAmman.

Between 1970 and 1975 Oleson worked with Anna McCann Taggart on the archaeological excavation of theEtruscan and Roman harbours atCosa,Pyrgi, andPopulonia, and from 1980 to 1985 he was a co-director of theCaesarea Ancient Harbour Excavation Project. In 1997, along with McCann Taggart, he was a project archaeologist at theSkerki Bank Deep Water Shipwreck Survey, directed byRobert Ballard. From 1986 until 2005 he directed survey and excavation at the site of Hawara (modern Humayma), aNabataean, Roman, andEarly Islamic centre in the Hisma Desert of southernJordan.^[2] Since 2001 he has co-directed the Roman Maritime Concrete Study with Christopher J. Brandon and Robert L. Hohlfelder.^[3]

As of 2010^[update] Oleson has published ten books and more than 95 articles concerning ancient technology, marine archaeology, the Nabataeans, and the Roman Near East. He has presented more than 150 refereed public papers and invited lectures since 1976. Oleson has also been active as an editor: HisHandbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World was awarded theEugene Ferguson book award by theSociety for the History of Technology in 2009.^[4] In 2010 the Royal Society of Canada awarded Oleson thePierre Chauveau Medal for "distinguished contribution to knowledge in the humanities."^[5]

• Sources of Innovation in Later Etruscan Tomb Design, Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider Editore, 1982,ISBN 88-85007-67-8
• Greek and Roman Mechanical Water-Lifting Devices: The History of a Technology,Phoenix, supplementary Vol. 16, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984,ISSN0079-1784
• Bronze Age, Greek and Roman Technology: A Select, Annotated Bibliography, New York: Garland Publishing, 1986,ISBN 0-8240-8677-5
• The Roman Port and Fishery of Cosa, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987 (co-author),ISBN 0-691-03581-4
• The Harbours of Caesarea Maritima. Vol. 1: The Site and the Excavations,BAR International Series, supplement 491, 1989 (editor and co-author),ISBN 0-86054-628-4
• The Harbours of Caesarea Maritima. Vol. 2: The Finds and the Ship,BAR International Series, supplement 594, 1994 (editor and co-author),ISBN 0-86054-768-X
• Classical Views/Echos du monde classique, Vols. 30 to 37 (1986 to 1994) (co-editor),ISSN0012-9356
• Greek and Roman Technology: A Sourcebook, London: Routledge, 1997 (co-author),ISBN 0-415-06136-9
• Deep-Water Shipwrecks off Skerki Bank: The 1997 Survey,Journal of Roman Archaeology, supplement 58, 2004 (co-author),ISBN 1-887829-58-X
• Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008 (editor),ISBN 978-0-19-973485-6(corrected, paperbound edition 2010)
• Humayma Excavation Project, 1: Resources, History and the Water-Supply System,ASOR Archaeological Reports, Vol. 15, 2010,ISBN 978-0-89757-083-1
• Humayma Excavation Project, 2: Nabatean Campground and Necropolis, Byzantine Churches, and Early Islamic Structures,ASOR Archaeological Reports, Vol. 18, 2013 (co-author),ISBN 978-0-89757-037-4
• Building for Eternity. The History and Technology of Roman Concrete Engineering in the Sea., Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2014 (co-author),ISBN 978-1-78297-420-8

• Ancient Greek technology – Tools and weapons used in Ancient Greece
• Roman technology – Technological accomplishments of the ancient Roman civilizationPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets

• Personal website at University of Victoria

• Canadian archaeologists
• 20th-century Canadian historians
• Canadian male non-fiction writers
• Canadian underwater divers
• Classical archaeologists
• Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada
• Harvard University alumni
• Historians of antiquity
• Writers from Hackensack, New Jersey
• Underwater archaeologists
• Academic staff of the University of Victoria
• 1946 births
• Living people
• Loomis Chaffee School alumni
• 21st-century Canadian historians

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