As part of the International Catacomb Society's on-going collaboration with the peer-reviewed web journal "Ancient Jew Review" (AJR) to highlight current research on Ancient Judaism in its Mediterranean context, this week's "Dissertation Spotlight" is authored by International Catacomb Society Executive Director Jessica Dello Russo (the first article of the AJR/ICS series, by Catacomb Society Director and Providence College Professor Arthur Urbano, discusses clothing used to "fashion" the image of the Christian intellectual in Late Antiquity).  

In the November 29, 2017 AJR article, Dello Russo summarizes a number of key issues addressed in her doctoral dissertation for the Vatican's Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology in Rome, from which she also received the Baccalaureate and Licentiate degrees in Christian Archaeology. In the course of her dissertation research in the USA and Europe, Dello Russo has identified and in many instances published for the first time artifacts and documents pertaining to the creation, use, and modern excavation and maintenance of Jewish catacombs in Rome. A number of Dello Russo's articles on ancient Jewish cemeteries in Rome are available in pdf on the ICS website, and she will speak at the upcoming AIA/SCS annual meeting in Boston in January, 2018 about the International Catacomb Society's foundation in 1980 at a critical time in deliberations over the condition and future maintenance of these sites.

The Ancient Jew Review article link is here. Ancient Jew Review is a web-based journal for the study of Ancient Judaism, featuring cutting-edge scholarship in a wide variety of relevant fields. It is proudly funded by the American Academy for Jewish Research. Subscription to AJR is free at: http://www.ancientjewreview.com/.