Heidelberg University (USA)

Post-Doc, Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des Vorderen Orients - Assyriologie

About

I got my PhD in 2009 with the thesis "Etnoanatomía y partonomía del cuerpo humano en sumerio y en acadio. El léxico Ugu-mu" (Ethno-anatomy and partonomy of the human body in Sumerian and Akkadian. The lexicon Ugu-mu), which was supervised by Prof. Miquel Civil. The thesis is available online: http://heidelberg.academia.edu/MEricaCoutoFerreira/Books/194427/Etnonatomia_y_partonomia_del_cuerpo_humano_en_sumerio_y_acadio._El_lexico_Ugu-mu

I am currently working as postdoctoral researcher within the project “Medical Systems in Transition: The Case of the Ancient Near East”, Cluster of Excellence Asia and Europe, University of Heidelberg.

My main research interests are:

- The lexicon of the body; semantic shifts; cultural values related to the body; gender-based body differences.
- Transmission of medical knowledge in the ancient Near East; the constitution and function of libraries; tradition and innovation in cuneiform medical knowledge.
- Diseases of women; female medical professions in Mesopotamia; interaction between male and female healing practitioners.
- Folk taxonomies in Mesopotamia; lapidaries; botanical texts.
- Uses of ancient Near Eastern motifs in modern popular culture.