David K. Pettegrew

Greek and Roman History, Late Antiquity, Early Christianity, Historical Archaeology, Digital Humanities

• Ph.D., History, The Ohio State University
• M.A., History, The Ohio State University
• B.A., Anthropology, Greek, Wright State University

• Western Civilization
• Roman History
• Late Antiquity
• Historical Archaeology
• Digital History 
• Field School in Archaeology in Greece
• First Year Seminar: Indiana Jones and Me

David Pettegrew is a scholar and teacher of the ancient Mediterranean world. As a historian and archaeologist, he carries out regional field research in Greece and Cyprus, and studies the transformation of local society, culture, and religion between the Roman era and final centuries of antiquity. His current research includes publishing the results of an archaeological survey of Corinth, Greece, and writing an introduction to the archaeology of early Christianity. Pettegrew is also active in digital humanities activities at Messiah including the Digital Harrisburg Initiative and the Commonwealth Monument Project and can often be found working alongside students on public history projects in the Beatrice Howe Humanities Lab in Boyer Hall.

Books and Edited Works

• The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, editor with W.R. Caraher and T.W. Davis, New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
• The Isthmus of Corinth: Crossroads of the Mediterranean World, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016.
• Pyla-Koutsopetria I: Archaeological Survey of an Ancient Coastal Town, with W.R. Caraher and R.S. Moore, and with contributions by M. Andrioti, P.N. Kardulias, D. Nakassis, and B.R. Olson, American Schools of Oriental Research Archaeological Reports No. 21, Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2014.

Recent Articles

• “Life in an Abandoned Village: The Case of Lakka Skoutara,” with W.R. Caraher, in Deborah Brown and Rebecca Seifried (eds.), Deserted Villages: Perspectives from the Eastern Mediterranean, Digital Press of the University of North Dakota (forthcoming 2020).
• “The Archaeology of Early Christianity: The History, Methods, and State of a Field,” with W.R. Caraher. In The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology, edited by D.K. Pettegrew, W.R. Caraher, and T.W. Davis. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.
• “Pyla-Koutsopetria Archaeological Project: Recent Work at the Site of Pyla-Vikla,” with W. Caraher, R.S. Moore, and D. Nakassis. Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 2017.
• “The Changing Rural Horizons of Corinth’s First Urban Christians.” In The First Urban Churches 2: Roman Corinth, edited by J.R. Harrison and L.L. Welborn. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2016.

• “Imperial Surplus and Local Tastes: A Comparative Study of Mediterranean Connectivity and Trade,” with W.R. Caraher. In Across the Corrupting Sea: Post-Braudelian Approaches to the Ancient Mediterranean, edited by C. Concannon and L. Mazurek. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2016.

Public History Projects

• Corinthian Matters: a collection of stories and scholarship related to the history and archaeology of Corinth, Greece
• One Hundred Voices: Harrisburg's Historic African American Community, 1850-1920: Digital book, with Calobe Jackson, Jr., and Katie Wingert McArdle, and including the contributions of 30 Messiah students. The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, July 2020.
• "Waking up to our region's history of racial injustice": Op-Ed essay, with Dr. Bernardo Michael. Penn Live, July 2020.
• The Commonwealth Monument Project: A collaborative community-based initiative of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism, a project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities. The project, which includes a significant student component, celebrates the passing of the 15th and 19th amendments, Harrisburg's historic African American community, and the multi-ethnic neighborhood of the Old Eighth Ward.
• Digital Harrisburg: A student-driven website with digital exhibitions, oral histories, projects, and resources related to the history, society, and culture of Pennsylvania's capital city.  
• Harrisburg, Digital Public History, and the ‘City Beautiful’: Special issue of Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (February 2020) involving articles from local scholars, community historians, artists and journalists, and several Messiah University students. Select articles available for free download here. 
• The Big Dig at the Stouffer Farm: Excavations of Messiah University's Historical Archaeology courses at a historic farm in northern York county.