David Soren
Encyclopedia
David Soren is an American archaeologist
and former television and vaudeville
performer.
on October 7, 1946. He began his career in the entertainment business at the age of eight, and a year later was the youngest cast member of CBS television's The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour
. Subsequently Soren performed in vaudeville
and road shows with members of the Philadelphia Eagles
football team, Pete Boyle (father of actor Peter Boyle
) and, regularly, with local children's program hosts Sally Starr and Chief Halftown. He is included in the Encyclopedia of Vaudeville.
, then an M.A. in Fine Arts and a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from Harvard University
. During this time he directed archaeological investigations for the Smithsonian Institution
at Utica
, Thuburbo Majus
and El Djem
in Tunisia.
He taught at the University of Missouri
in Columbia, Missouri
for 10 years from 1973, becoming department head in the Art History Department and directing excavations at Miróbriga, Portugal
, where he co-designed a large room of the Santiago do Cacem Museum with Star Wars
production designer Harry Lange
. He was also Guest Curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City from 1980 to 1988. Soren moved to the University of Arizona
in 1983, first as department head in Classical Studies, later being appointed Regents Professor of Classics and Anthropology.
Soren is known principally for three discoveries. His archaeological excavations at Kourion, Cyprus
were designed to identify the epicenter of the famous Mediterranean earthquake of July 21, 365 A.D. He located the epicenter of this mega-disaster offshore approximately 25 miles southwest of the town of Kourion. Brian Fagan
described this discovery as one of the 50 most significant in world archaeology. His second discovery was the identification of Plasmodium falciparum
malaria as a significant contributor to the downfall of the Roman Empire
. This was done through analysis of DNA of infant bones from a cemetery he excavated at Lugnano in Teverina
, Umbria between 1987 and 1991 – the first such use of DNA evidence on an archaeological site. The third discovery was the site of the famous Roman fontes Clusini or Springs of Chiusi, a healing sanctuary featuring a cold water spring said by the poet Horace
in his Epistles to have cured the gravely ill emperor Augustus from his stomach pains in 23 B.C. Soren discovered the largest cold water ancient spring and sanctuary in Italy, near Chiusi
in the Tuscan town of Chianciano Terme
. The ancient spring he found was still flowing and the water contained large amounts of calcium sulfate which functions as a strong laxative.
Soren has also written numerous books on film, including biographies of director Dorothy Arzner
, dancer Vera-Ellen
, and Belgian filmmaker Harry Kumel. He has also staged museum exhibitions for the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium.
Soren has been the subject of television specials by the BBC, RAI-1 in Italy, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. He has served also as creative consultant for NBC's Lost Civilizations and History International's Where Did It Come From?. He also directed portions of Arts and Entertainment's Human Sacrifice, hosted by Leonard Nimoy
. For his cinematic work he has won a Cine Golden Eagle Award along with director David McAllister. He is currently directing and producing two archaeological documentaries about ancient Rome for the Oxford University Press and directing the institute he founded in Orvieto
, Italy for the University of Arizona.
Soren has been married to Noelle Soren, a former archaeologist, writer and photographer, since 1967.
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and former television and vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performer.
Early life and entertainment career
Soren was born in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
on October 7, 1946. He began his career in the entertainment business at the age of eight, and a year later was the youngest cast member of CBS television's The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour
The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour
The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour was a variety show with a cast of children, including some who later became well-known adult performers. It had a long run for more than three decades...
. Subsequently Soren performed in vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and road shows with members of the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
football team, Pete Boyle (father of actor Peter Boyle
Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle, Jr. was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein ....
) and, regularly, with local children's program hosts Sally Starr and Chief Halftown. He is included in the Encyclopedia of Vaudeville.
Academic career
Switching gears in his late teens, Soren received a B.A. in Greek and Roman Studies from Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, then an M.A. in Fine Arts and a Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. During this time he directed archaeological investigations for the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
at Utica
Utica, Tunisia
Utica is an ancient city northwest of Carthage near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean Sea, traditionally considered to be the first colony founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa...
, Thuburbo Majus
Thuburbo Majus
Thuburbo Majus is a large Roman site in northern Tunisia. It is located roughly 60 km southwest of Carthage on a major African thoroughfare. This thoroughfare connects Carthage to the Sahara. Other towns along the way included Sbiba, Sufes, Sbeitla, and Sufetula. Parts of the old Roman road are...
and El Djem
El Djem
Drifting sand is preserving the market city of Thysdrus and the refined suburban villas that once surrounded it. The amphiteatre occupies archaeologists' attention: no digging required...
in Tunisia.
He taught at the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
in Columbia, Missouri
Columbia, Missouri
Columbia is the fifth-largest city in Missouri, and the largest city in Mid-Missouri. With a population of 108,500 as of the 2010 Census, it is the principal municipality of the Columbia Metropolitan Area, a region of 164,283 residents. The city serves as the county seat of Boone County and as the...
for 10 years from 1973, becoming department head in the Art History Department and directing excavations at Miróbriga, Portugal
Miróbriga
Miróbriga is an ancient Roman town located near the village and civil parish of Santiago do Cacém, in the municipality of the same name in the south-west of Portugal...
, where he co-designed a large room of the Santiago do Cacem Museum with Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
production designer Harry Lange
Harry Lange (film designer)
Hans Kurt Lange was a German film production designer and art director.Lange was born in 1930 in Eisenach, Thuringia. After World War II, Thuringia became part of Soviet-controlled East Germany; Lange escaped across the border to West Germany, where he studied art before moving to the United...
. He was also Guest Curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City from 1980 to 1988. Soren moved to the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
in 1983, first as department head in Classical Studies, later being appointed Regents Professor of Classics and Anthropology.
Soren is known principally for three discoveries. His archaeological excavations at Kourion, Cyprus
Kourion
Kourion , also Curias or Latin: Curium, was a city in Cyprus, which endured from antiquity until the early Middle Ages. Kourion is situated on the south shores of the island to the west of the river Lycus , 16 M. P. from Amathus. , and was recorded by numerous ancient authors including Ptolemy...
were designed to identify the epicenter of the famous Mediterranean earthquake of July 21, 365 A.D. He located the epicenter of this mega-disaster offshore approximately 25 miles southwest of the town of Kourion. Brian Fagan
Brian Fagan
Brian Murray Fagan is a prolific author of popular archaeology books and a professor emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.-Biography:...
described this discovery as one of the 50 most significant in world archaeology. His second discovery was the identification of Plasmodium falciparum
Plasmodium falciparum
Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan parasite, one of the species of Plasmodium that cause malaria in humans. It is transmitted by the female Anopheles mosquito. Malaria caused by this species is the most dangerous form of malaria, with the highest rates of complications and mortality...
malaria as a significant contributor to the downfall of the Roman Empire
Decline of the Roman Empire
The decline of the Roman Empire refers to the gradual societal collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Many theories of causality prevail, but most concern the disintegration of political, economic, military, and other social institutions, in tandem with foreign invasions and usurpers from within the...
. This was done through analysis of DNA of infant bones from a cemetery he excavated at Lugnano in Teverina
Lugnano in Teverina
Lugnano in Teverina is a comune in the Province of Terni in the Italian region Umbria, located about 60 km south of Perugia and about 25 km west of Terni....
, Umbria between 1987 and 1991 – the first such use of DNA evidence on an archaeological site. The third discovery was the site of the famous Roman fontes Clusini or Springs of Chiusi, a healing sanctuary featuring a cold water spring said by the poet Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
in his Epistles to have cured the gravely ill emperor Augustus from his stomach pains in 23 B.C. Soren discovered the largest cold water ancient spring and sanctuary in Italy, near Chiusi
Chiusi
Chiusi is a town and comune in province of Siena, Tuscany, Italy.-History:It was one of the more powerful among the Etruscan 12‑city confederation...
in the Tuscan town of Chianciano Terme
Chianciano Terme
Chianciano Terme is a comune in the Province of Siena in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 90 km southeast of Florence and about 50 km southeast of Siena...
. The ancient spring he found was still flowing and the water contained large amounts of calcium sulfate which functions as a strong laxative.
Soren has also written numerous books on film, including biographies of director Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner
Dorothy Arzner was an American film director. Her directorial career in feature films spanned from the late 1920s into the early 1940s, a time period in which there were very few—if any—other women working in the field.- Biography :Born in San Francisco, California, Arzner grew up in Los...
, dancer Vera-Ellen
Vera-Ellen
Vera-Ellen was an American actress and dancer, principally celebrated for her filmed dance partnerships with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Danny Kaye and Donald O'Connor.-Early life:...
, and Belgian filmmaker Harry Kumel. He has also staged museum exhibitions for the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium.
Soren has been the subject of television specials by the BBC, RAI-1 in Italy, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel. He has served also as creative consultant for NBC's Lost Civilizations and History International's Where Did It Come From?. He also directed portions of Arts and Entertainment's Human Sacrifice, hosted by Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
. For his cinematic work he has won a Cine Golden Eagle Award along with director David McAllister. He is currently directing and producing two archaeological documentaries about ancient Rome for the Oxford University Press and directing the institute he founded in Orvieto
Orvieto
Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...
, Italy for the University of Arizona.
Soren has been married to Noelle Soren, a former archaeologist, writer and photographer, since 1967.