Maura Heyn’s research focuses on funerary sculpture in the Roman empire, particularly the sculpture from the Syrian city of Palmyra. She is interested in issues of social identity, cultural change, ancient clothing and dress, and the archaeology of the body. Her current book project, Provincial Life, Roman Death: The Funerary Portraiture of Palmyra, analyzes the multifaceted ways in which funerary sculpture mediated social relations in the aftermath of Roman conquest. Other research interests include the mural decoration of the Temple of Bel in Dura-Europos, and the significance of hand gestures in Roman funerary portraiture.  

Her many publications include:

• Heyn, M. K. 2017. "Western Men, Eastern Women? Dress and Cultural Identity in Roman Palmyra", in: Cifarelli, M. & Gawlinski, L. (eds), What Shall I Say of Clothes? Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Dress in Antiquity, Selected Papers in Ancient Art and Architecture, 3 (Boston: Archaeological Institute of America), pp. 210-217.
• Heyn, M. K. & Steinsapir, A. I. (eds). 2016. Icon, Cult, and Context: Essays in honor of Susan B. Downey (Los Angeles, CA: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA).
• Heyn, M. K. 2016. "Gesture at Dura-Europos; A New Interpretation of the So-called ‘scène énigmatique", in: Kaizer, T. (ed.), Religion, Society and Culture at Dura-Europos, Yale Classical Studies, 38 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), pp. 105-115.
• Heyn, M. K. 2015. "Status and Stasis: Looking at Women in the Palmyrene Tomb", in: Raja, R., Kropp, A. & Sørensen, A. H. (eds), World of Palmyra, Palmyrenske Studier, 1 (Copenhagen: The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters), pp. 197-209.
• Heyn, M. K. 2010. "Gesture and Identity in the Funerary Art of Palmyra", American Journal of Archaeology 114.4, 631-661

During her stay, Maura Heyn will co-organize the workshop "Attributes in Palmyrene Funerary Sculpture" within the framework of the Palmyra Portrait Project.