Janet Stephens

Born Janet Scott, Stephens grew up in Kennewick, Washington.{{cite web|last=Schilling |first=Sara |url=http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/02/08/2268501/kennewick-native-featured-in-front.html |title=Kennewick native featured in front-page Wall Street Journal Story on ancient hairstyles | Local News |publisher=Tri-CityHerald.com |accessdate=2013-10-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402133955/http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/02/08/2268501/kennewick-native-featured-in-front.html |archivedate=2015-04-02 }}

File:Female portrait Louvre Ma3452.jpg

She first became interested in ancient hairdressing styles in 2001, when she visited the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore and saw some statues from the Greek and Roman collections that included busts that could be viewed in the round, from all directions.{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/14729 |title=Blog Archive » Janet Stephens: Intrepid Hairdressing Archaeologist |publisher=The History Blog |date= |accessdate=2013-10-15}}{{cite web|url=http://www.modernsalon.com/news/beauty-news/Hairdressing-Archaeologist--Re-Writes-History-192051061.html |title="Hairdressing Archaeologist" Re-Writes History |publisher=Modernsalon.com |date=2013-02-20 |accessdate=2013-10-15}} Stephens said,

I had never seen the back of a Roman statue before—they are usually placed high on shelves/pedestal[s] with the backs tight up against a wall. As I circled the portraits I saw the logic of the hairstyles and determined to try some at home.

In research she conducted, she found that scholars mainly believed that elaborate ancient hairstyles, depicted in artworks of the times, were wigs. Believing otherwise because of her observations, Stephens set out to do her own research. In 2005, while studying translations of Roman literature, she realized the Latin term acus, which has several meanings including a "single-prong hairpin" or "needle and thread", was being mistranslated consistently as "single-prong hairpin" in the context of ancient Roman hairdressing. While single-prong hairpins could not have held up the elaborate hairstyles of ancient Rome, a needle and thread could have. In 2008, Stephens published this theory as "Ancient Roman Hairdressing: On (hair) pins and needles" in the Journal of Roman Archaeology, Vol. 21.{{cite journal | last1 = Stephens | first1 = J. | title = Ancient Roman hairdressing: on (hair)pins and needles | journal = Journal of Roman Archaeology | doi = 10.1017/S1047759400004402 | date = 2008 | volume = 21 | pages = 110-132 |access-date= 2025-05-08}}{{cite web|url=http://www.studio921spa.com/profiles/JanetStephens.asp?LID= |title=Studio 921 Salon & Day Spa |publisher=Studio921spa.com |accessdate=2013-10-15}}

In 2012, her video Julia Domna: Forensic Hairdressing was presented in Philadelphia at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America.{{cite web|url=http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/14729 |title=Blog Archive » Janet Stephens: Intrepid Hairdressing Archaeologist |publisher=The History Blog |date= |accessdate=2021-06-27}}

In 2013, she became the first to recreate the hairstyle of the Roman vestal virgins on a modern person.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/50417111/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UTYf91fYREc |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517122310/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50417111/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UTYf91fYREc |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 17, 2014 |title=Roman vestal virgin hairstyle re-created - Technology & science - Science - LiveScience |publisher=NBC News |date=2013-01-09 |accessdate=2013-10-15}}{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/tags/janet-stephens/|title=Janet Stephens - New York Magazine|last=Carusillo|first=Claire|website=NYMag|language=en-us|access-date=2020-04-12}}

Stephens works as a hairdresser at her salon in Baltimore, Studio 921 Salon and Day Spa.{{cite web|last=Schilling |first=Sara |url=http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/02/08/2268501/kennewick-native-featured-in-front.html#storylink=cpy |title=Kennewick native featured in front-page Wall Street Journal Story on ancient hairstyles | Local News |publisher=Tri-CityHerald.com |accessdate=2013-10-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402133955/http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2013/02/08/2268501/kennewick-native-featured-in-front.html |archivedate=2015-04-02 }}

• “[https://www.academia.edu/31430226/_Ancient_Roman_hairdressing_on_hair_pins_and_needles_ Ancient Roman Hairdressing: on (hair)pins and needles]” (scroll down to read full text) Journal of Roman Archaeology vol. 21 (2008) 111-133.

• “[https://exarc.net/issue-2013-1/at/recreating-fonseca-hairstyle Recreating the Fonseca Hairstyle]” EXARC (the online Journal of Experimental Archaeology) January, 2013. Print version, Exarc Journal Annual digest, 2013.

• [https://journal.thewalters.org/volume/74/note/becoming-a-blond-in-late-fifteenth-century-venice-a-new-look-at-w-748/ Becoming a Blond in Renaissance Italy]” Journal of the Walters Art Museum 74 [2019].

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/user/jntvstp?feature=watch Janet Stephens's YouTube channel]

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Category:21st-century American archaeologists

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Category:People from Kennewick, Washington

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Category:Historians from Washington (state)

Category:Historians from Maryland