Current Projects:
Türkmen-Karahöyük Archaeological Project, Konya, Türkiye
Critical Paleoeconomics, a project dedicated in bringing global archaeological data into conversation with critical debates in economics
Courses Taught:
Mesopotamia & Egypt from the Emergence of Complex Society to c. 2000 BCE (with Liam McNamara)
Biography:
Before joining the Ashmolean Museum in 2024, I was the acting curator for ancient Mesopotamia at the British Museum and held postdoc and teaching positions at the University of Cambridge. I have worked on field projects in Türkiye since 2009.
Research Interests:
My research interests centre on the material culture and social history of ancient West Asia, with a particular focus on ancient Mesopotamia and Anatolia and the relationships between the two regions in the Bronze and Iron ages. I am especially interested in ancient trade and exploring the ways in which long-distance merchants forge new multicultural and multilinguistic communities whilst maintaining ties with their homelands. I examine the choices merchants made with what to bring with them and what to leave behind both in terms of material culture and wider social systems, including religious beliefs and practices. I am also working with an international group of archaeologists on how long-distance trade impacts city populations and levels of inequality over time. As part of my work on trade entrepôts and merchant communities, I also look at gendered economic practices and women’s agency in the production and consumption of both local and foreign goods.
With regards to museological practice at the Ashmolean, I am interested in how we can better integrate voices and stories from non-elites with larger narratives about ancient West Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. I am also exploring how new research, including scientific analysis, can offer fresh perspectives and breathe new life into legacy museum collections and archaeological assemblages for a diverse range of audiences both in-person and online.
