Academic Background
My specialization in the field of classical archaeology is in comparative Ionian colonization, with an emphasis on the economy, ceramics, and cultural identity. My most recent project is the Sinop Kale Project, in collaboration with Directors Dr. Owen Doonan and Dr. Andrew Goldman, in Sinop, Turkey. We recently concluded the second excavation season. The project’s Facebook page can be found here. In the framework of this project, I am particularly interested in the earliest Greek settlers in Sinop, who are thought to have arrived from Miletus in the archaic period.
My past work has focused on the archaic maritime economy of the western Mediterranean, specifically the trade in ceramics among and beyond Greek settlements in this region. Other research interests include the production, distribution, and consumption of pottery; connectivity and networks; cross-‘cultural’ exchange; mapping the ancient world; and broader colonization studies. I am also interested in Classical reception, as well as the interdisciplinary integration of Classical Studies into an undergraduate liberal education.
I received my PhD in Classics from Stanford University, with a concentration in Classical Archaeology. My academic advisors were Professors Ian Morris, Ian Hodder, and Walter Scheidel (Stanford University) and Professor Michael Dietler (University of Chicago). The title of my dissertation was Scale, Structure, and Organization of Archaic Maritime Trade in the Western Mediterranean: the “Pointe Lequin 1A”. In it, I examined production, consumption, and maritime distribution of ceramics in the western Mediterranean. Before the commencement of my academic appointment, I held the DAI/AIA Postdoctoral Fellowship at the German Archaeological Institute in Berlin.
My undergraduate work was completed at Mount Holyoke College, class of 1997. I got my Master’s Degree at the University of Heidelberg in 2001. My thesis (Mycenaean Contacts in the Mediterranean: A Comparison of Selected Sites) dealt with Bronze Age trade and exchange in the Mediterranean. It was written under the supervision of Professor W.-D. Niemeier (Director, German Archaeological Institute, Athens).
Archaeological field projects I have participated in include the Sinop Kale Project (2016), the excavation at Lattes in Southern France, 2005; Çatalhöyük (2002-2005); Miletus (1999-2002); Phlius Valley Survey, Greece (1999); and the Ohio State excavations at Isthmia, Greece (1996, 1997). For more details on these projects, please see my CV to the right. I am also a member of the Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest and of the Archaeological Institute of America.