Staff profile

PhD research

My research investigates the earliest known ceramics of the central Levant (primarily in Lebanon and southwestern Syria), examining the emergence, technological development, and socio‑economic roles of pottery during this formative period (c. 7-6th millennium BC). By building on existing regional survey and excavation datasets, the project re-evaluates early ceramic assemblages using updated technological and analytical frameworks, enabling new insights into the origins of ceramic production in a region undergoing profound cultural and technological transformation.

Utilizing petrographic thin‑section analysis, this project will explore raw material choices, production techniques, and the degree of technological variability among Neolithic communities. In addition to ceramic-bearing sites, the study also examines contemporaneous Neolithic settlements that do not yet show evidence for pottery use. By comparing their broader material assemblages—including lithics, groundstone, architecture, and subsistence data—to those of pottery-producing sites, the project aims to deepen our understanding of why ceramics emerge in some communities earlier than others. This comparative approach provides a critical contextual backdrop for evaluating the social, economic, and environmental conditions shaping the adoption - or absence - of ceramic technology in this varied landscape.

This project is supervised by Kamal Badreshany (Archaeology, Durham), Graham Philip (Archaeology, Durham), and Max Price (Archaeology, Durham).

Academic Background

I obtained a BA in Anthropology and History from the University of Illinois at Chicago (2021) followed by an MSc with distinction in Practical Archaeology from the University of the Highlands and Islands (2024), during which I completed a placement at the Orkney Museum, where I curated a display on the prehistoric ceramics of Orkney.

• Ceramic Analysis
• Petrography
• Near Eastern Archaeology
• Neolithic Archaeology