Curriculum Vitae

Education

2022-2026 PhD in Near Eastern Archaeology Freien Universität Berlin

2020 Dual Master in Classical Archaeology and History, Universität Zürich (summa cum laude)

2019 SEMP Austausch in Near Eastern Archaeology, Universität Leiden, Niederlande

2017 Bachelor in Classical Archaeology, Ancient History and Photography

Occupation

Since 2023 research and teaching associate at the Institute of Near Eastern Archaeology, Freien Universität Berlin, chair of Prof. Dr. Elisa Roßberger

2021 Language teacher, ILS-Zürich (German, English, French)

2016-2019 Tutor for various courses in Archaeology & History, University of Zurich

Archaeological Excavations

2025 Wadi Saq, Arabia

2022 Head of Area B, Tell Ushayer, Jordan

2021 Co-Head of Seetal-escavation, Kempraten, Switzerland

2017 & 2018 Head of Agora, Monte Iato, Sicily

2015-2018 Various excavations in Kempraten, Switzerland

SS 2025: Seminar

König der Könige, König der Länder: Die Achämeniden (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

WS 24/25: Kolloquium International Perspectives (with Copenhagen)

Exploring Identity in Archaeology and Archaeological Material (MA Archaeologies of the Ancient World / MA Altvorderasien)

SS 2024:  Methodenübung

Stories of Life and Death. Storytelling as a Method in Near Eastern Mortuary Archaeology (MA Archaeologies of the Ancient World / MA Altvorderasien)

WS 23/24: Seminar

Ideologie, Identität und Gender in neuassyrischer Zeit (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

SS 2023: Seminar

Gender Archaeology: Frauen und das dritte Geschlecht im Antiken Westasien (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Research Interests

Archaeology & History of Mesopotamia in the 1st millennium BCE, Gender Archaeology & Identity Theory, Mortuary Archeology, magico-medicinal objects, Digital Archaeology

PhD Project: Communal and Individual Identity in Burials of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

A Neo-Assyrian identity is defined by a common language, the highest god and king, as well as civil rights and duties, according to the written sources, which are biased towards a top-down perspective. However, how identities were performed by various communities inside the empire through mundane tasks, such as the burying of kin, requires a more emic approach. The archaeological remains of burials offer such an approach to communal and individual identity.

The dissertation provides the first comprehensive compilation of burials in the Neo-Assyrian empire; tombs and graves from 26 sites all over the realm, including two case studies from the peripheries, are examined. Since burials are an exemplary platform for the negotiation of identity, both the individual identity of a deceased and the identity of its community involved in the funerary procedures, the research questions leading the work focus on identity studies. Identity is hereby understood as an intricate nexus of intertwined identity traits such as age, gender, kinship and social stratification (intersectionality). The study of the burial characteristics such as architecture, location and grave good assemblages enables a qualitative, contextual and comparative analysis into the performances and distortions of identities in Neo-Assyrian funerary practice. The royal tombs in Nimrud received special considerations due to their exceptional nature. A funerary set and the logistics behind regular offerings in the heartland as well as regional differences of burial customs are determined. Rare rituals such as the use of incense, the meaning behind skulls as well as primary and secondary cremations are interpreted. Lastly, if and how gender, age, kinship, social stratification and origin of deceased played a role in Neo-Assyrian burials is concluded on.

Conference Talks

7th GeMANE 9.-12. Feb 2026: Arrowheads, Bracelets and Spindle Whorls: Ungendering Neo-Assyrian Burials

70th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 7.-11. Juni 2025: Feeding the Dead. The Archaeological Materiality of kispu(m) in Neo-Assyrian Burials

14th ICAANE 2.-6. Juni 2025: To be or not to be (buried) an Assyrian: Communal and Individual Identity in Neo-Assyrian Burials

6th GeMANE 8. - 11. April 2024: Beards Maketh Man, no Beards Maketh ša rēši? Depictions of the Beardless and the "Eunuch" in Neo-Assyria and Why Tomb 1 of Nimrud has Nothing to Do with it

EAA Belfast 30. Aug. - 2. Sep 2023: Facing the Gordion Knot of Identity: Intersectionality and Relativized Representation of Identity in Mortuary Archaeology

15th Melammu Konferenz Graz 21. – 24. September 2022: Pazuzu & Bes: How the Woman of Tomb I at Nimrud Sheds New Light on the Conflicts between Assyria and Egypt

EAA Budapest 31. Aug. – 3. Sep. 2022: Non Aequat omnis Cinis – Obsolete and New Approaches on Gender in Mortuary Archaeology

EAA Kiel 8. – 11. September 2021: Clamour from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Revised Dating and Distribution Patterns of Engraved Tridacna squamosa

ICAANE Bologna 6. – 11. April 2021: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Timber Resources in the ANE and their Impact on Royal Architecture in the First Millennium BC

SAFT März 2019, Archäologien 2020! Forschungstagung aller Archäologiestudierenden der Universität Zürich: Ecological Motives behind the Choice of Wood Types and their Provenance for Neo-Assyrian Timber. An Interdisciplinary Approach with archaeological, historical and palynological data based on a Case Study of Palace Doors at Nimrud, Balawat and Khorsabad.

Dominik Bonatz, Nathalie Kallas, Yvonne Helmholz, Laith Alshboul, Stefano Aprà, Valery Schlegel, Giampiero Tursi, Marina Weiss. (Forthcoming 2025).  "Excavations at Tell Ushayer: A Preliminary Report on the 2021, 2022 And 2023 Seasons". ADAJ 62 (in print preparation).

Pazuzu & Bes: How the Woman of Tomb I at Nimrud Sheds New Light on the Conflicts between Assyria and Egypt, Proceedings of the 15^th Melammu Konferenz Graz 21. – 24. September 2022 (in print preparation).

Disentangling the Inseparable: Intersectionality, Gender and the Relativized Representation of Identity in Mortuary Archaeology in: S. Adroit / K. Parachaud / P. Perdiguero / T. Poigt, Exploring Identities in Archaeology. Tools, Methodologies and Case Studies, BAR International Series 3239, 2025, 73-80. https://www.barpublishing.com/book/exploring-identities-in-archaeology/

Clamour from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. Revised Dating and Distribution Patterns of Engraved Tridacna squamosa in: L. Recht / Ch. Tsouparopoulou, Human and Aquatic Beings: Interactions in and beyond the Eastern Mediterranean (3rd-1st Millennia BCE), Themes in Contemporary Archaeology 4, 2025. https://link.springer.com/book/9783031736421

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Timber Resources in the ANE and their Impact on Royal Architecture in the First Millennium BC, Proceedings of the 12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East in Bologna, 2023, 149-159. https://doi.org/10.13173/9783447118736

Ecological Motives Behind the Choice of Wood Types in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. A Case Study of Palace Doors at Nimrud, Balawat and Khorsabad, in: D. A. Baumgartner / A. Guirard / J. Held / M. Mohr (ed.), Archäologien 2020! Studentische Archäologische Forschungstagung (SAFT) Universität Zürich, 16. März 2019. BOTHROS Zürcher Hefte für Archäologie 1, Zürich 2023, 87-97. https://www.hope.uzh.ch/bothros/article/view/4154/3006

Academia