Academic education

Since 2022 PhD candidate at the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS) under Prof. Dr. S. G. Schmid and Prof. Dr. D. Bonatz with a dissertation project entitled “Dance on Ancient Cyprus” (working title)

2024 Visiting scholar at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Classics (supervisor: Prof. Dr. Fiona Macintosh)

2021 Master's degree in Greek and Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Master's thesis: “Mobile Pastoralists, Identity, and the Case of the Amorites in Mesopotamia”

2020 Bachelor's degree in Classical Archaeology and German Literature at Humboldt University of Berlin

Bachelor's thesis: "Channels in the sanctuary. An example from Ostia and comparisons of function and context"

Professional experience

Since 2022 Research assistant to Prof. Dr. D. Bonatz at the Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology at Freie Universität Berlin

Collaboration on archaeological field projects

From 2023 Collaboration as area supervisor on the Freie Universität Berlin excavation in Tell Ushayer, Jordan

2022 Excavation of the OI Chicago, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Humboldt University in Tell Keisan, Israel

2021 Excavation of Humboldt University in Shtyllas (Apollonia), Albania

2021 Excavation of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece (ESAG) in Amarynthos (Euboea), Greece

2019 Excavation by Humboldt University in Sorrento, Italy

2018 Excavation by the University of Zagreb in Salona (Solin), Croatia

2018 Archaeological Field Survey by Humboldt University, Cyprus

Summer semester 2025

Mächte und Netzwerke: Westasien und der ‚Club of Great Powers‘ in der Späten Bronzezeit (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Summer semester 2024

Grundlagen der Altertumswissenschaften II (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Winter semester 2023/2024

Frauen an der Macht! Antike Frauen in militärisch-politischen Führungspositionen (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Summer semester 2023

Die phönizischen Städte der Levante (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Winter semester 2022/2023

Archäologie Zyperns (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Summer semester 2022

Methodenübung: Grundlagen d. Altertumswissenschaften II (BA Altertumswissenschaften | Vorderasiatische Archäologie)

Research interests:

Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age in southwest Asia, esp. Cyprus and Levant

PhD thesis: "Dance on Ancient Cyprus" (working title)

Throughout human history, dance is a global phenomenon with social, religious, political and economic dimensions. Yet, archaeologically, the subject of dance in antiquity has gained little attention. The Dance on Ancient Cyprus (DAnC) project is the first of its kind in establishing an archaeology of dance for Iron Age Cyprus. Dance activities on Cyprus are well attested by a series of terracotta and limestone figurines portraying ring dances, which date from LCIII/CGI to the Early Hellenistic. Performing an overarching analysis of the Cypriot ring dance figurines, placing them within their archaeological context and studying them in conjunction with further evidence attesting to dance on the island and in the wider Eastern Mediterranean region, the DAnC project aims to establish an understanding of Cypriot dance traditions during the so-called time of the city-kingdoms. In which contexts were dances performed? In what ways did dances strengthen communal ties? How does dance fit within the broader context of performative activities in Cypriot sanctuaries, such as mask-wearing and musical performances? And from a diachronic perspective, how can we draw the line from ancient dance traditions on the island to modern day ones?

This PhD project is supervised by Prof. Dr. S. G. Schmid (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Prof. Dr. D. Bonatz (Freie Universität Berlin) at the Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS). 

C. Wilson – M. Röhrig – M. Weiss, Preliminary Results of the 2022 Season of Excavations in Area G at Tell Keisan, WdO 54:1, 2024, 8–22.

D. Bonatz – N. Kallas – Y. Helmholz – L. Alshboul – S. Aprà – V. Schlegel – G. Tursi – M. Weiss (forthcoming), Excavations at Tell Ushayer: A Preliminary Report on the 2021, 2022 And 2023 Seasons, ADAJ 62.

M. Weiss (forthcoming), Towards an Archaeology of Dance on Iron Age Cyprus: Methods and Approaches, in: Proceedings of the BernBabylon Conference 2024 at the University of Bern (Switzerland), 7-9 of November 2024, BOP.

M. Weiss (submitted), Evidence and Distribution of Dance Representations on Iron Age Cyprus: A Preliminary Report on the DAnC Project, in: Proceedings of the PoCA 2023 at the University of Athens (Greece), 1-3 of December 2023, CCEC.

M. Weiss – S. Daun (in preparation), Excavation Report on Saggio 20 and 21 at the Capo di Sorrento, in: W. Filser – C. Klose (eds.), The Roman Maritime Villa of Capo di Sorrento. Excavation and Surveys of Architecture and Landscape from 2014 to 2022.