Email: cmikeska at live.unc.edu
Phone:
Areas of Interest:
Zooarchaeology, Southwest Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Human-Animal Relationships, Development of Complex Societies, Geometric Morphometrics (GMM), Isotope Analysis
Education:
In Progress University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Ph.D.
Expected 2019 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, M.A.
May 2016 Boston University, B.A. Archaeology and Classical Civilizations
Professional Background:
I am an anthropological archaeologist with a specialty in zooarchaeology. I am interested in human-animal interactions in Southwest Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, though I have also worked on archaeological faunal assemblages from Europe, Africa, and North America. My research methodology combines traditional faunal analysis, isotope analysis, and geometric morphometric (GMM) approaches to understanding human-animal interactions. My dissertation research will combine these methods to study the development and maintenance of Bronze Age complex societies in Southwest Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean.
I am currently involved in three archaeological projects in Turkey and Cyprus, as both an excavator and faunal analyst. My current fieldwork includes my work as a faunal analyst at the Hattusa-Boğazköy Expedition, where I am investigating human-animal interactions at the former capital of the Hittite Empire during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Additionally, I work as a trench supervisor at the Makounta-Voules Archaeological Project and the Prastio-Mesorotsos Archaeological Expedition in western Cyprus, focusing on the pre- and protohistoric occupation of the island.