Katherine Burge

My research focuses on urban societies in the Bronze and Iron Age Near East and Eastern Mediterranean and employs an interdisciplinary approach – integrating archaeological, visual, and documentary data – to address questions of political transformation, socio-economic organization, cultural interaction, power structures, and human-environment interactions. I have participated in archaeological excavations at numerous sites across southern Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, and southeastern Türkiye. My current field project (since 2024) focuses on climate variability and adaptation strategies at the 300-hectare Bronze Age site of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) in Türkiye during the late Early Bronze Age. 

I also conduct object-based research that examines relationships between text and image, the mutable value of objects as they move through various social and spatial contexts, the materiality of reused/recycled objects, and the capacity of objects to shape human subjectivities and identities. My work also engages with issues related to curatorial practice, museum ethics, and cultural heritage policy. 

I currently serve as lead curator for the Kelsey Museum’s forthcoming Byzantine and Islamic gallery, Crossroads of Culture: 400 – 1800.