Rebecca Gerdes

Ph.D. Candidate in Classics

Overview

Rebecca began the Classical Archaeology track in 2016. She holds a B.A. in Classics and Chemistry (Smith College ’15), and an M.Sc. in Archaeological Science (U. of Oxford ’16). Her work focuses on integrating archaeological and chemical approaches to study ancient food practices. In her dissertation research, she is developing new methods for analyzing food residues in ceramics that account for effects from the ancient Mediterranean environment, and new ways of interpreting organic residues to make the results more accessible and to better integrate them into archaeological results. She works with excavations in Cyprus (Kalavasos and Maroni Built Environments Project and the Yeronisos Island Expedition) and Greece (Lyktos Archaeological Project). Rebecca is a co-founder of the Archaeological Science Group at Cornell and a founding member of the CIAMS Anticolonialism and Antiracism Interest Group, and served as the Assistant Director of the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies in 2021-22. Rebecca also enjoys doing outreach in archaeology and STEM for middle and high school students. She is happy to talk about her experiences in any of these areas.

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