As part of the Department of Archaeology’s evening lecture series, Dr. Néhémie Strupler (Durham University) will deliver a talk titled “Crossing the Taurus in the 19th century BCE” on Wednesday, March 26th, at 17:30 in C-Block amphi.
This talk will address a gap in current research by exploring the implications of travelling between northern Iraq and central Anatolia in the 19th century BCE. To do this, I draw on archaeological data and sensorial insights gathered during a 225 km hike in the Antitaurus last summer. This approach allows us to question some of the long-held expectations about travel in the past and outlines a developing project aimed at unpacking the significance of movement across the Taurus and Anatolia more broadly.
Néhémie Strupler is a Research Associate at Durham University. He earned his Ph.D. from the Universities of Strasbourg and Münster, where he focused on publishing the archives of the Boğazköy Expedition (1938–1970). His research employed open science principles and reproducible spatial analysis using R to reinterpret the development of the Lower City of Ḫattuša during the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Dr. Strupler has held research positions at ANAMED, the Walter Benjamin Kolleg, the University of Tartu, the French Institute for Anatolian Studies, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, and Freie Universität Berlin. His current projects explore Byzantine North Africa, Digital Archives as Cultural Heritage, and Network Dynamics during the Anatolian–Old Assyrian period.