Research

Currently, I have three distinct research programs, my original field of Cuneiform Studies, research derived from my first postdoctoral position on the history of religion, and finally a newer collaborative research project on early writing. All of these, but especially the latter two are highly interdisciplinary and collaborative. I have come to appreciate a collaborative model of research and writing. These three research programs have also exposed me to writing for very different venues and audiences, from traditional humanities style journals and books, to short and succinct science based publications. Weaving a common theme through all three is the format and traditions around knowledge preservation both in the ancient and modern world. How do ancient scribes know what they know about the world around them, and how do they preserve that knowledge in writing? Likewise, modern scholars produce knowledge through methods of deduction and generalization. How can we translate that knowledge to other specialists or fields?