Staff profile

Brief Biography

Before moving into archaeology, I trained as a studio artist in ceramic design and then painting, printmaking and drawing, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, USA. After working as an artist, illustrator and journalist in my native Bermuda, I took an RSA diploma in Early European Art History from Christie’s Education in London, going on to do an MPhil and a DPhil in Classical Archaeology at the University of Oxford. During that time I worked as a curatorial assistant at the Bermuda Maritime Museum and at Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and as Researcher at the Oxford Research Archive of Greek and Roman Sculpture in the Ashmolean Museum’s Cast Gallery. Subsequently, I have held a Junior Research Fellowship at Somerville College, Oxford (intermitted for a temporary lectureship in the Department of Classics, Oxford), a fixed-term lectureship in Classical Art at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and research fellowships at The Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations at Koç University in Istanbul and at the British Institute at Ankara. I have also participated in various field work projects in Bermuda and Turkey (Kerkenes, Zincirli, Çaltilar) as an excavator, finds registrar, and sculpture specialist.

Research

My research bridges art history and archaeology, and I have published on approaches to imagery, meaning and identity, and assessing context, with new contrbutions concerning landscape and economic contexts. I focus on Anatolia and the Mediterranean in the Iron Ages to Classical or Achaemenid Empire periods (first half of the first millennium BC), with a specific concentration on the non-Greek speaking zones of Central and Western Anatolia (Phrygia, Hellespontine Phrygia, Lydia and Lycia). I am currently working on a synthesis book on memorial art, identities and the idea of impact in early Achaemenid Anatolia and further collaborations on Lycia and Achaemenid environmental archaeology.

Alongside this, I have other developing projects examining diversity in and affinity with archaeology as a discipline (Archaeological Horizons), and the visual, built and lived environments of places (PlaceLab). 

Teaching

I am a passionate believer in the role of archaeology in modern society and as a university subject which can impart a great range of skills, both practical and intellectual, with applications beyond the confines of academia: close, forensic analysis, visual attention, synthesis, problem spotting and solving, research, good writing for multiple audiences, and a sense of human interaction with and the formation of the material world which we inhabit. In my teaching, I aim to provide practical opportunities to build these skills; to inspire enthusiasm for critical and creative analysis of representations of the past and the relevance of this for contemporary society; and to help students to develop their confidence and their own original thoughts. 

I have taught topics from the archaeology of Iron Age Anatolia and Early Greece to art in the Roman Empire, and I have particular interests in addressing aspects such as ethnicity and identity, approaches to images, and regionalism. I offer a specialist third year class on Greeks and Others: Art and Identity in Ancient Greece and Beyond, which considers these and related issues.

I have supervised undergraduate dissertations on topics from the Classical Athenian Tholos to supernatural creatures on Achaemenid gems, and MA dissertations from the regional contextual emergence of the Aeolic 'order' to the Saite Egyptian environment for transferring artistic ideas to the Aegean. 

I currently supervise PhD projects covering such ground as the regional adaptation of the human-bird hybrid form in ancient Asian art; the reception and framing of Lycia in connection with the British Museum collection of Lycian materials; the emergence of monumental visual culture in Crete in an Eastern Mediterranean perspective; the collection, curation and display of Black Africans in Greek and Roman art collections; reconstructing and reconsidering weaving at ancient Olynthos; Bronze Age burial practices in Anatolia; Egyptian iconography; and Roman monumental place-making. 

• Archaeology of Achaemenid Anatolia and the nature of impact
• Archaeology of Iron Age Anatolia
• Place, landscapes, production and monumental environments
• Cultural regionalism in relation to economy and connectivity
• Theorising interpretation of art and iconography

• Landscapes of Complex Society
• Material and Visual Culture

• Academia.edu profile
• ResearchGate profile

• 2023: Chair, CIfA EDI Committee:
• 2022: Chair, Publications Committee, British Institute at Ankara:
• 2022: Council Member, British Institute at Ankara:
• 2022: Member, Archaeology Research Committee, Bermuda National Trust:
• 2021: Member, CIfA EDI Committee:
• 2017: Council Member, British Institute at Ankara (BIAA): Elected council member; finance committee member.
• 2016: Invited member of the Scientific Board of Colloquium Anatolicum, journal of the Türk Eskiçağ Bilimleri Enstitüsü:
• 2015: External Appointment Referee, Aarhus University:
• 2015: External Docent Appointment Referee, Uppsala University:
• 2015: External Postdoctoral Fellowship Referee, FWO:

Available for media contact about:

• Identity, ethnicity and culture: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• History & Archaeology: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• Environment and culture: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• Politicial, cultural, social history: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• Roman, Greek & ancient civilisations: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• Art: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• Visual culture: Art and its interpretation: my work has focused on the use of images on and in tombs (in ancient Anatolia) for understanding in what terms people wanted to be remembered. It involves addressing the problems involved in this kind of interpretation of image
• Classics and Ancient History: Ancient Anatolian archaeology and history in the period from about 800-300 BC, especially the Achaemenid Empire period, c. 550-330 BC.
• History & Archaeology: Ancient Anatolian archaeology and history in the period from about 800-300 BC, especially the Achaemenid Empire period, c. 550-330 BC.
• Roman, Greek & ancient civilisations: Ancient Anatolian archaeology and history in the period from about 800-300 BC, especially the Achaemenid Empire period, c. 550-330 BC.
• Visual culture: Ancient Anatolian archaeology and history in the period from about 800-300 BC, especially the Achaemenid Empire period, c. 550-330 BC.

Authored book

• Draycott,Catherine M. & Summers, Geoffrey D. (2008). Kerkenes Special Studies 1. Sculpture and Inscriptions from the Monumental Entrance to the Palatial Complex at Kerkenes Dağ, Turkey. Oriental Institute Press.

Book review

• Draycott, Catherine M. (2019). CARIA, CRETE AND FOUNDATION MYTHS. (N.) Carless Unwin Caria and Crete in Antiquity. Cultural Interaction between Anatolia and the Aegean. Pp. xx + 266, ills, maps. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. The Classical Review 1.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2015). Review of Ş. Karagöz, Kleinasiatisch-gräko-perische Kunstwerke im archäologischen Museum von Istanbul. Istanbuler Forschungen 54. Ernst Wasmuth, Tübingen 2013. American Journal of Archaeology 119(2).
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2014). Review of E. Simpson, The Furniture from Tumulus MM. The Gordion Wooden Objects, Vol. 1. 2 vols. Culture and History of the Ancient Near East Vol. 32. Leiden: Brill, 2010. Journal of the American Oriental Society 134(2): 326-329.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2014). Review of Matt Waters, Ancient Persia. A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE. New York: CUP 2014. Bryn Mawr Classical Review (BMCR 2014.09.61): BMCR 2014.09.61.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2014). Review of E. Dusinberre, Empire, Authority, and Autonomy in Achaemenid Anatolia. New York: CUP 2013. American Journal of Archaeology 118(3).
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2011). Review of I. Benda-Weber, Lykier und Karier. Zwei autochthone Ethnien Kleinasiens zwischen Orient und Okzident. Asia Minor Studien 56. Ancient West and East 10: 439-42.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2009). Review of Stephen L. Dyson and Robert J. Rowland Jr., Shepherds, Sailors and Conquerors. Archaeology and History in Sardinia from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages. Philadelphia 2007. Bryn Mawr Classical Review (BMCR 2009.03.31).
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2008). Review of Chr. Rudolph, Das 'Harpyien-Monument' von Xanthos: seine Bedeutung innerhalb der spätarchaischen Plastik. BAR International Series 1108. Oxford: Hedges 2003. Ancient West and East 7: 429-31.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2007). Review of H. Dedeoğlu, The Lydians and Sardis. Istanbul: A Turizm Yayınları 2004. Bryn Mawr Classical Review (BMCR 2007.04.56).

Chapter in book

• Draycott, Catherine M. (2023). Filling in the Holes and Joining up the Dots of the Seventh Century BC in Anatolia and Beyond: an introduction. In From Midas to Cyrus and Other Stories. Papers on Iron Age Anatolia in honour of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers. Draycott, Catherine M., Branting, Scott, Lehner, Joseph W. & Özarslan, Yasemin British Institute at Ankara.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2019). Art History and Achaemenid History: Or, What You Can Get out of the Back End of a Bull. In Visual Histories of the Classical World Essays in Honour of R.R.R. Smith. Draycott, Catherine M., Raja, Rubina, Welch, Katherine & Wootton, William T. Brepols. 4: 15-33.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2019). Activating the Achaemenid Landscape. The Broken Lion Tomb (Yılan Taş) and the Phrygian Highlands in the Achaemenid Period. In Phrygia in Antiquity: From the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period. Proceedings of an International Conference 'The Phrygian Lands over Time: From Prehistory to the Middle of of the 1st Millennium AD', held at Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey, 2nd-8th November, 2015. Tsetskhladze, Gocha R. Leuven: Peeters Press. 24: 189-220.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2018). Making meaning of myth. On the interpretation of mythological imagery in the Polyxena Sarcophagus and the Kızılbel Tomb and the History of Achaemenid Asia Minor. In Wandering Myths: Transcultural Uses of Myth in the Ancient World. Audley-Miller, Lucy & Dignas, Beate Berlin: De Gruyter. 23-70.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2016). Drinking to Death: The Emergence of the ‘Totenmahl’ and Drinking Culture in Late Archaic/early Achaemenid Western Anatolia. In Dining and Death: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the ‘Funerary Banquet’ in Ancient Art, Burial and Belief. Catherine M. Draycott & Maria Stamatopoulou Peeters. 219-298.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2016). Introduction: what lies beyond. In Dining and Death: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the ‘Funerary Banquet’ in Ancient Art, Burial and Belief. Catherine M. Draycott & Maria Stamatopoulou Peeters. 1-32.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2015). Unicorn’s horn or guideline? On the meaning of an unusual diagonal line in an unfinished relief of a bovine on the Kalekapı tomb at Donalar, Paphlagonia. In Art in the Making: Approaches to the Carving of Stone. Wootton, William, Russell, Ben & Libonati, Emma The Art of Making in Antiquity. Stoneworking in the Roman World.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2011). Funerary or Military Convoy? Thoughts on the Tatarlı convoy painting and the meaning of the ‘Greco-Persian’ convoy. In Kelainai – Apameia Kibotos: Stadtentwicklung im anatolischen Kontext/Kélainai – Apamée Kibôtos: Développement urbain dans le contexte anatolien. Akten des Kolloquiums, München 2 April – 4 April 2009. L. Summerer, A. Ivantchik & A. von Kienlin De Boccard, Editiones Ausonius. 55-61.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2008). Bird-women on the Harpy Monument from Xanthos, Lycia: sirens or harpies? In Essays in Classical Archaeology for Eleni Vassiliou 1977-2007. D.C. Kurtz, C. Meyer, D. Saunders, A. Tsingarida & N. Harris Oxford: Beazley Archive and Archaeopress. 145-153.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2007). Dynastic Definitions: Differentiating Status Claims in the Archaic Pillar Tomb Reliefs of Lycia. In Anatolian Iron Ages 6: The Proceedings of the Sixth Anatolian Iron Ages Symposium held at Eskişehir-Turkey, 16-19 August 2004. A. Sagona & A. Çilingiroğlu Peeters. 20: 103-34.

Edited book

• Draycott, Catherine M., Branting, Scott, Lehner, Joseph W. & Özarslan, Yasemin (2023). From Midas to Cyrus and Other Stories. Papers on Iron Age Anatolia in honour of Geoffrey and Françoise Summers. BIAA Archaeological Monographs. British Institute at Ankara.
• Draycott, Catherine M., Raja, Rubina, Welch, Katherine & Wootton, William T. (2019). Visual Histories of the Classical World Essays in Honour of R.R.R. Smith. Studies in Classical Archaeology. Brepols.
• Draycott, Catherine M. & Stamatopoulou, Maria (2016). Dining and Death: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the ‘Funerary Banquet’ in Ancient Art, Burial and Belief. Colloquia Antiqua 16. Peeters.

Journal Article

• Draycott, Catherine M. (2016). History through Architecture: getting to know a Lycian dynast through his city's urban development. AEMES Journal (77): 28-33.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2016). Images and Identities: Interpreting Identities in the Tomb Decorations of Anatolia in the Early Achaemenid Period. AEMES Journal (77): 23-27.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2015). ‘Heroa’ and the City. Kuprlli’s New Architecture and the Making of the ‘Lycian Acropolis’ of Xanthus in the Early Classical period. Anatolian Studies 65: 97-142.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2010). Convoy Commanders and Other Military Identities in Tomb Art of Western Anatolia around the Time of the Persian Wars. Bollettino di Archeologia online Volume speciale: Roma 2008 - International Congress of Classical Archaeology. Meetings between cultures in the ancient Mediterranean (ed. by M. Dalla Riva): G/G1/2, 7-23.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2010). What does 'Being Graeco-Persian' mean? An introduction to the papers. Bollettino di Archeologia online Volume speciale: Roma 2008 - International Congress of Classical Archaeology. Meetings between cultures in the ancient Mediterranean (ed. by M. Dalla Riva): G /G1/1, 1-6.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Draycott, Catherine M (2015). Devotion and Desecration. Artemon and Nenas' Dedications in the Cabalia (North Lycia). Heritage Turkey 5: 38-39.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2015). Dining after Death? Minerva November/December 2015: 46-50.
• Draycott, Catherine M. (2014). Images and Ambiguities. Interpreting identities in the tomb art of early Achaemenid Western Anatolia. Heritage Turkey 4: 34.