Doctoral Student in Archaeology and the Ancient World (Ph.D., May 2009)

Christopher finished his B.A. in Classical Studies summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts-Boston in 1997, after completing most of his studies at Boston University between 1985-1994. His undergraduate work focused on ancient mystery cults from the Classical, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. Upon commencing his doctoral program he chose to shift his area of research to the Middle East, to explore the period of transition between the end of the independent Hellenistic kingdoms and the rise of Roman hegemony in the region. His current work focuses on the Nabataeans, who were the last independent kingdom in the area to be absorbed by the Romans. His dissertation will present an analysis of the possible functions and meanings of Nabataean terracotta figurines. He has worked in Israel/Palestine on both excavations and surveys (Qumran, Ramat Hanadiv, Khirbet Jiljil, Jerusalem, Tzuba, Sepphoris, Mizpe Ramon, Mampsis, Sobeita). In Jordan he has excavated with the French at Khirbet es-Samra and as a trench supervisor on the Brown University Petra Great Temple project for its final three seasons. Christopher currently resides in Amman, Jordan, where he works as the Assistant Director of the American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) while completing his doctoral dissertation.