Alice Ziegler

I am a multidisciplinary scholar with roots in anthropology, archaeology, history, and history of art. My research covers a broad range of material, visual, and textual cultures of premodern Afroeurasia. I focus primarily on Central and West Asia from the post-Achaemenid period through Late Antiquity with a secondary focus on Northeast Africa, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean during the first several centuries CE. My research interests include materiality, identity, exchange, and intercultural interactions. Human/non-human entanglements are a frequent topic of concern for me, including charismatic megafauna such as elephants and camels as well as plants, notably grapes, wine, and viticulture as well as aromatics.

I received Bachelor of the Arts degrees in Art History and Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies from the Pennsylvania State University in 2018, during which time I undertook coursework focusing on ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Greek world. Also at Penn State, I completed a Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Ancient Languages with concentrations in Greek and Aramaic the following year. In 2022 I received a Master of the Arts degree in Archaeology at the interdisciplinary Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies where my thesis research focused on the medieval Mediterranean ivory objects known as oliphants and their reception within the discipline of art history. Since 2022 I have undertaken doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, where my focus has been on intercultural encounters in Central and West Asia. At Berkeley, I have also served as the lead archivist and provenance researcher for the Edward Gans Collection of Seals.