Dr. Catherine Kearns

Biography

Catherine Kearns is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Chicago. Her research primarily focuses on Mediterranean archaeology, specifically exploring the Bronze-Iron Age social, cultural, and political history. She has a keen interest in the intersections of social and environmental change within Mediterranean landscapes. Currently, she is advancing her book project titled 'Rural Landscapes in Archaic Cyprus: Archaeology, Environmental, and Social Change', which delves into the emergence of Iron Age communities on Cyprus, examining land-use practices and rural economies in relation to changing climatic conditions. Kearns is also involved in exploring environmental histories and sustainability, aiming to conduct comparative analyses of ancient Mediterranean households across millennia, particularly focusing on their practices of livability amidst precarious conditions. She has co-directed fieldwork on Cyprus' Kalavasos Maroni Built Environments Project, applying geophysics, field surveys, and excavations for identifying Iron Age rural settlements. Kearns also serves as a co-editor for the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology and is a National Lecturer for the Archaeological Institute of America. Her recent publications contribute to current scholarly discourse on political and social dimensions of archaeological and environmental histories.

Research Interests

Experience