Dr. Catherine Pratt

Biography

Catherine E. Pratt joined the Department of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin in 2023. She received her BA in Classical Archaeology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by her MA and PhD in Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on the development of socioeconomic complexity in the pre-Classical Mediterranean, with special attention to issues of value construction, commodification, and cultural interaction. Dr. Pratt is the co-director of the Bays East Attica Regional Survey (BEARS) along with Dr. Sarah Murray from the University of Toronto. She has participated in excavations at the Mycenaean Palace of Nestor in Pylos, Greece, and the Minoan town of Palaikastro in Crete, publishing articles on topics such as Minoan political economy and Early Iron Age cultural interaction. Her recent publications include articles in the American Journal of Archaeology titled, “The Rise and Fall of the Transport Stirrup Jar in the Bronze Age Aegean,” and an update on the SOS amphora in the Annual of the British School at Athens. Additionally, her monograph titled 'Oil, Wine, Cultural Economy in Ancient Greece: Bronze Age to Archaic Era' was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. Currently, she is working on a monograph-length project titled 'Gift to Athena: Olive Oil Making in Athens,' which incorporates archaeological, literary, and epigraphic evidence to understand the changing roles of olive oil in the socio-economic identity of ancient Athens.

Research Interests

Courses