Assistant Professor Katheryn C.Twiss
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2003
Contact Information:
email:
ktwiss@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
Phone: (631) 632-1539
Research Interests:
Katheryn C. Twiss specializes in the archaeology of the Neolithic of the Near East. Her interests center around the origins of agriculture and cultural adaptations to it. As a zooarchaeologist (an archaeologist who analyzes animal remains), she concentrates particularly on human-animal interactions in early herding societies. Her research on this topic involves issues including the archaeological identification of domestication, the cultural implications of different animal management strategies, and the integration of wild and domestic animal resources.
She is also interested in the archaeology of food, and is currently editing a volume on the subject. (We Were What We Ate: The Archaeology of Food and Identity. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Occasional Paper.) Her focus is on the social aspects of food production and use, including the organization of food production and preparation, the use of food to enact social units, and the interrelationship of feasting and domestic consumption.
Twiss has excavated and conducted zooarchaeological research at sites in Jordan, Israel, and Turkey. She is currently co-heading the faunal analysis team at the major Neolithic site of Catahoyuk in Turkey.
