Emma Baysal
PI, Ankara University
#2023NationalGeographicExplorer
Emma L. Baysal (she/her) is Associate Professor of Prehistory at Ankara University, Türkiye. She researches the construction of identity in prehistory through the ornamentation and augmentation of the human body as evidenced in material culture. Her focus is on the effect of large-scale change processes on modes of expression across Western Asia and into Europe, particularly at the Neolithic transition but also encompassing a wider timeframe from the Epipaleolithic to the Early Bronze Age.
Gonca Dardeniz
Team member, Istanbul University
Gonca Dardeniz (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology at Istanbul University, Türkiye. Gonca's interest lies in how resource use, management, and ancient technologies impacted social complexity in Anatolia and its neighbours. She uses complementary methods of archaeology and archaeological science. Her particular focus is the 3rd and 2nd millennia BCE Anatolia. Gonca is also the director of Konya-Karahöyük Excavations, a mega Bronze Age site in central Anatolia.
Sera Yelözer
Team member, Postdoctoral researcher
Dr. Sera Yelözer (she/her) is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the project. Before joining in, she worked as a researcher in PACEA, Bordeaux University. Her research interests cover socio-symbolic systems of Neolithic societies in Western Asia, with a specific focus on themes of gender and age, craft, exchange, power, social memory, and identity. She uses multi-proxy methods to analyse symbolic items, such as personal ornaments, incorporating contextual studies with macroscopic and microscopic technological and use-wear analysis.
Onur Kaya
Team member, Istanbul University
Onur Kaya (he/him) is a PhD student at Istanbul University, Department of Protohistory and Near Eastern Archaeology. In his research, Onur uses complementary methods of archaeological sciences. He is mainly interested in the application of synchrotron light on archaeological materials. For the Small Things Big Stories project, Onur examines the metallic beads from Boncuklu Tarla, their composition, and metallic resources.