Projects

Excavations

• Nikki serves as project manager and trench supervisor for the Stelida, Naxos Archaeological Project. This project is a geo-archaeological excavation of a chert source and associated stone tool workshops on the island of Naxos. Some of the earliest visitors to this site were likely Neanderthals. The project has since expanded to include Bronze Age use since the discovery of a "Minoan-style"(?) peak sanctuary at Stelida in 2019 (by then-PhD-candidate, now fellow Bronze Age specialist, Dr. Kristine Mallinson). Doc continues to work as project manager and trench supervisor, as well as plaster specialist for the excavation of this bronze age peak sanctuary.

• Doc is a plasters specialist for Sissi Archaeological Project, which focuses on a site located on the northern coast of Crete. This project seeks to better understand the rules of power and the complex structure of Minoan society that gradually collapsed after 1450 BCE. 

• Nikki works as a plasters specialist for Mochlos Archaeological Project, which focuses on the remains of a site located along the northern coast of Crete, along the eastern edge of Mirabello Bay. 

• Doc also studied pottery for the Southern Phokis Regional Project in 2021, just outside of Delphi, on the Greek Mainland. This project examines site remains from the end of the Bronze Age, including rich domestic and funerary assemblages and structures. 

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Materials Analysis

• Nikki is the Executive Director of the Plasters Analysis Project (PLAN) through the University of Pennsylvania Museum and its Center for the Analysis of Ancient Materials (CAAM). Some of the sites that are submitting material for analysis include Khania, Mochlos, Zakros, Sissi, and now Naxos. 

• Doc has also been involved in organic residue analysis projects, such as the study of a dye workshop at Alatzomouri-Pefka on Crete.

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Iconographic Studies

• Monkey Iconography

  • ​Nikki first learned of the blue monkeys from Akrotiri and Knossos during her first year at Indiana University in a Minoan and Mycenaean Art course with Dr. Kevin Glowacki. She pursued independent studies and summer research through the McNair Scholars Program, continued this interest while studying abroad at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. After attending the University of Pennsylvania to study ancient languages and completing her MA at Temple University, she returned to the monkeys in 2014. After finishing her dissertation on monkey and ape imagery in 2015, she published her first book, Monkey and Ape Iconography in Aegean Art in 2017. 

  • In 2018, Nikki reached out to several primatologists who specialize in monkeys from Afro-Eurasia, and a taxonomic primate illustrator. This global team examined monkey iconography from Ancient Egypt, the Aegean, the Levant, and Mesopotamia, and we concluded that the blue monkeys from room 6 of Building Complex Beta the site of Akrotiri, Thera were langurs. Langurs are indigenous to India, Bhutan, and Nepal, and as such, these images support Asian-Aegean exchange. Several media outlets covered this discovery, such as Smithsonian, New Scientist, The Times, London, Archaeology Magazine, and Public Radio. This project expanded her boundaries from the Aegean to the farthest reaches of Afro-Eurasia. 

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• Afro-Eurasian Exchange

  • Although the Monkeys project first led her to prehistoric silk routes, there is still much work left to do. Doc's most recent project includes the first international workshop for Relations between the Aegean and Indus in the Bronze Age, organized together with Robert Arnott and hosted by the University of Oxford. She is editing the resulting volume (anticipated in 2024) and eagerly planning the next workshop in December 2024. Doc's other recent publications include a chapter in Aegaeum, co-authored with Anne P. Chapin, called Peacock or Poppycock? Investigations into Exotic Animal Imagery in Minoan and Cycladic Art (2020), in which the authors suggest that not only monkeys, but also amphibious snakes, peacocks and pea hens, and pheasants may all be Asian species introduced to the Aegean islands -- if not physically, then at least iconographically.  This work was followed by a chapter in Animal Iconography in the Archaeological Record: New Approaches, New Dimensions (2021), in which she explores some of the earliest evidence for Afro-Eurasian exchange. These are followed by Imperial Horizons of the Silk Roads: Archaeological Case Studies, edited by Doc and Dr. Branka Franicevic, to which Doc contributed two chapters.  

  • Nikki also serves as co-founder and co-director of the Indus-Aegean Bronze Age Research Network (IA-BARN), together with Arnott, which is also based out of University of Oxford, where she is invited as a Visiting Academic. 

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• Eco-Social Zones of Animal Engagement

  • Nikki and Anne joined forces again to publish Beyond and Between the Boundaries: An Eco-Social Model of Animal-Human Relations in Minoan and Cycladic Animal Art. They argue for an Aegean Islander understanding of animal agency that where animals are more wild, more independent, and more powerful the farther away that animals encounter humans from areas of human habitation/settlement. Essentially, the farther from the household, the more metaphysical properties or powers animals seem to have. A deeper dive into this topic, zone-by-zone, is forthcoming! 

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• Great and Terrible Goddesses

  • Doc is currently working on projects related to great and terrible goddesses, and the commonalities shared between such figures among prehistoric Afro-Eurasian cultures. From Inanna(-Ishtar) to Sekhmet and Bastet​, Kali and Durga, to Demeter and Athena, these deities have important lessons to teach us -- especially these days, when smashing the patriarchy is becoming critical to our survival. Several of her lectures in December 2022 throughout the UK and Europe focused on these and related topics, including but not limited to "Problematic Patriarchal Perceptions: Saffron, 'Fertility,' and Xeste 3 at Akrotiri." 

 

For a complete record of Doc's publications, projects, and talks, check out her profile on Academia.edu. 

 

Professional Consulting

• Doc is more than happy to work together with magazines (most recently SAPIENS), novelists, and news outlets (both print and radio) to both fact-check and provide additional insight into prehistoric and ancient Afro-Eurasia. Feel free to check out coverage of her research from Smithsonian, New Scientist, and The Times, London, among others. 

• Nikki also consults for Catori, an ancient-inspired and sustainably-sourced jewelry line by visionary Holly Coco. 

• Check out this brew series inspired by Doc's blue monkey work at Ftelos Brewery!

• Nikki also consults for a novelist who is currently working on an epic tale with characters who travel from the Greek mainland, though the Aegean Islands, Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia, eventually reaching the Indus, before journeying home again. When this book is published, it will be featured here, too!

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Non-Profit

• Doc is the founder and executive director of the Aegean Bronze Age Study Initiative (ABASI), a group dedicated to funding underrepresented undergraduate archaeological experiences in the Aegean. The website can be found at www.aegeaninitiative.org.

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Outreach

• Nikki loves engaging with the public when it comes to all things ancient. She has been visiting with Infinity Charter School students since 2013 to talk about ancient shipwrecks, cartography, blue monkeys, our developing understanding of Neanderthals' and early humans' capabilities, Ancient Greek history, and Homeric poetry. 

• Doc also engages in public school outreach, hosting several Archaeology Day activities and helping out with Junior Achievement presentations and activities in various local (and some not-so-local) elementary, middle, and high schools. 

• Nikki regularly volunteers to speak at public libraries, as well. Check out some of her time with Ohio County Public Library, for instance, under the Events tab.

• Doc is currently developing a summer 2025 conference for public and student engagement with scholars and professionals called Women and Girls in Archaeology and Other Sciences. The conference will be located in Lancaster, PA in early August 2024, details TBA. 

• Nikki also agreed to explain some simple archaeological concepts for the Stelida, Naxos Archaeological Project channel on YouTube. Ever wonder what the difference is between digging a hole in your back yard and archaeology? Want to know more about archaeology? Ask us anything! Doc (and the 2017/2018 Stelida team) got you. 

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Podcast: Doc's Dirt

• Doc has agreed, after years of student requests, to launch a podcast. The first episodes of Doc's Dirt will be released in January 2023, and episodes will fall into four main categories (with a tiny selection of topics we'll cover listed here to whet your appetite): 

  • Navigating Your Degree​

    • Applying for college/grad school​

    • Applying for funding

    • Field Schools

    • Common questions and concerns

  • What Now? The Job Hunt​

    • Pros/Cons of adjuncting, non-tenure lines, and the fight to earn tenure

    • Alternate routes and ac-adjacent jobs

    • Non-traditional careers

  • Interviews/Chats with Colleagues

    • Professors, curators, field directors, publishers, editors, you name it. If you want to hear from them, we'll make it happen.

    • Q&A: This podcast is for everyone, and so several interviews will also be open your questions -- what do you want to learn more about? 

  • Wild Stories from the Field

    • It's exactly how it sounds: drinking from the Nile? Throwing snakes? Chased by wild boars or slathering yogurt on sunburns? We'll interrupt our regularly scheduled program every now and the​n for some fun, crazy stories that you don't often get to hear about when professionals talk about life in the field. 

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