Akiva Sanders

Akiva Sanders is an archaeologist and art historian who tries to understand the past through the varied experiences and attempts at self-expression of those who inhabited it. His research focuses on the assembly and disassembly of monumental central institutions in Mesopotamia: the changes in daily life, sources of meaning, and interpersonal relationships that accompanied these pivotal moments, methods of resistance to institutional authority, and the creative aftermath of institutional collapse. He approaches these questions with evidence from settlement archaeology, art history, population genetics, and ancient fingerprints. Since he received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2021, Dr. Sanders has held appointments at the American Research Institute in Turkey, Tel Aviv University, New York University, and the Pratt Institute.