Yoko Nishimura

Associate Scholar

20122013 Forum on Peripheries

Yoko Nishimura

SAS Postdoctoral Fellow
Anthropology

Third Millennium City-States in Northern Mesopotamia: Household Archaeology and Urban Layout

My research centers around the household archaeology and urban layout of third-millennium city-states in northern Mesopotamia. I am particularly interested in the ways non-elite city inhabitants organized their domestic space and activities within the context of a much larger, urban spatial configuration. By examining ancient burials made beneath house floors, I am currently investigating the complex relationship between the quotidian activities and intramural mortuary practices of ordinary city inhabitants in the past. My current research also focuses on residential burials for infants and their associated funerary assemblages. My research interest extends to comparative analyses of the East Asian and Near Eastern civilizations. Methodologically, I specialize in quantitative and distributive analyses of archaeological remains, particularly of architectural features, domestic implements, and ceramic sherds.