research overview
- Elspeth Dusinberre is interested in cultural interactions in Anatolia, including in the time of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (ca. 550-330 BCE) and in pre-Achaemenid Phrygia. Her first book, Aspects of Empire in Achaemenid Sardis (Cambridge 2003), focuses on the Lydian capital. Her second book is a diachronic excavation monograph, Gordion Seals and Sealings: Individuals and Society (Philadelphia 2005). Dusinberre's third book, Empire, Authority, and Autonomy in Achaemenid Anatolia (Cambridge 2013), winner of the 2015 Wiseman Award, considers all of Anatolia under Persian rule and proposes a new model for understanding imperialism. Her book on the cremation tumuli at Gordion (Philadelphia 2023) uses mortuary remains to investigate major cultural shifts at the Phrygian capital between 625 and 525 BCE. Her articles have appeared in, e.g., American Journal of Archaeology, Ars Orientalis, the Annals of the American Schools of Oriental Research, and Anatolian Studies. She is currently studying the seal impressions on the Aramaic tablets of the Persepolis Fortification Archive (ca. 500 BCE) and the Early Phrygian destruction level at Gordion (ca. 800 BCE), in addition to other projects at Gordion.
