Kristina Donnally received her B.S. in Anthropology and B.A. in History, both Summa Cum Laude, from Virginia Commonwealth University. She completed her archaeological field school at Arbeia Roman Fort, has excavated two seasons at Khirbet Al-Rai in Israel, and has done various archaeological excavations in her home state of Virginia. Kristina also has had multiple internships working in archaeological laboratories and artifact repositories. Her undergraduate senior thesis focused on the archaeological evidence for elite women in the Royal Cemetery of Ur.
Kristina’s research interests lie in Mesopotamia, specifically around social organization, spatial organization, urban socio-spatial interactions, mortuary practices, and gender. Her dissertation will re-evaluate the social organization and roles of Mesopotamian palace women through socio-spatial analysis of palaces in combination with analysis of the archaeological material and textual data. Kristina has been part of the Lagash Archaeological Project since 2022, where she serves as a trench supervisor and human burial specialist. She also engages deeply with the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, including serving as a Graduate Guide for museum tours.