Kristina Donnally (she/her) received her B.S. in Anthropology and B.A. in History, both Summa Cum Laude, from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has excavated two seasons at Khirbet Al-Rai in Israel, completed her archaeological field school at Arbeia Roman Fort, 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, primarily during the 3rd and early 2nd Millennium BCE. She is interested in early urbanism, and specifically the social organization of early Mesopotamian City-States. She is also interested in the status and agency of Women in Mesopotamia during this time frame, focusing on the material record to study this. Kristina works heavily out of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and is a member of the museum sponsored Lagash Archaeological Project, excavating at the site of Al-Hiba (ancient Lagash) in Iraq.