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Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership - Student Profiles

 

Biography

I obtained my BA in Assyriology from the University of Cambridge in 2014 and my MPhil in Archaeological Research in 2015. My research interests in previous years ranged from material culture studies (object biographies, symbolic violence) to a linguistic investigation of language change of the world’s oldest written language, Sumerian.

My doctoral research will be concerned with the social, economic and legal status of children in southern Iraq from c 2000 to 1595 BC (Old Babylonian Period) and how it shaped children’s identities. I will analyse the role(s) and status of children in Old Babylonian society, taking account of possible chronological and regional variation and discussing topics such as child labour, rites of passage and education.

Other academic interests

Languages of the Middle East (ancient and modern)
Linguistics (language change, language contact and variation)
Childhood studies
Archaeological theory

Department: Archaeology
Supervisor: Dr Martin Worthington
College: St John’s
AHRC Subject Area: Archaeology
Title of Thesis: Childhood in Ancient Iraq: Perspectives from Babylonia in the 2nd millennium BC
 Christoph  Schmidhuber

Affiliations