Dr. Barbara Helwing

Barbara Helwing is an archaeologist holding a PhD in Prehistoric and Near Eastern Archaeology from the University of Heidelberg. After stations in Ankara, Berlin, Lyon and Sydney, she is currently the director of the Museum of the Ancient Near East SMB PK in Berlin, Germany, and honorary professor at the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Sydney, Australia. She has directed archaeological fieldwork in Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Sri Lanka, and is currently engaged in excavating the late PPNB site Gürcü Tepe in Turkey. Among her significant publications are the edited volumes “Early Mining and Metallurgy on the western Central Iranian Plateau (2011, with A. Vatandoust and H. Parzinger) and “The Kura Projects” (2017, with T. Aliyev, B. Lyonnet, F. Guliyev, S. Hansen, and G. Mirtskhulava). Her research interests focus on the emergence of social inequality, and on the history of technology and innovations and their cultural impact, with a special perspective on the role of metallurgy therein.