Originally from Antalya (Turkey), I moved to Cambridge (MA, USA) two years ago to begin my PhD. I hold a B.Sc. in Chemistry and a BA. in Archaeology and History of Art from Koç University, Istanbul. After completing my undergraduate studies, I moved to Germany to study archaeological science. I hold an M.Sc. in Archaeological Science and Human Evolution with a specialization in Archaeometry from Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. I completed an A.M. degree (Masters in passing) in Archaeology from Harvard University en route to the PhD degree. 

I have been part of various lab groups since 2017, have joined several archaeological fieldwork projects in Turkey and Spain, and had been a member of the Kayalıpınar (Sivas, Turkey) excavation team from 2021 to 2025. 

My interest in Biomolecular Archaeology was sparked while I was specializing in Archaeometry in master’s program. I had the opportunity to train in organic residue analysis from pottery, stable isotope analysis from bone and tooth, and Zooarchaeology using Mass Spectrometry (ZooMS). In my master’s dissertation, I examined 8,000-year-old animal grazing behaviors in Neolithic Anatolia using stable isotope (carbon and nitrogen) analysis of sheep and goat bones. 

Following, I continued to work at the Laboratory for Isotopic and Bioarcheological Research (LIBRE) at Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen for a year, focusing on isotopic analysis (carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and strontium) of human and faunal bone and dental remains.

For my doctoral studies, I focus on protein analysis from dental calculus using tandem mass spectrometry, aiming to further our understanding of the origins of dairying. I am interested in the Mediterranean region with a particular focus on Anatolia during the Epipaleolithic to Bronze Age periods. 

In addition to my research, I am interested in understanding human-animal-plant interactions; culture-biology relations; gender studies, ethics and politics in archaeological practice; and the history of archaeology in Turkey.