Emma Baysal studied Archaeology at University College London followed by an MPhil in Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Glasgow. She completed her doctoral studies on craft practices in the Neolithic of Türkiye at the University of Liverpool in 2010 after which she moved to Istanbul for a Senior Fellowship at the Koç University Research Centre for Anatolian Civilizations. She subsequently became a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the British Institute at Ankara, researching prehistoric ornamentation practices. From 2014-2020 she was Assistant Professor of Prehistory at Trakya University, Edirne and moved to Ankara University as Associate Professor of Prehistory in 2020. She joined the Archaeology Department at Bilkent in 2024.
She is an experienced field archaeologist, having started working in commercial archaeology while still at high school. She first worked in Türkiye in 2001 and has continued to be a member of many archaeological teams ever since, now working as a specialist in personal ornamentation at sites ranging from the Epipalaeolithic to Early Bronze Ages. She published a monograph ‘Personal ornaments in prehistory’ in 2019. In 2023 she became a National Geographic Explorer with her ‘Small things, big stories’ project. She has a keen interest in archaeological education at school and university level, and is currently part of the National Geographic Explorer-Educator program. From 2025 she will be co-academic editor of Anatolian Studies.
The Neolithic, identities in archaeology, personal ornaments as a means of self-expression, the history of archaeological practice, archaeological theory, archaeology education
CV is available here