History Graduate Students

Profile

Sarah M Kampbell is a historian and archaeologist focusing on the seaborne trade and commerce of Byzantium with the surrounding East Mediterranean region. As her work is thematically focused, she has a broad chronological interest from Late Antiquity until 1204. Sarah strives to integrate archaeological evidence, especially from underwater sites, with historical evidence to create a richer picture of trade and merchant adaptations to the changing political, social and economic contexts of the East Mediterranean.

Her dissertation, "The Economy of Conflict: How East Mediterranean Trade Adapted to Changes in Rules, Allegiances and Demographics in the 10th - 12th Centuries AD" focuses specifically on how trade and merchants reacted to the shifting strength and political boundaries of the Byzantine and Muslim worlds and continuing to the onset of the Crusades with the subsequent establishment of the Latin States.

Sarah earned her BA from the University of Notre Dame in 2002 triple majoring in Anthropology, History and Computer Applications. After working for the General Electric Company for two years, she returned to academia, earning her MA from Texas A&M University in 2007 in Anthropology (Nautical Archaeology).

Sarah has received numerous awards, grants and fellowships, most recently the Council of American Overseas Research Centers Multi-Country Research Fellowship for dissertation research in England, Turkey and Cyprus.

Sarah's archaeological field experience includes participation in the Eastern Cyprus Maritime Survey from 2007-2009 under Dr. Justin Leidwanger and was the Assistant Director for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Sarah has also excavated at Tantura Lagoon, Israel and spent two seasons on the Yeni Kapi Project, Istanbul Turkey. Sarah has also assisted in the documentation of the Kadirga in Istanbul, Turkey.

Articles and Chapters

Forthcoming, 2012       “Reconstructing the Pantano Longarini Ship” In Tradition and Transition: Maritime Studies in the Wake of the Byzantine Shipwreck at Yassıada, Turkey. Proceedings of a Conference held at Texas A&M University, 2-4 November 2007 , edited by D.N. Carlson, S.M. Kampbell, and J. Leidwanger.

Forthcoming, 2012       “Tobacco Pollen: Archaeological and Forensic Applications.” Journal of Palynology

2007     “Revisiting the Pantano Longarini Shipwreck” INA Quarterly (34.2): 20-22.

2006     “The Dor Lagoon Excavations 2006.” INA Quarterly (33.4): 7-10.