Akiva Sanders

Akiva Sanders is an archaeologist and art historian who is rewriting the story of how civilization was built by focusing on the personal stories of those who built it. He has developed new ways of looking at ancient fingerprints and flooded cities to reconstruct the individual lives of those who shaped early Mesopotamian history–the workers, the warlords, and the rebels.

Since he received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2021, Dr. Sanders has held appointments at the American Research Institute in Turkey, Tel Aviv University, New York University, and the Pratt Institute. He has excavated in Turkey, Israel, Georgia, and Jordan.

Popular press about my research

My first academic book about the people who brought down the world’s first palace