Zeynep Kuşdil Sak

Zeynep is studying Iron Age settlements in Southeastern Turkey and Northern Syria. Her research interests mainly focus on spatial organization of settlements and how the use of imagery and architecture shapes narratives presented within these built spaces. She holds a Hal Jackman Foundation Fellowship, Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE) Fellowship and has been awarded various other scholarships and grants to support her throughout her studies.
She has taken part in various archaeological projects in Turkey and currently is part of the Tayinat Archaeological Project where she is the second assistant director and director of Field 8.

Education

• M.A. in Archaeology and Art History, Koç University (2018)
• B.A. in Archaeology, Bilkent University (2014)

Current Supervisor(s)

Timothy P. Harrison

Dissertation Title

City Planning and Staged Narratives in Syro-Anatolian Cities

Publications

• Z. Kuşdil Sak, E. Denel, T.P. Harrison 2025. “Tell Tayinat Arkeoloji Projesi 2023 Çalışma Sezonu” 44. Kazi Sonuçları Toplantısı Bildirileri Cilt 3: 341-351.
• Z. Kuşdil Sak, E. Denel, L. Welton, S. Batiuk, T.P. Harrison. 2023. “Tayinat Arkeoloji Projesi 2022 Sezonu Raporu” 43. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı Bildirileri Cilt 3 : 255-274.
• Denel, E., T. P. Harrison, Z. Kuşdil Sak. 2022. “Tayinat Arkeoloji Projesi 2019, 2020 ve 2021 Sezonları Raporu” 42. Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı Cilt 5: 275- 290.
• Klassen, S., L. Welton, S. Batiuk, Z. Kuşdil Sak, T. P. Harrison, E. Denel. 2019. “Tell Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP): Seasons 2017-2019” The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies 14: 45-51.

Presentations

• “Tell Tayinat Kazıları, 2024”, Harrison, Timothy and Zeynep Kusdil Sak, 45th International Symposium of Excavations, Surveys and Archaeometry 
•  “Understanding City Planning in Syro-Anatolian Cities”, CAA 2025 Digital Horizons: Embracing Heritage in an evolving world
• “Hidden in Plain Sight: Reconstructing a Third Millennium Wagon in Tomb 7-Tell Banat”, Mediterranean Archaeology Collaborative Specialization Conference, University of Toronto: Mortuary Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World
•  “Post-Earthquake Management of Archaeological Material: Tayinat Archaeological Project 2023-2024”, American Schools of Overseas Research Annual Meeting
• “Tayinat Projesi Araştırmaları 2023”, Harrison, Timothy and Zeynep Kusdil Sak, 44th International Symposium of Excavations, Surveys and Archaeometry
• “Tayinat Höyük Kazıları 2022”, Harrison, Timothy and Zeynep Kusdil Sak, 43rd International Symposium of Excavations, Surveys and Archaeometry

Teaching Experience

Course Instructor

• NMC260H1F From Agriculture to Urbanism: The Archaeology of the Pre- and Proto-historic Near East, Fall 2025
• NMC262H1S Why the Ancient Near East? The Historical Periods, Spring 2025
• NMC260H1F Why the Ancient Near East? Investigating the great transformations in pre- and proto- history, Fall 2024